From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Deported French-Palestinian lawyer wants France to help him return to Jerusalem
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePalestinian lawyer and activist Salah Hamouri is urging France to use more diplomatic leverage to force Israel to reverse his deportation from Jerusalem last month.
Hamouri, who holds French citizenship, landed in Paris on December 18 following months of legal wrangling, despite France’s public opposition to the expulsion over what Israel says are tied to terror group PFLP.
France didn’t “work enough to help me and my cause” and opted not to use “means of pressure” at its disposal, he tells the Associated Press.
He urges French authorities “to use the best means of pressure so that I can go back home.”
Hamouri says his deportation “will leave me only the courage to continue my struggle against the Israeli occupation and to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.”
“I can’t imagine myself living out of Jerusalem and out of Palestine because this is the place where I grew up. This is the place where I want to live and this is the place where I want to go back,” he says.
Hamouri says he’s spending time his wife and children, who are French, in the Paris region, resting and recovering from a 19-day hunger strike he went on in October to protest Israel’s policy of administrative detention.
He does not provide details on how he will continue his political activities.
The Times of Israel Community.