Paris-Plages: Tel Aviv invite prompts Palestinian protests By Hugh Schofield

BBC News, Paris Published duration 13 August 2015

image copyright AFP/Getty image caption A man-made beach has opened each year along a section of the River Seine since 2002

The holiday atmosphere along the River Seine will be severely tested on Thursday as friends and enemies of Israel take their respective beefs to the sandy esplanades of Paris-Plages.

It all began with an idea from the Hotel de Ville to devote a day to Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv, the Paris authorities decided, is a beach city par excellence. It is liberal. It is fun-loving. It is NOT Jerusalem.

What better way to reach out to the good guys in Israel than to create a special day of Paris-Plages (the capital's summer attraction since 2002), with falafels, electronic music and other TA staples?

Of course it was never going to pass off just like that.

There has been a storm of outrage from the pro-Palestinian camp. An online petition calling for the event to be banned has drawn 15,000 signatures.

A group called CAPJPO-EuroPalestine has announced plans for a demonstration on the quays next to the artificial beaches. Some 300 extra police are reported to have been mobilised to head off the risk of violence.

image copyright AFP/Getty image caption Tel Aviv is considered a beach city par excellence, the authorities reasoned

For opponents, the event is "indecent" and the city authorities are gullible purveyors of Israeli PR.

"A few days ago a Palestinian baby was burned to death; exactly a year ago the people of Gaza were being massacred; there's a permanent policy of excluding Palestinians from east Jerusalem.

"You can't just sweep that to one side for a festival of electro-dance," said Eric Coquerel, national secretary of the Left Party.

All of which prompted the Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to write an open letter to Le Monde

image copyright AFP/Getty image caption Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tel Aviv was not responsible for the policies of a government

"I could never regard a city as responsible for the policies of a government. To do that would be to show contempt for… democracy.

"It is perfectly possible to condemn the politics of the Netanyahu government without at the same time punishing the entire Israeli population - and ourselves as well - by refusing the contacts that are so important for mutual understanding."

The guiding principle of the French soft left remains the old notion that if only enough good people from the two sides got together and talked, all could be resolved.

For some it is naive; for others a necessary clinging to hope.

What is certain is that demonstrations of pro-Israeli friendship like this are increasingly rare in Europe.

Is that because Israel's actions are becoming so egregious? Because of a new alliance between the far-left and Europe's increasingly populous Muslims? Because of the success of the boycott Israel movement?

Who knows?

But on Paris-Plages this year, it's not just pleasure. It's also politics. And police.