PARIS - The French government said on Friday that Israeli police action against France's Culture Center in Jerusalem, where a Palestinian event was organized Thursday, was "doubly excessive" because of the place the Israeli action took place and the nature of the event they interfered with.
Jerusalem is the Arab Capital of the World in 2009 and Palestinians have tried to organize a number of cultural events but many of these have been repressed and harassed by Israeli security forces and local Jewish authorities.
French officials said that the event in the Cultural Center was "a cultural event that had been planned for a long time and coincided with the end of the Jerusalem Arab Capital year in 2009." Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said that the Israeli police had arrived one hour after the beginning of the event and had started to control people's identities.
He also remarked that France had hosted a similar event at the opening of the Jerusalem program last May.
Although he said there was no violence, France considers the Israeli police action "excessive" and Valero recalled that France has for numerous years "supported Palestinian culture and events that allow it to be promoted and shared and spread." "The Israeli security forces came to the entrance of the Center one hour after the beginning of the event. They controlled the identities of people gaining access to the Center to participate in the event. There was no violence to deplore but we think this police deployment was excessive," the spokesman remarked.
"It was excessive in view of the place around which the (Israeli police) took up position and excessive with regard to the event which was taking place at that time," Valero added. It was thus "doubly excessive," he said, but he noted France had not summoned the Israeli ambassador after the incident and no formal protest was apparently lodged. Valero was unable to clarify if the Cultural Center had diplomatic immunity, but he said he did not believe this was the case.