22 Dead, 350 Hurt as Israeli Troops Fire on Naksa Day Protesters in Golan
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Israeli gunfire killed 22 people and wounded about 350 others on Sunday as demonstrators on the Syrian side tried to cross the ceasefire line on the annexed Golan Heights, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported.
"The protesters, hundreds strong, were both Syrian and Palestinian," SANA said.
The protesters rushed towards the ceasefire line, attempting to cut through a line of barbed wire and head into the Golan Heights in a repeat of demonstrations last month, which saw thousands mass along Israel's north.
Similar protests were held in the West Bank, where hundreds demonstrated at the Qalandia checkpoint near Ramallah, and in Gaza, where several hundred gathered in the north of the coastal enclave.
In Majdal Shams, on the occupied Golan, Israeli troops opened fire as demonstrators sought to push through the mined ceasefire line, which has been reinforced with two lines of curled barbed wire blocking access to a fence.
"Despite numerous warnings, both verbal and later warning shots in the air, dozens of Syrians continue to approach the border and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) forces were left with no choice but to open fire towards the feet of protesters in efforts to deter further actions," an Israeli army spokesman told Agence France Presse.
Israeli public radio reported that several protesters were injured when a landmine exploded near Quneitra, which lies in no-man's land between Israel and Syria, but there was no immediate confirmation from either side.
Updating an earlier toll, Syrian state media reported that 22 people were killed and 350 wounded.
An AFP photographer saw at least 20 people with injuries, some soaked in blood as they were evacuated from the scene, while the Israeli military said it was aware of 12 casualties.
Syrian television showed footage of protesters trying to scale the barbed wire as Israeli soldiers atop a tank opened fire.
"Our aim is to plant the Syrian flag on the occupied land," one of the protesters, Mohammed Shaiber, said in the television report.
On the Israeli side, Majdal Shams locals pleaded with soldiers to stop firing as troops used loudspeakers to warn demonstrators in Arabic that "anyone who comes close to the fence will be responsible for their own blood."
Israel forces were placed on high alert after activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in Arab nations bordering the Jewish state, called for protesters to march on Israeli checkpoints and border areas.
Israeli military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovitz accused Syria of orchestrating the latest Golan protest to deflect attention from deadly anti-regime demonstrations in the Arab country.
"We believe that the Syrian regime is focusing the world's attention on the border with Israel instead of what is happening there," she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also commented on the protests, calling demonstrators "extremist elements" who "are trying to break through our borders and threaten our communities and our citizens."
In the West Bank on Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Qalandia checkpoint by Ramallah, and threw stones at Israeli troops who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Ten demonstrators were taken to hospital with light wounds from rubber bullets, while another 20 were treated at the scene for tear gas inhalation.
Elsewhere, around 100 people demonstrated in central Hebron in the southern West Bank, while dozens of protesters tried to march from the northern West Bank village of Deir al-Hatab to the Elon Moreh settlement nearby.
In Gaza, several hundred demonstrators gathered at the entrance of the northern town of Beit Hanun, with Hamas police preventing them from marching on the Erez border crossing with Israel.
Tens of demonstrators who tried to break away and march north clashed with Hamas police, who detained at least a dozen.
Sunday's protests, timed to coincide with the 44th anniversary of the Six-Day War when Israel captured the Golan from Syria as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, were intended to be a repeat of massive demonstrations last month.
On May 15, thousands of protesters massed on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, trying to force their way across on the anniversary of Israel's creation.
Israeli troops opened fire on demonstrators as they stormed the borders from Syria and Lebanon, leaving six dead on the Lebanese side of the border and four dead on Syria's side.
In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees on Sunday staged a day of mourning but the Lebanese army banned any gatherings at the border with Israel to avoid a repeat of the violence.
05 June 2011, 17:09
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Interesting how Rami Makhlouf's predictions or should I say threats are coming true after about 13,719 days, give or take a few hours, of complete calm the Golan border is been agitated again. So Makhlouf was correct, the Syrian regime guaranteed Israel's security. I guess all the Syrian rhetoric about defiance and confrontation was all BS and the Zionist and Baath regimes protected each others to assure their mutual survival. What some people had suspected for a long long time have now been irrefutably and conclusively confirmed.
05 June 2011, 18:33
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yalla , soon we will be free from that cancer called Palestinian refugees in Lebanon after 65 very long years of hell ....
If Syria is devided , the Alaouites will have their own country that is ready to be declared , they will include half of the Syrian Christians , and the other half will come to Lebanon .
The Syrian Sunnis will have their own Salafi Wahhaby country , and all the Palestinians in Lebanon that are all of them Sunnis and Salafis , will HAVE to go and live in that country with their Sunni Salafis Arab brothers ..
After that , many other Lebanese will follow them , I let you guess WHO are they . All I can tell you is that Tripoli , Saïda and Beirut , will be freed from a certain tension and Arab fanatism (...) .
