VARIOUS: DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH ISRAELI FORCES WHILE THOUSANDS OF MUSLIM WORSHIPPERS ATTEND FRIDAY PRAYERS AHEAD OF GAZA PULLOUT

Record ID: 400892

  • Title: VARIOUS: DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH ISRAELI FORCES WHILE THOUSANDS OF MUSLIM WORSHIPPERS ATTEND FRIDAY PRAYERS AHEAD OF GAZA PULLOUT
  • Date: 13th August 2005
  • Summary: BEILIN VILLAGE, WEST BANK (AUGUST 12, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV ISRAELI SOLDIERS; SLV DEMONSTRATORS THROWING ROCKS AT ISRAELI SOLDIERS; WIDE SOLDIER CROUCHING ON GROUND SHIELDING HIS FACE FROM TEAR GAS 0.19 2. WIDE SOLDIERS LINED UP HOLDING WEAPONS; PALESTINIAN YOUTH THROWING A ROCK; PALESTINIAN YOUTHS THROWING ROCKS AND RUNNING FROM SOLDIERS; MV SOLD
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVADQTT1EXZUN88BR61XLDZGT2FK
  • Story Text: Demonstrators clash with Israeli forces while
    thousands of Muslim worshippers attend Friday prayers ahead
    of a Gaza pullout.



    As Israel prepares to evacuate its enclave in Gaza, dozens of
    demonstrators on Friday (August 12, 2005) clashed with Israeli soldiers in the West
    Bank against Israel's separation barrier.

    Witnesses in Beilin said demonstrators marched towards the construction
    site of the barrier where violence then erupted with the Israeli soldiers.


    Israeli troops fired tear gas at a crowd of villagers and peace
    activists in the villages of Beilin and Azoon and Palestinian youths threw
    rocks at the soldiers.

    Israel has already built more than a third of the planned 600 km (370
    mile) barrier, which it says keeps out Palestinian bombers. But construction
    has been held up by appeals filed by Palestinian petitioners.

    The barrier has remained a major source of tension between Israel and
    the Palestinians as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to implement
    his plan to evacuate settlements in Gaza and parts of the West Bank starting
    in mid-August. Palestinians say the barrier steals from them of land they need
    for a viable state.

    As tension continues to rise ahead of the withdrawal from scheduled to
    begin on August 15, tens of thousands of Palestinian and Israeli-Arab Muslim
    worshippers flocked into al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to attend Friday
    services.

    "We accept the withdrawal from Gaza as a good start because we
    want to finish the Israeli occupation, but we refuse the Israeli withdrawal
    from Gaza instead of Jerusalem and the West Bank. There is no contact between
    the Gaza withdrawal and al- Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem. We refuse to make
    Jerusalem just for Jews only. We refuse the Israeli police interference at al
    Aqsa Mosque. We are asking our people not to come to the settlements which
    are going to be pulled out from (next week by the Israeli Army) because there
    might be bombs inside them. We should leave everything to the Palestinian
    Security and to make sure everyone is safe," Ikrima Sabri, a cleric at
    al Aqsa Mosque told Reuters.

    As some 30,000 worshippers took part in the prayers, scores of Israeli
    security were deployed across Jerusalem to ensure that calm and order would be
    maintained.

    A small group of Jewish settlers held morning prayers in one of
    Jerusalem's public squares, as a protest against the upcoming withdrawal.

    Israeli police planned to go on on high alert from Sunday (August 14),
    beefing up roadblocks outside Gaza to head off protesters.

    Months of protests, road blockades and acts of sabotage have failed to
    keep Sharon from overcoming political and legal hurdles en route to removal of
    all 21 Gaza settlements under his plan for "disengaging" from
    conflict with Palestinians.

    Polls show a majority of Israelis favour quitting Gaza, where 8,500 Jews
    live isolated from 1.4 million Palestinians. But opponents say a withdrawal
    rewards a Palestinian uprising and betrays Jewish claims of a biblical
    birthright to the land.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register