UK consul forced out of West Bank campus
2013-03-05 18:11
Bir Zeit - Scores of Palestinian students forced the
British consul general to make a hasty departure from a West Bank university
campus on Tuesday, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.
Consul General Sir Vincent Fean had travelled to Bir Zeit
University near Ramallah to deliver a lecture on Britain's policy in the region
and the prospects for peace but was turned away by a noisy demonstration.
Video footage showed protesters banging on his car and
shouting: "Get out of Bir Zeit!"
Although Fean was hurriedly escorted back to his car then
whisked away unharmed by his security detail, the protesters managed to break
the car's wing mirror and taped pictures of a Palestinian prisoner on long-term
hunger strike onto the window, the correspondent said.
The protesters held up Palestinian flags and banners in
English and Arabic, one of which read: "I am a refugee because of
Balfour" in reference to Britain's publication in 1917 of the Balfour
Declaration calling for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people”.
The consulate confirmed the incident saying Fean had been
due to give a lecture on Britain's policies in the Middle East.
"Sir Vincent had hoped to underline Britain's deep
commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state, and the urgency of progress
on the peace process in 2013," a statement said.
"Sadly, such a dialogue was not possible on this
occasion," it said, without giving details.
Student protesters at Bir Zeit pulled off a similar stunt
in February 2000 when they booed and threw stones at then visiting French Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin demanding he leave the university in protest over
controversial remarks he made about Lebanon.
