WEST BANK: Pro-Palestinian activists breach West Bank barrier and burn nearby field

Record ID: 560076

  • Title: WEST BANK: Pro-Palestinian activists breach West Bank barrier and burn nearby field
  • Date: 10th July 2011
  • Summary: NEAR QALANDIYA CHECKPOINT, WEST BANK (JULY 9, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS, INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS, MARCHING TOWARDS BARRIER WHILE HOLDING PALESTINIAN FLAGS ACTIVISTS APPROACHING FENCE ACTIVISTS GATHERED NEAR FENCE VARIOUS OF ACTIVISTS BREACHING FENCE ACTIVIST HOLDING PALESTINIAN FLAG STANDING ON FENCE ACTIVISTS IN FIELD ACTIVIST HOLDING FLAG STANDING ON CONCRETE POLE ACTIVISTS STANDING IN FIELD AS FIRE BURNS SMOKE IN FIELD FIRE ACTIVISTS WATCHING ACTIVISTS NEAR FENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL BERG, ACTIVIST FROM USA, SAYING "We're proud of what they're doing. It's very important that people did this (referring to the fly-in) and showed that the state of Israel does not allow people to go through the airport and openly travel into the West Bank, which is not just considering that Israel controls all the borders into the West Bank, by air and by land." MORE OF BARRIER AREA
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA2NBP009TH2FGAOHT4A9YAO4U
  • Story Text: A group of Palestinian and international activists on Saturday (July 9) breached the West Bank fence close to Qalandiya checkpoint and set fire to a nearby field, a Reuters video showed.
    The group faced no resistance while setting the field alight.
    Earlier on Saturday, scuffles erupted between Palestinians, international activists and Israeli soldiers during a protest marking the seventh anniversary of a World Court ruling that stated that Israel's erection of the barrier on occupied land was illegal.
    The International Court of Justice in The Hague said in 2004 that the proposed 720-km (430-mile) barrier cutting through the West Bank was illegal, citing its route inside territory that Israel captured in a 1967 war.
    Israel started building the barrier made up of metal fencing, barbed wire and concrete walls in 2002 following a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and has rejected the non-binding ruling.
    Since then, the barrier has attracted visits from international figures, graffiti, and weekly demonstrations at several West Bank villages.
    Israel was on Saturday holding at least 120 incoming air passengers suspected as pro-Palestinian activists that were refused entry into the country and was set to deport them, a police spokesman said.
    On Friday, protesters in several European countries mobilised to flock to Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in a challenge to Israeli curbs on entry to the occupied West Bank.
    Their move came after Greece grounded a flotilla that hoped to sail to the Gaza Strip this month in a protest against Israel's blockade of the enclave.
    Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists hoping to join those that arrived in Israel were prevented from boarding flights for Tel Aviv from various European airports after Israel told airlines that certain people on passenger lists would not be allowed into the country.
    An activist who came from the United States on Friday (July 8) told Reuters Television he managed to enter because he didn't openly say he was going to the West Bank and was travelling on a flight from the United States that was not suspected of carrying activists.
    "We're proud of what they're doing. It's very important that people did this (referring to the fly-in) and showed that the state of Israel does not allow people to go through the airport and openly travel into the West Bank, which is not just considering that Israel controls all the borders into the West Bank, by air and by land," said Michael Berg.
    Israeli police said hundreds of incoming passengers had been questioned on arrival in Tel Aviv on Friday and were allowed to stay. The last flights containing suspected activists arrived in the early hours of Saturday
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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