WEST BANK/GAZA/ISRAEL: PALESTINIANS MARK THE TWELFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WITH MARCHES ACROSS WEST BANK AND GAZA DESPITE THE HELP OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIATORS

Record ID: 400325

  • Title: WEST BANK/GAZA/ISRAEL: PALESTINIANS MARK THE TWELFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WITH MARCHES ACROSS WEST BANK AND GAZA DESPITE THE HELP OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIATORS
  • Date: 15th November 2000
  • Summary: HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 15, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING THROUGH STREET CARRYING FLAGS 0.10 2. MCU DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING PLACARD WITH PICTURE OF IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN 0.13 3. CU MARCHERS FEET PAN TO MARCHERS WITH FACES HIDDEN BY BALACLAVAS 0.22 4. SV DEMONSTRATORS BURNING ISRAE
  • Embargoed: 30th November 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HEBRON/ RAMALLAH, WEST BANK/ GAZA/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVADGTW475GJU94XZDPIP68JNUDX
  • Story Text: Palestinians have marked the twelfth anniversary of the
    declaration of independence with marches across West Bank and
    Gaza.

    The demonstrations lead to clashes with Israeli soldiers
    and exchanges of fire between the two sides in a continuation
    of violence that both sides seem unable to stop despite the
    help of international mediators.



    Palestinian demonstrators accompanied by armed gunmen
    on Wednesday (November 15) began the first of a series of
    marches planned to commemorate the anniversary of a
    declaration of independence made by Palestinian President
    Yasser Arafat in 1988.

    Many Palestinians had hoped a state would be established
    on November 15, but those thoughts have been shelved as
    Palestinians fight Israeli soldiers in gun battles and stone
    throwing protests in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza.

    The Israeli army fired anti-tank missiles in West Bank
    fighting on Wednesday (November 15), as at least four
    Palestinians were killed in clashes.

    The army said it used anti-tank missiles and tank machine
    guns to quell massive gunfire coming from an apartment
    building at a flashpoint junction near the Palestinian-ruled
    West Bank town of Ramallah.

    Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian policeman and an
    18-year-old in the West Bank town of Tulkarm, the town's
    governor and hospital officials said. Eight people were
    wounded.

    The army said it fired precise shots at demonstrators'
    feet in Tulkarm when stone-throwing became life-threatening.

    A 20-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead with a bullet
    in the chest during a gunbattle with Israeli troops near the
    ancient West Bank town of Jericho, hospital officials said.

    A Gaza hospital said it received the body of a 20-year-old
    Palestinian man shot by Israeli troops in the Karni area
    during the morning.

    The army denied firing shots in Karni but said it had a
    firefight with Palestinian gunmen near the Jewish settlement
    of Kfar Darom.

    In the meantime in Gaza, at a meeting with U.N.

    Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat called for more support from the
    international community to restore peace process: "She
    (Robinson) has seen for herself the hardships the Palestinian
    people are going through. We hope that together we will push
    the peace process forward. This is not only a Palestinian
    task, it is also an international one," said Arafat.

    Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Israel
    today as part of his Middle East tour. He has already met with
    Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Egypt's President Hosni
    Mubarak. At a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo
    Ben-Aami he confirmed Russia's commitment to co-sponsorship of
    Middle East peace process: "From our point of view, the main
    task is to bring the situation to normal, and return to
    dialogue (translator). As co-sponsor (of the peace process),
    we have to listen carefully to all the sides and know in
    details their positions".

    "We are in the middle of a march of folly and this tragic
    situation needs to be brought to an end if we are to create
    the proper conditions in order to move back to the peace
    process, to resume the talks. Which needs to be the main, the
    major objective, I expect, of both Palestinians and Israelis
    -- I can vouch for Israel that it has been our objective
    throughout; this is the reason why we went to Camp David, this
    is the reason why we negotiated with the Palestinians after
    Camp David and this is the reason why we are ready to resume
    negotiations now, provided of course that there is an
    observation of the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings and indeed
    of the Peres-Arafat understandings", said Ben-Ami.

    The deaths of Wednesday raised to 222 the number of people
    killed in nearly seven weeks of violence, most of them
    Palestinian.


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