AMMAN – The leader of Jordan's opposition Muslim Brotherhood accused France on Wednesday of "total bias" towards Israel in the Gaza crisis and urged a boycott of French products, the group's website said.

"Muslim and Arab nations should boycott French products in response to President Nicolas Sarkozy's remarks about Hamas," the Palestinian Islamist group, Hammam Saeed said in a statement on the site.

"The French position reveals open hostility towards Muslims and Arabs and total bias towards Israel, and also serves Zionist interests."

Sarkozy blamed Hamas on Monday for the suffering of Palestinians inside the embattled Gaza Strip, where Israel's 12-day-old war has now killed at least 666 people.

"Hamas acted in an irresponsible and unforgivable manner... Hamas is to blame for the suffering of the Palestinians," Sarkozy said.

He made his comments after arriving in Israel for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem.

Sarkozy was on a regional tour to rally support behind a French initiative for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"We cannot remain silent about France's position. France will get a clear message if the more than one billion Muslims boycott its products," Saeed said.

Around 400 students staged a sit-in on Tuesday outside the European Commission, where they handed officials a letter demanding that Sarkozy apologise and retract his remarks.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), has six seats in Jordan's 110-member lower house of parliament.

[AFP / Expatica]