Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO walked out in protest during a speech by the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in which she denounced Israel’s ongoing closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Suha Arafat made the remarks last week at a ceremony here marking the departure of a convoy carrying 200 tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza.
The aid, collected by a French charity, was carried out under the sponsorship of the United nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Leah Rabin, the widow of slain Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin, also lent her support to the relief project.
“We are fed up with being victims of collective punishment. Many children are dying because medical supplies are not reaching them because of the closure,” Arafat said.
“We don’t want to be pawns in the Israeli elections,” she added, suggesting that the closure had been implemented solely for political motives.
Israel imposed the closure after the first of four Hamas suicide bombings in Israel in late February and early March that claimed the lives of 59 victims.
Avi Shoket, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, said he walked out on Arafat’s speech because the organizers of the ceremony had assured him “there would be no political manipulation or exploitation of the ceremony.”
Shoket said he had not spoken to Arafat or her aide before the ceremony about what she was going to say, adding, “It is unacceptable that UNESCO once again be used as a platform to bash Israel.”
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