WEST BANK: ISRAELI TROOPS CLASH WITH ARABS AND JEWISH ACTIVISTS PROTESTING AT A NEW WEST BANK JEWISH SETTLEMENT SITE

Record ID: 399989

  • Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI TROOPS CLASH WITH ARABS AND JEWISH ACTIVISTS PROTESTING AT A NEW WEST BANK JEWISH SETTLEMENT SITE
  • Date: 29th December 1994
  • Summary: AL- KHADER AND MECHOLA, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 29+30, 1994) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) AL-KHADER (DECEMBER 30) 1. SV HUNDREDS OF PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS 0.13 2. SV DEMONSTRATORS PUSHING ISRAELI SOLDIERS 0.22 3. SV SOLDIERS PUSHING BACK DEMONSTRATORS 0.33 4. SV PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELI SOLDIERS SCUFFLING 0.38 5. SV DE
  • Embargoed: 13th January 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-KHADER AND MECHOLA, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAJD7QO0U0NFGABPDNZJJIK46C
  • Story Text: Israeli troops clashed with hundreds of Arabs and Jewish peace activists protesting on Friday (December 30) at a new West Bank Jewish settlement site, which has threatened Israeli-Palestinian talks.

    The demonstrators charged scores of Israeli troops guarding the disputed site near Bethlehem, which has ignited PLO anger over renewed Jewish settlement activity.

    Demonstators also threw stones at border police troops, knocking one unconscious and cutting another in the forehead.

    Troops pushed back the protesters, in some cases clubbing them.

    They arrested more than a dozen and imposed a curfew on nearby al-Khader.

    The army had banned demonstrations at the hilltop construction area, but hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians arrived at al-Khader on Friday to protest, urging the Israeli Government to stop the bulldozers.

    Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition by activists to reverse an army order outlawing demonstrations at the site.

    Settlers say the project was approved by the previous, pro-settlement Likud government. Palestinian villagers say the land is theirs.

    Before the clashes, PLO leader Yasser Arafat addressed the crowd by phone through a loudspeaker from his Gaza headquarters, appealing for them to continue their stand against development of the land.

    A PLO advisor at the scene, Ahmed Tibi, said the Israeli troops had provoked the demonstrators, adding he was shocked by the troops' brutal behaviour.

    Earlier on Friday, settlers said they destroyed the foundation of a Palestinian-owned petrol station under construction elsewhere in the West Bank, to prevent Arabs from building there.


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