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Israel stops European consuls from entering Ramallah
Associated Press, Apr 2, 2002


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020402/ap_wo_en_ge/israel_european_diplomats_4

Israel stops European consuls from entering Ramallah

Tue Apr 2, 7:52 AM ET
By YOAV APPEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers on Thursday prevented a group of about two dozen European diplomats from entering the besieged West Bank city of Ramallah to check on European citizens living there.
     The convoy of representatives from 14 European Union (news - web sites) states was carrying food, water and medical supplies for European citizens, said Swedish Consul-General Catherina Kipp. Some foreigners want to leave Ramallah but cannot because of the Israeli incursion.
    The Israeli army invaded Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem, along with several other Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank following a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed scores of Israeli civilians.
    The European consulates did not have precise figures on the number of European residents in Ramallah. Kipp estimated there were about 30 Swedes in the city.
    Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said the diplomats were blocked from entering Ramallah in order "to protect their lives due to fighting in the city which has been forced on us by Palestinian terror."
    Foreigners who wished to leave Ramallah, which has been under curfew, would be given the opportunity Tuesday afternoon, an army spokesman said. The curfew would be lifted and foreigners would be able to leave of their own accord, the spokesman said.
    Outside the biblical town of Bethlehem, which Israeli troops entered early Tuesday, a convoy of British and U.S. cars were blocked from entering, a spokesman from the British Consulate said. The convoy was trying to assist foreign citizens in the town, the spokesman said.
    Kipp said that the Europeans in Ramallah had no electricity and were suffering from food and water shortages. Requests to the army to allow the diplomats entry were denied, she said, despite pleas that foreigners were trapped in the city.
    After their attempt to cross the checkpoint by foot was blocked by soldiers silently manning the area at the mostly deserted checkpoint, the representatives were forced to return to their convoy and turn back.
    "We are here to exert our consular rights, and to be able to reach our citizens in Ramallah," the French Consul-General Denis Pietton told reporters at gathered at the checkpoint outside the city. "As you can see we are prevented from entering."

(ya-gm)
Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press



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