ISRAEL: Jewish settlers burn Palestinian flag while Palestinians clash with Israeli army in Hebron

Record ID: 560810

  • Title: ISRAEL: Jewish settlers burn Palestinian flag while Palestinians clash with Israeli army in Hebron
  • Date: 3rd November 2008
  • Summary: PALESTINIANS PROTESTING, HOLDING BALLOONS IN THE COLOUR OF PALESTINIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN CARRYING PALESTINIAN FLAGS AND PROTESTING NEAR ISRAELI SOLDIERS
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA194R5QBFKOCEGHMAZGD2BMMU9
  • Story Text: Tensions in the West Bank were high on Sunday (November 2), as right wing Jewish settlers burned a Palestinian flag near the Jewish enclave in the city of Hebron.
    Reuters Television images showed, a group of Jewish settlers including the leader of the Jewish National Front party Baruch Marzel, taking down a Palestinian flag and setting it on fire.
    Israeli soldiers and policemen at the scene did not prevent the settlers' actions.
    Last week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent hundreds of security officers into Hebron as part of a Western-backed campaign to strengthen his control over the occupied West Bank.
    Israel, which is trying to bolster Abbas against his Hamas rivals, approved the deployment of some 550 armed officers in the biggest West Bank city, a frequent flashpoint between Palestinians and Jewish settlers.

    "We'll attack back every Palestinian police armed, we will see him as terrorist and an armed terrorist which comes next to my house. I have orders what to do with him," Marzel said, referring to the deployment of policemen.

    "I have to defend myself and I'll shoot him first," he added.
    After the incident, Palestinians in Hebron walked through the old city, flying balloons in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
    Soon after the rally turned into a clash with Israeli soldiers, as Palestinian teenagers hurled stones at the soldiers the Israeli army responded with tear gas.
    No arrests and no injuries were reported.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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