WEST BANK: Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as tension rise ahead of an expected Palestinians statehood bid at the UN

Record ID: 560353

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as tension rise ahead of an expected Palestinians statehood bid at the UN
  • Date: 17th September 2011
  • Summary: NABI SALEH, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 16, 2011) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS RUNNING AWAY FROM TEAR GAS FIRED BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS ISRAELI SOLDIERS FIRING TEAR GAS SMOKE BILLOWING / PALESTINIANS ISRAELI SOLDIERS FIRING TEAR GAS AT PALESTINIANS SOLDIERS NEAR MILITARY VEHICLE SOLDIERS PUSHING PALESTINIANS VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS FIRING TEAR GAS PALESTINIANS ON HILL DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING PALESTINIAN FLAGS QUSRA, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 16, 2011) (REUTERS) SMOKE BILLOWING FROM TEAR GAS GRENADES ON GROUND ISRAELI SOLDIERS FIRING TEAR GAS VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN YOUTHS HURLING STONES AT ISRAELI SOLDIERS PALESTINIAN MAN HOLDING STONES PALESTINIAN YOUTHS HURLING STONES AT SOLDIERS WALAJE, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 16, 2011) (REUTERS) SHADOW OF FLAG / DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING TOWARDS CONSTRUCTION SITE OF BARRIER DEMONSTRATOR PUTTING PALESTINIAN FLAG ON BARRIER DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING ALONG BARRIER DEMONSTRATOR SHOUTING AT JEWISH SETTLER ACROSS THE BARRIER: "GO AWAY", "IT HAPPENED IN SOUTH AFRICA AND IT WILL HAPPEN HERE - THIS WALL WILL FALL OR YOU WILL FALL" MORE OF DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING AT SETTLERS JEWISH SETTLERS LOOKING AT DEMONSTRATORS ISRAELI FLAG ISRAELI SOLDIERS BLOCKING DEMONSTRATORS STICKER ON ISRAELI VEHICLE READING IN ENGLISH "OCCUPATION GET OUT, UN 194" / SOLDIER REMOVING STICKER FROM CAR PALESTINIAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5108FOL7OKMQRLUZ2UQAETE5E
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers across the West Bank on Friday (September 16), as tension was on the rise ahead of an expected Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations next week.
    In the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, approximately 150 stone hurling Palestinians scuffled with Israeli security forces, who used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
    Palestinians accuse Israel of confiscating thier and at Nabi Saleh in order to expand a nearby settlement.
    Clashes also erupted in Qusra village near Nablus between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces. According to an Israeli police spokesperson the clashes ensued a few hours after a Jewish settler was stabbed and a Palestinian was wounded by gun fire during a dispute in an area between the village and the settlement of Esh Kodesh.
    Also on Friday, in the West Bank village of Walaje, Palestinians, foreign and Israeli peace activists demonstrated against the construction of Israel's barrier.
    Israel started building the network of metal fencing, barbed wire and concrete walls in 2002 following a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.
    The World Court 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 Israeli forces occupied in a 1967 war.
    U.S diplomats made a last-ditch effort this week to persuade Abbas to abandon plans to seek to upgrade the Palestinians' U.N. status, a step the Western-backed leader has said he is taking in the absence of peace negotiations.
    Washington wants the Palestinians to drop their plan to declare an independent state, arguing that Palestinian independence should be the result of peace talks with Israel.
    The Palestinians say U.S.-backed peace talks are frozen, leaving them no choice but to take their case for a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem to the United Nations. The territories were occupied by Israel in a 1967 war.
    Israel is strongly opposed to the Palestinian U.N. bid, which it sees as an attempt to isolate it and undermine its own legitimacy. Washington says the move is unhelpful to its Middle East diplomacy and has pledged to use its Security Council veto to block the request for full membership.
    Anticipating that outcome, Palestinian officials have indicated they could table a resolution in the General Assembly that would upgrade their status to a "non-member state" from an "entity".
    The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down almost a year ago because of a dispute over the expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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