WEST BANK: Clashes erupt in West Bank village; Palestinian PM visits barrier construction site

Record ID: 560641

  • Title: WEST BANK: Clashes erupt in West Bank village; Palestinian PM visits barrier construction site
  • Date: 7th March 2010
  • Summary: IRAQ BURIN, WEST BANK (MARCH 6, 2010) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SOLDIERS GATHERED IN WEST BANK VILLAGE OF IRAQ BURIN PALESTINIAN YOUTHS THROWING STONES VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN YOUTH CARRYING INJURED VARIOUS OF YOUTHS CARRYING ANOTHER WOUNDED BULLET CARTRIDGES ON GROUND ISRAELI SOLDIERS STANDING BEHIND BURNING TYRES BEIT JALLA, WEST BANK (MARCH 6, 2010) (REUTERS) VIEW OF BEIT JALLA PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD ARRIVING AT BARRIER CONSTRUCTION SITE LAND THAT HAS BEEN CLEARED AHEAD OF BARRIER CONSTRUCTION BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER SALAM FAYYAD SAYING: "Wherever this Israeli settlement building plan uproots trees, we will plant them with the people here in Beit Jalla and everywhere else. They uproot while we plant. And we plant not in order to provide the Israeli settlement a building plan with yet another olive tree to uproot, but in order to reaffirm and cement our right to remain here through planting more trees." VARIOUS OF FAYYAD PLANTING OLIVE TREE
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA49W3XJG5OU70SDQDZTFOTPA6G
  • Story Text: Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Iraq Burin on Saturday (March 6).
    The weekly violence outbreak is over the annexation of village land by Israel to the nearby Jewish settlement of Bracha.
    An Israeli army spokesperson said approximately ten Palestinians arrived at the illegal Jewish outpost of Rehes Hassela, a closed military zone and began hurling stones. The border police then arrived at the scene and dispersed the crowd.
    The spokesperson added that one border policeman was lightly injured and was treated on the scene. Three Palestinians were wounded and were evacuated by ambulance.
    In another location in the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad visited an area recently slated for the construction of an Israeli barrier.
    A few days earlier, Palestinians, international and Israeli peace activists clashed with the Israeli soldiers on the site when Israeli trucks uprooted olive trees in the village of Beit Jalla.
    During his visit, Fayyad planted an olive tree on the site which he said was a sign of Palestinian determination to remain in the area.
    "Wherever this Israeli settlement building plan uproots trees, we will plant them with the people here in Beit Jalla and everywhere else," said Fayyad holding an olive tree.
    "They uproot while we plant. And we plant not in order to provide the Israeli settlement a building plan with yet another olive tree to uproot, but in order to reaffirm and cement our right to remain here through planting more trees," he said.
    Israel credits the barrier -- a network of fences interspersed with concrete walls, projected to be 720 km (450 miles) long when complete -- with stemming Palestinian suicide bombings that peaked in 2002 and 2003.
    But, Palestinians condemn the project for looping around settlement blocs in the West Bank, where they want to set up a state.
    In 2004, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared the 600-km (370-mile) separation barrier illegal but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling.
    Israeli authorities say the barrier is needed to prevent would-be suicide bombers from infiltrating into Israeli communities, and that the barrier is a temporary obstacle that could be removed once a peace agreement with the Palestinians was signed and attacks on Israel ceased.
    Palestinians say that the barrier imposes restrictions on Palestinians' movement, prevents residents from tending to their farm land and is an attempt by Israel to claim land Palestinians wish to have for a future independent state.
    ENDS.
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