Palestinians ambush French foreign minister

EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip - Dozens of Palestinians enraged by France's sympathy for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants ambushed the French foreign minister's motorcade in the Gaza Strip on Friday, pelting it with eggs and hurling a shoe that narrowly missed hitting her.

The protesters - relatives of Palestinians held in Israeli jails - accosted the convoy of Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie because they mistakenly believed she had called the captivity of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit a "war crime."

Schalit, 24, is an Israeli-French dual national. France has repeatedly called for his release since militants linked to Gaza's ruling Hamas group seized him in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

The demonstrators were lying in wait Friday on the only road into Gaza from Israel through the Erez Crossing when Alliot-Marie's motorcade entered.

In a separate and apparently unrelated development on Friday, Osama bin Laden demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of at least seven French hostages being held by groups associated with al-Qaida.

- AP