MIDDLE EAST: Clashes during five-year anniversary of barrier protests/Hamas warns Europeans not to cooperate with Israel

Record ID: 1540606

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Clashes during five-year anniversary of barrier protests/Hamas warns Europeans not to cooperate with Israel
  • Date: 20th February 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS LEADER MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR SAYING: "If the West allows the Zionist enemy to turn their ground into a ground to kill Muslim Palestinians or to a ground from which they move out to Arab and Muslim land to kill our people, then we will confront according to God's saying, 'a wrong doing for a wrong doing'." MEN PRAYING AT MOSQUE
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2010 20:37
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVADG4ILJSLZN8H3W3Y87OIT7KI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Scuffles erupted on Friday (February 19) between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers in the village of Bilin, during a protest marking the fifth year of weekly demonstration against the continued contruction of the separation barrier.
    Israeli army officials said that approximately 1,200 rioters took part in an illegal riot in the village, hurled rocks at security forces and caused damage to the barrier. The officials added that the army responded using riot dispersal means including tear gas and the 'skunk', a truck spraying a strong-smelling liquid developed by Israeli security forces.
    Among those attending the anniversary event was Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He maded a speech in Bilin but did not take part in the violent demonstration.
    "The elapse of five years have created a positive change in the way that the world views the Palestinian people and their solemn determination to acquire their freedom and independence. This movement, that many did not believe in back when it first began, has over the course of five years accomplished what it set out to accomplish -- creativity, novelty and determination," Fayyad said.
    The anniversary demonstration took place despite a February 12 announcement by the Israeli army saying that Israel began rerouting part of its barrier near Bilin, after a top court heard residents' complaints over land seizures for the controversial project.
    Elsewhere in the West Bank, youths from the village of Nabi Saleh rallied near the Jewish settlement of Khalamish. Village resident say settlers recently built makeshift structures on their land, and that the Israeli military prevented them from entering it.
    Israeli army spokesperson unit said that fifty rioters took part in an illegal and violent riot. The unit reported that demonstrators hurled rocks at security forces who responded using riot-dispersal means including tear gas and stun grenades.
    Also on Friday, a Hamas official warned western countires from getting involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict, as an assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai remained regional top news.
    "If the West allows the Zionist enemy to turn their ground into a ground to kill Muslim Palestinians or to a ground from which they move out to Arab and Muslim land to kill our people, then we will confront according to God's saying, 'a wrong doing for a wrong doing'," Mahmoud al-Zahar told worshippers at Friday prayers in Gaza City.
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