Affrontements en Cisjordanie – 27 mai 2011

Israeli forces clash with protesters in West Bank

ARAB NEWS

MOHAMMED MAR’I

May 27, 2011 19:

RAMALLAH: Hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign peace activists on Friday clashed with Israeli forces during anti-separation wall protests in various West Bank villages.

Mohammed Braijeyeh, the spokesman of Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bethlehem, said that the Israeli soldiers violently dispersed the activists who gathered in the village of Al-Mi’sarah, to the south of Bethlehem.

Braijeyeh added that at least 10 activists were wounded from rubber-coated metal bullets the Israeli soldiers fired to disperse the protesters. He added some 15 activists suffered from gas inhalation.

The spokesman said that the rally was organized this week to protest against the speeches of US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “which are against our people’s right.”

On Sunday, Obama told pro-Israel lobby, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), that his administration recognized that Israel won’t give up all the lands it gained during the 1967 conflict as part of a final agreement.

Netanyahu told the US Congress on Tuesday that while Israel would be “generous” with the size of a Palestinian state, there would be no Israeli return to the borders which existed in June 1967.

Netanyahu also said Israel will not allow the return of Palestinian refugees and that it should retain a presence along the Jordan River.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the left-wing activists held protest in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin, and Al-Nabi Saleh.

Palestinian sources said that the protesters marched with songs calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, national unity, resisting occupation and for the release of some 6,700 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Read more…