France says Israeli ban against Palestinian entries will heighten tensions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has warned that Tel Aviv's ban on the entry of all Palestinians into Israel could further escalate tensions.

“The decision by the Israeli authorities to revoke tens of thousands of entry permits could stoke tensions, which could lead to a risk of escalation,” he said on Friday.

The decision followed a shooting attack at an open-air complex in Tel Aviv on Wednesday in which four Israelis were killed and 16 others were injured.

Israel imposed travel restrictions Thursday on Palestinians and sent hundreds of additional troops into the West Bank.

The measures will deny entry to 83,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and some 200 residents of the Gaza Strip into certain parts of the occupied territories.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said on Friday that the ban would remain in force until midnight Sunday.

The UN criticized the decision, saying it "may amount to prohibited collective punishment and will only increase the sense of injustice and frustration felt by Palestinians."

Israel’s move has sparked outrage among Palestinians who believe that they have a duty to visit the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, and protect it from settler attacks during the holy month of Ramadan.

Ayrault further pointed to an international conference that was held in Paris on June 3 in an attempt to revive so-called peace efforts between Palestinians and Israelis

“There must be a political initiative from the international community to create conditions conducive to appeasement and a return to negotiations,” he said.

“We need intense mobilization to start something new to force the parties, who will all be invited in the second part of the year to our conference, to talk to one another again,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the French initiative, saying he would only participate in direct negotiations. 

Ayrault also called for a halt to Israeli settlement building, which he called a “serious provocation.”

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Israel started construction work on 1,913 new housing units in illegal settlements across the West Bank, not including East al-Quds, in 2015, and finished the construction of 2,033 housing units there, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

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