PARIS, 21 August — Israel has given in to European pressure and has decided to no longer systematically subject Western diplomats to illegal searches of their vehicles. The practice, which goes back to the start of Operation Rampart in late March, was condemned by French diplomats who repeatedly pointed out to the representatives of Tsahal who man the checkpoints leading into the Palestinian territories that the searches were illegal according to the Vienna Convention.
The vehicles of ambassadors of several member countries of the European Union which are subject to diplomatic immunity, were blocked at checkpoints when the diplomats refused to allow Israeli Army officers to check the vehicles.
Around mid-August, the Tsahal checkpoint authorities suddenly stopped the searches and since then have limited their intervention to the simple passage of a mirror under the car to check on the presence of explosivees. A French military source said the change in Israeli attitude came after the French secret services recently let it be known to a Paris-based representative of the Mossad that if Israel persisted with its ways, France was prepared to leak to the press the details of an “embarrassing incident” involving Israeli authorities.
