WEST BANK: Israeli troops scuffle with Palestinian Santa Clauses in anti-barrier demonstration

Record ID: 566457

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israeli troops scuffle with Palestinian Santa Clauses in anti-barrier demonstration
  • Date: 21st December 2007
  • Summary: (W3) UMM SALMONA VILLAGE, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 21, 2007) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN AND FOREIGN DEMONSTRATORS DRESSED AS SANTA CLAUS GATHERING TO PROTEST AGAINST THE BARRIER ISRAEL IS ERECTING ACROSS THE WEST BANK AND IN JERUSALEM TO SEPARATE THE JEWISH STATE FROM PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES SANTA HOLDING A PALESTINIAN FLAG MARCHING IN DEMONSTRATION CHANTING 'NO TO THE SEPARATION BARRIER AND NO TO DEMOLISHING HOUSES AND HOMES' VARIOUS OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS PUSHING DEMONSTRATORS AWAY ISRAELI SOLDIERS ARRESTING MAN DEMONSTRATORS ASKING ISRAELI SOLDIERS NOT TO USE VIOLENCE AGAINST THEM MORE OF MAN BEING HAND-CUFFED AND ARRESTED SOLDIERS TRYING TO ARREST PROTESTER DRESSED AS SANTA CLAUS ARRESTED MAN BEING PLACED INSIDE MILITARY JEEP (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED DEMONSTRATOR SPEAKING TO SOLDIERS AND SAYING: "Are you speaking to yourself as a democracy state? You have no mercy at all, you are not humans, you have no right to stand here at all." VARIOUS OF PROTESTER DRESSED AS SANTA CLAUS OFFERING SWEETS VARIOUS OF SANTA CLAUS DEMONSTRATOR OFFERING SWEETS TO SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER DRESSED AS SANTA CLAUS SAYING: "Do not be mad, this is a sign of peace, this is a sign of friendship." SANTA BETWEEN SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) EVENT CO-ORDINATOR, SAMI TALHAMI (SANTA), SAYING: "From Bethlehem, from where Jesus was born, from where the apartheid wall is being built around our villages and cities we say yes there is hope. There is hope for peace and there is a chance for peace. It needs the world to move, it needs the world to realise that there is injustice happening here and for the world to say we will work for peace in the holy land." SANTA STANDING IN FRONT OF SOLDIERS
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAD6IPPLJ3TKEZ22OJYTX6QMPKR
  • Story Text: Palestinians dressed as Santa Claus clash with Israeli soldiers during a weekly demonstration against the barrier Israel is erecting across the West Bank.
    Palestinian demonstrators, some dressed in traditional red Santa Claus outfits and long white beards, scuffled with Israeli soldiers on Friday (December 21) during a demonstration against Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
    The demonstration, in which scores of people protested against the building of a separation barrier Israel is erecting across the occupied West Bank and in Jerusalem, took place near the village of Umm Salmona close to Bethlehem, the town of Jesus' birth.
    Israel says it is building the barrier, some of it an imposing concrete wall and the rest a chain-link fence, to keep suicide bombers from entering the Jewish state.
    Palestinians say Israel has grabbed some of their land because parts of the barrier have been built deep inside the occupied West Bank.
    On Friday, Israeli soldiers tried to disperse the crowd and scuffled with demonstrators. One demonstrator was arrested, witnesses said.
    After the scuffles died down, one of the demonstrating Santas offered sweets to the soldiers and to others present.
    "From Bethlehem, from where Jesus was born, from where the apartheid wall is being built around our villages and cities we say yes there is hope. There is hope for peace and there is a chance for peace. It needs the world to move, it needs the world to realise that there is injustice happening here and for the world to say we will work for peace in the holy land,"
    event co-ordinator Sami Talhami, also dressed up as Santa Claus, told Reuters.
    An Israeli army spokeswoman told Reuters that the demonstration passed off quietly, and reported that one man was arrested and taken for questioning, but that he was released shortly afterwards.
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