WEST BANK /GAZA: DEMONSTRATORS SCUFFLE WITH POLICE OVER ISRAEL'S SEPARATION BARRIER WITH THE WEST BANK/ PALESTINIAN CONCERN OVER ISRAELI USA MEETING

Record ID: 400897

  • Title: WEST BANK /GAZA: DEMONSTRATORS SCUFFLE WITH POLICE OVER ISRAEL'S SEPARATION BARRIER WITH THE WEST BANK/ PALESTINIAN CONCERN OVER ISRAELI USA MEETING
  • Date: 14th April 2004
  • Summary: (W4) BIDU, WEST BANK (APRIL 14, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF BULLDOZERS AND DIRT DIGGERS WORKING IN AREA 0.14 2. VARIOUS OF BORDER POLICE AT SCENE 0.25 3. WIDE OF DEMONSTRATORS RUNNING THROUGH HILLS 0.33 4. SLV DEMONSTRATORS AFFECTED BY TEAR GAS 0.44 5. WIDE OF AMBULANCE ON SITE 0.51 6. VARIOUS OF MORE
  • Embargoed: 29th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BIDU AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAE02KRZH68G3T0WU0CG9WFV2VA
  • Story Text: Violence overshadows key talks in Washington.




    Demonstrators protesting Israel's separation barrier
    scuffled with Israeli border police in the West Bank
    village of Bidu on Wednesday (April 14) hours ahead of what
    Palestinian leaders say is a "concerning" and potentially
    "dangerous" statement due to be issued in Washington
    following talks between the U.S. President George W. Bush
    and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

    Israel says the barrier keeps out Palestinian
    militants, but Palestinians call it a land grab since it
    differs from the "Green Line" border that was created in
    1967 separating the West Bank from Israel.

    By snaking into the West Bank and enveloping Jewish
    settlements, Palestinians argue the project is intended to
    annex territory that Israel occupied in a 1967 war but
    which they want for a viable state under a U.S.-backed
    peace plan.

    Crowds that had gathered on the hillsides were quickly
    dispersed by tear gas lobbed by police in the direction of
    the demonstrators.

    The violence came hours before key talks were due to be
    held in Washington between Bush and Sharon.

    "We are really and seriously concerned about the
    reports that there will be a statement or promises during a
    meeting between the Israeli prime minister and the U.S.

    president," Qurie told reporters in Ramallah.

    "As of 11 a.m. today the Palestinian leadership will be
    in constant meetings to follow up this dangerous
    development to show how dangerous this development is."
    The remarks came as Bush looked set to announce
    qualified support for Israel's planned unilateral pullout
    from the Gaza Strip.

    Sharon hopes to spin any presidential seal of approval
    for a historic withdrawal from occupied land into a victory
    over far-right opponents of the move in a binding vote by
    members of his right-wing Likud party on May 2.

    But with Palestinians crying foul over Sharon's pledge
    this week to couple a Gaza pullback with strengthening
    major Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the United
    States must navigate its latest Middle East minefield
    carefully.

    Any perceived U.S. endorsement of a cementing of
    Israel's hold on land Palestinians want for a state would
    inflame the Arab world and further complicate efforts to
    stabilise Iraq, where U.S. forces are under daily attack
    from Muslim fighters.

    There are some 230,000 settlers and 2.3 million
    Palestinians in the West Bank. Gaza is home to 1.3 million
    Palestinians and 7,500 settlers in a smattering of
    isolated, fortified enclaves.

    Meanwhile in Khan Younis in Gaza, Palestinians marched
    in the latest pro-Iraq rally on Wednesday.

    A string of recent rallies have been held in both Gaza
    and the West Bank following ongoing violence and fighting
    in Iraq which has left hundreds of people dead.

    Marching through the streets and chanting slogans, the
    masked gunmen burnt Israeli and American flags to protest
    the military action in Iraq.

    Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had paid millions of
    dollars to families of Palestinians, including those of
    suicide bombers killed since the start of the uprising in
    September 2000.




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