British-Palestinian physician refused permission to enter France to attend Senate meeting

A renowned physician from Britain and Palestine was denied entry into France, where he intended to address the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta is currently being kept in a holding area at the Charles de Gaulle airport and will be sent out of the country. This decision was made by French Sen Raymonde Poncet-Monge, who had invited him to speak at the Senate.

“Poncet-Monge expressed his disappointment on X. ”

A French person in charge said that Abu Sitta was not allowed to enter because all countries in the Schengen area were told not to let him in by Germany. The person in charge, who wasn’t allowed to give their name, wouldn’t share any details or more information.

Abu Sitta shared on social media that he was not allowed to go to France because Germany had banned him from entering Europe for a year. Last month, Germany refused to let him come in. France and Germany are part of a border-free area in Europe called the Schengen zone. Abu Sitta said on Saturday that he was going back to London.

The French government and Paris airport officials did not want to talk about what happened or explain it.

Abu Sitta was asked by a group in the French Senate to talk about Gaza at a meeting on Saturday. The meeting had doctors, reporters, and legal experts who have experience with Gaza.

Abu Sitta was not allowed to go to Germany for a conference supporting Palestine last month. He said he was stopped at passport control, kept for a long time, and then told he had to go back to the UK. The airport police said he was not allowed in because of safety concerns for people at the conference and public order.

Abu Sitta, who recently helped as a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, has worked during many fights in the Palestinian areas, starting in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other places with fighting, like Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

France has been experiencing a lot of arguments and fighting because of the conflict in the Middle East ever since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. Recently, the police in France have removed students from campuses where they were protesting and doing sit-ins, which is similar to what is happening in the United States.