French Presidential Candidates: Gaza “a concentration camp under open skies”
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- Published on Friday, 13 April 2012 17:05
AFP
On Monday, the Green Party candidate for the Élysée, Eva Joly, signed a statement by Nathalie Arthaud of the Worker's Struggle party (Lutte Ouvrière), in which Ms Arthaud describes the Occupied Palestinian Territories (in particular Gaza), as "concentration camps under open skies", while stressing that this was "very strong wording".
Ms Joly was interviewed on the channel Europe 1 regarding a statement made in a letter by her rival candidate Nathalie Arthaud which was addressed to the site EuroPalestine. According to the journalist, in this statement Ms Arthaud said that "the policies of the Israeli government have transformed the Palestinian Territories into concentration camps under open skies, particularly so in the case of Gaza".
When she was asked if she had signed this statement, the candidate for the EELV responded: "Yes, I signed it".
Ms Joly said: "I visited Gaza with a delegation of the European Parliament in 2008 and, honestly, they are incarcerated, as regards the sea, the distance to which they are authorized to fish has been severely reduced, they cannot cultivate their land, and all communication is strictly controlled".
"But a concentration camp?" responded the journalist. "It is a very strong description. But they are incarcerated", Ms Joly replied.
On the website of EuroPalestine, Nathalie Arthaud expressed the following: "My party, Worker's Struggle, has always denounced in the strongest terms the policies of the Israeli government which push the Palestinians out of their land, imprison the population behind barbed wire and kilometers of concrete walls, and have transformed the Palestinian Territories into concentration camps under open skies, particularly in the case of Gaza".
Translation from French: JS for PNN
