23.02.04
Attaccata la manifestazione contro il muro ad Abu-Dis (Gerusalemme)

Migliaia di palestinesi insieme ai Tayush (movimento contro l'occupazione palestino/israeliano) alla manifestazione contro il muro di separazione di Gerusalemme, sono stati attaccati dall'esercito due minuti dopo la chiusura del comizio.

Gas lacrimogeni, spari sulla folla, botte. Questo e' il primo bilancio dell'attacco da parte dell'esercito sulla manifestazione davanti al muro di Abu Dis - Gerusalemme.

Questa mattina davanti alla parte del muro di Gerusalemme era stato portato l'autobus sul quale ieri e' avvenuto l'attentato che ha causato 8 vittime.

A detta di molti, una macabra e perversa messa inscena proprio nel giorno della protesta internazionale contro il muro di separazione.

Nella parte est, ad Abu Dis, intanto migliaia di persone, palestinesi e israeliani protestavano per chiedere la demolizione del muro che dividera' per sempre questa citta' cosi' come tante altre citta' palestinesi.

La stampa internazionale era presente con decine di radio e televisioni per documentare le manifestazioni. Le prime notizie sono di un giornalista che mentre faceva le riprese e' crollato a terra in seguito agli spari delle forze militari probabilmente un infarto.

La gente e' stata dispersa sotto gli spari e si ha notizia di due banche palestinesi bruciate dalle forze dell'esercito israeliano.

Anche nelle altre citta' e villaggi palestinesi, Ramallah, Nablus, Kalkilia Tulkarem, intanto si stanno tenendo altre proteste con la partecipazione massiccia di palestinesi, israeliani e internazionali.

articolo di Haaretz

Palestinians protest fence; Arafat: no peace while wall stands

By Amos Harel and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies


Six Border Police troops were wounded Monday afternoon in clashes with anti-fence protestors in Abu Dis, on the outskirts of East Jerusalem. One of the wounded sustained moderate injuries, while the others all had light wounds.




The troops responded by firing percussion and tear gas grenades.

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip marched in protest against Israel's separation barrier Monday, and in some locations were pushed back by Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Border Police troops firing tear gas.

Palestinian schools and government offices let out early for the marches, which coincided with world court hearings on the legality of the barrier.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia led a rally in his hometown of Abu Dis, and told the crowd that barriers such as the one separating Abu Dis from Jerusalem cannot guarantee security for Israel and would only breed discontent.

"If you want peace, the path is known," he said, addressing Israelis. "If you prefer violence, the path is known as well."

Earlier Monday, Yasser Arafat, speaking on live television less than an hour before the International Court of Justice was to hear arguments on legality of the West Bank barrier, urged Palestinians to "make their voices heard" to the court.

The Palestinian Authority chairman urged Palestinians and "forces of peace in Israel" to make their voices heard in protest aginst "this wall of expansion and annexation."

IDF troops in a West Bank village fired tear gas at some 2,500 Palestinians demonstrating as the court began its hearings, witnesses said.

They said the Palestinians were chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) as soldiers used tear gas to drive them back from a section of the barrier in the village of Deir Ghsun near Tul Karm close to the border with Israel.

Around 100 Palestinians were overcome by inhalation of the gas and fell to the ground, while others began throwing stones at soldiers, according to a Reuters journalist at the scene.

The IDF had no immediate comment. But it had deployed soldiers in force along the 180 km (110 miles) of the barrier built so far after Palestinians vowed rallies along its route to mark the International Court of Justice hearing in The Hague.

Palestinians contended before the court that the barrier is an illegal bid to annex land they seek for a viable state since it veers well into West Bank territory and takes in settlements.

Israel says the barrier is a temporary security measure to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers. It was boycotting the hearing, saying the World Court was not competent to pronounce on what it saw as a "politically motivated issue".

Israeli Arabs to demonstrate against wall
Israeli Arab political movements were also preparing Monday for demonstrations against the separation fence. Protests and rallies were expected during the day in 10 Arab localities in Israel.

Lawyers and jurists were planning to demonstrate Monday opposite the section of fence completed several days ago between the Israeli town of Baka al-Garbiyeh and the Palestinian village of Nazlat Issa.

The protest is organized by the umbrella organization for Arab NGOs in Israel. The Supreme Follow Up Committee of Arab citizens will also participate in the protest.

The Hadash-Ta'al party - which has three of its MKs in The Hague to participate in public relations efforts against the fence - will participate in a demonstration opposite the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem, and will also conduct rallies in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, Shfaram, Arabeh, Sakhnin, Taibeh, Umm al-Fahm and Kafr Yassif.

In his comments, Arafat rejected Israel's position that the barrier is a temporary bulwark meant to keep out suicide bombers and not a new border, saying it was designed to thwart a future Palestinian state by encroaching well into Palestinian territory.

"No security and no peace can ever prevail between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, and even in the whole region in the shadow of this ... expansionist and racist segregation wall," he said in a speech televised worldwide.

Reading from a prepared text in his Muqata headquarters in Ramallah, he said, of the barrier, which he called "this apartheid wall":

"This is another Berlin Wall... aimed at swallowing 58 percent of our [West Bank] and transforming our towns and villages... into isolated ghettos illegally controlled by occupation settlements and prevent us from establishing our Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

"The wall has [already] transformed our towns and cities and villages into prisons and collective detention camps," he said.

Protest marches against the barrier were planned across the West Bank and Gaza Strip later Monday.

Israel says the barrier is a last line of defense against suicide bombers, who have killed 463 people in 110 attacks in more than three years of fighting.

On Sunday, a Palestinian bomber killed eight Israelis and wounded dozens on a Jerusalem bus.

The Palestinians argue that the barrier is a land grab, and demand it be taken down, or re-routed to follow the pre-1967 war Green Line border.