The French-Palestinian lawyer, Salah Hammouri, who was expelled by the Israeli occupation authorities, arrived today, Sunday, at Roissy airport near Paris, at around 10:20 GMT. He was received by his wife, Elsa, and dozens of people. They rallied for him, as reported by an AFP journalist.
A number of elected officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and supporters of the Palestinian cause gathered to receive the 37-year-old lawyer, who has been detained since March in Israel without formal charge.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Israel´s expulsion of Hammouri, who has been held in an Israeli prison since March without formal charges, considering it "contrary to the law."
After a judicial series that lasted for months, Israel expelled Hammouri, who had been detained without official charge in an Israeli prison since March, to France, on Sunday morning. He has arrived in Paris.
The Israeli Interior Ministry said in a statement that Hammouri "was deported this morning to France after the decision of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked to withdraw his residence permit."
The French Foreign Ministry affirmed that "since his recent arrest, France has taken full measures, including at the highest level in the state, to ensure respect for the rights of Salah al-Hamouri, to benefit him from all legal appeals, and to enable him to live a normal life in Jerusalem, where he was born, resides, and desires to live.”
In her statement, she added, "France has taken several steps with the Israeli authorities to express in the clearest possible way its opposition to the expulsion of a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, a territory occupied under the Fourth Geneva Convention."
Al-Hamouri sent a message to the Palestinian people before he left his homeland, in which he said,
This is my last message before I leave my country and
sons of my steadfast Palestinian people,,,
Greetings to the Palestinian homeland, and greetings starting with the first people,,,
I am sending this message while I am subjected to forced displacement and uprooting from my homeland
This enemy believes that by practicing the policy of displacement and ethnic cleansing, it will win over us.
Our Palestine is a choice and a choice, loyalty and belonging, a land and a memory, a place and a time. There is no decision of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing that terrorizes me, does not deter us or deter us from our choice of resistance, and there is no power above the ground that can uproot Palestine and the people of Palestine from our minds and our existence .
I am leaving you today, my homeland, by force and coercion. I am leaving you today from prison into exile, but be sure that we will remain as you promised me, loyal to you, and keen on your freedom. I will carry you with me wherever you are. You will remain my only compass, until we meet again, and I embrace you in Jerusalem, Galilee, and Haifa. You may ask of me what you will, and I promise to be your faithful soldier forever and ever.
From prison to exile... Salah al-Hamouri arrived in Paris after his expulsion from the occupation
