ISRAEL: Clashes between Israeli police and Arab Israelis protesting Gaza operation

Record ID: 395370

  • Title: ISRAEL: Clashes between Israeli police and Arab Israelis protesting Gaza operation
  • Date: 30th December 2008
  • Summary: KAFR KANA, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 28, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF ARAB ISRAELIS PROTESTING AGAINST ISRAELI OPERATION IN GAZA VARIOUS OF TEENAGERS SITTING ON TOP OF STRUCTURE, WAVING PALESTINIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) FAEZ ABBAS, ISRAELI-ARAB JOURNALIST SAYING: "Today is in protest of the massacre in Gaza. The Arab sector in Israel declared a general strike and many demonstrations were or
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Police
  • Reuters ID: LVA3Y6Q0YID47U4QFGWOS7J1JSID
  • Story Text: Israeli Arabs clashed with Israeli police in several locations in northern Israel on Sunday (December 28), in protest against Israel's attacks on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which killed more than 280 since Saturday (December 27).
    A demonstration held in the northern village of Kafar Kana, erupted in the evening to clashes with police forces, who attempted to disperse rioting teenagers with tear gas.

    "Today is in protest of the massacre in Gaza. The Arab sector in Israel declared a general strike and many demonstrations were organised in all Arab villages, towns and cities, in protest of this massacre," journalist Faez Abbas told Reuters television.
    Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said that clashes erupted in several villages and towns in northern Israel during the day, and were dispersed using tear gas and water hoses. Several arrests were reported.
    Tensions also rose throughout major West Bank cities as hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in protest of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 280 people, most of them Hamas militants.
    Israel said its Gaza campaign is aimed at stopping Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.
    Hamas Islamists seized the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas later formed a new administration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Fatah holds sway.
    Israel destroyed Hamas's main Gaza security complex in an air strike on Sunday (December 28) and prepared for a possible invasion of the territory after killing more than 280 Palestinians in the first 24 hours of a powerful offensive.
    Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily cross-border rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas, an Islamist group in charge of the coastal enclave Israel quit in 2005, ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.
    Despite the air assaults, militants fired some 80 rockets into Israel, emergency services said. In one of the deepest attacks, two rockets struck near Ashdod, a main port some 30 km (18 miles) from Gaza, causing no casualties, police said.
    Israeli tanks deployed on the edge of the Gaza Strip, poised to enter the impoverished enclave where 1.5 million Palestinians live. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet approved a call-up of 6,500 reservists, a government official said.
    Keeping pressure on Hamas after one of the bloodiest days for Palestinians in 60 years of conflict, Israeli aircraft flattened the group's main security compound in Gaza, killing at least four security men, a health official said.
    The deaths raised to 286 the number of Palestinians killed since Saturday, when Israel launched what one Israeli newspaper columnist described as "shock and awe" air strikes against Hamas facilities. More than 700 Palestinians were wounded One Israeli was killed on Saturday by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.
    Israeli military affairs commentators said the Israeli offensive did not appear to be aimed at retaking the Gaza Strip or destroying the territory's Hamas government -- ambitious goals that could prove difficult and politically risky to achieve ahead of Israel's Feb. 10 parliamentary election.
    Instead, they said, Israel -- after an air bombardment on Saturday -- wanted to strengthen its deterrence power and force Hamas into a new truce that would lead to a long-term halt to cross-border rocket salvoes.
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