We will see that in 6 months time , or a year maximum .
05 June 2011, 19:10
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But LeP what would we do with the Hammas Palis in Dahier? Will Hassan let them go he seems to enjoy their company.
05 June 2011, 21:02
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People... YOU LOST THE WAR
just get over it, why do you have to celebrate a loss... dummies
05 June 2011, 22:11
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Le Fini stop rushing into things my brave Shiite comrade we are all waiting for SHN to give us the order to invade and occupy the Galilee. The IAF will be destroying every building in Lebanon while he's doing it; but that OK everything fida filasteen as the Sayyed taught us, it's what we've been Jihading for, right. But wait the up side in all this is that we can then send the Salafi Wahhabi Sunni Palestinians friends of SHN to live in the freshly occupied by SHN Galilee, win win.
06 June 2011, 02:00
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There will be a holocaust II. This time it will be the Jews of Israel. Mike...the Arabs never lost any war, they lost a battle. Palestine will return to its people, by any means necessary...even if it means killing every Israeli Jewish citizens. The Crusaders were beaten after 200 years. It will be militarily or like the case of Aparheid South Africa ...peaceful.
06 June 2011, 02:26
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Nabil, even though there is no better cause to die for than killing Zionist NAZIS, Israel will be history most likely the way Apartheid South Africa did. The two-state solution, separate and totally unequal, which is Apartheid, is dead. There will be one state, one man one vote majority rule. In four years the Christian and Muslim Arabs will become a majority in Israel/Palestine. Israel cannot do what it did in nineteen forty eight because ethnic cleansing is no longer tolerated by the west and the world. Also, Apartheid is no longer tolerated (at least not for long). Even in "Israel proper”, the Arabs will be a majority in forty years even without the right of return of refugees. Remember, it took two hundred years for white minority rule to end in Southern Africa. Israel will be renamed Palestine the same way Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe. Does anyone remember a country called Rhodesia? And this is how “Israel” will be remembered in the future.
06 June 2011, 02:31
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Even though Naharnet is suppose to be the voice of M14, the majority who write comments are not M14, but Zionist hooligans. What does that say?
06 June 2011, 02:47
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Cont. off course, I am only referring to English Naharnet version.
06 June 2011, 03:08
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Le phenicien, are u on acid,... U seem to hate sunnis. Ur a weak man.. just grow up.
06 June 2011, 03:30
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I am with Nabil and after the Jews of Israel it's going to be the turn of the Christians of the Middle East, clean the place up once and for all. Sayyed Hassan warned us that they were brought here by the Byzantine empire to be a thorn in the side of the Muslims and without them around the new Muslim Middle East the brave Iranian leadership told us about a couple of month ago can at last be created and Muslim dignity restored.
06 June 2011, 07:36
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Babal you made me laugh man ...occupy your own territory and then aim at others...you can't even bring your back (translate this to lebanese you would know exactly what i mean)
06 June 2011, 11:49
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Proof in one day that Both Assad and Natanyahoo have the same level of disrepect of human life. No wonder why Natanyahoo is trying his best to safeguard the Assad's criminal regime. Hopefully the Arab Spring will be followed by an Israeli Spring lead by organizations such as Peace Now and human right groups. Israel bigotry is worst than Iran, and its Apartheid wall is a mark of shame on every Israeli that places their civility into the mythology shelves.
06 June 2011, 14:58
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It is funny reading comments like those of Nabil and Mohammad fawaz, who i deem to be exeptionnally delusional people, i dont like Israel, as i much as i dont like Hezbollah or Syria, but one must admit reality in order to change it, Israel has brought the arabs to their knees in the 67 war, and it was alone, it got the best of most of them, and stop dreaming about Hezbollah doing anything for Israel , cause they work for them indirectly, undermining arab countries stability, lebanon's stabitly, palestinians in Lebanon cannot even throw an attack on Israel because hezbollah is now responsible for the south, all that are Israeli wishes, he is protecting them more than harming them, and you are dreaming my friends if you see that otherwise because this is the reality, do you think if Hezbollah takes over it will fight Israel? not a chance.. like the cowards in Iran, they will bark as usual from far but will never dare to stick first anymore , '' the dog that barks does not bite ''
06 June 2011, 15:50
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The idea is simple, you try to cross the border into another country illegally, especially a country you are at war with, you are going to get shot, it doesn't take a genious to figure it out. I am not with Israel, but I don't blame them for shooting at the protesters.
John from Koura, If you comment against the Pals and HA and Syria, and if you are logical with what you say, it doesn't mean that you are pro-Israeli and a zionist, the validity of this argument is old and no longer valid.
Le Phenicien, I hope you are right :) and Pacifier, you took the words right out of my mouth, Nasrallah is the biggest Zionist....
