Angry residents trap police in Golan Heights building

AFP

11 07 2010

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Druze residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights surrounded a building in the main town of Majdel Shams on Sunday, trapping inside policemen for several hours, police said.

The 10 policemen were searching for « criminals » inside the building, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that reinforcements were called in who negotiated with the crowd and community elders to end the standoff.

Rosenfeld said he was unaware of any injuries, but Israeli media said several of the residents were hurt when police used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

« Tear gas was used only in the beginning to calm down the crowd, » said Rosenfeld.

Rosenfeld said the operation was not political.

Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and unilaterally annexed it in 1981. Damascus has repeatedly demanded its return as a non-negotiable condition for peace.

More than 18,000 Syrians, mostly Druze, are left from the Golan’s original population of 150,000. The vast majority of the Druze in the Golan have refused to take Israeli citizenship.

Followers of a breakaway sect of Islam concentrated in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, the Druze are not considered Muslims by most of the Islamic world.

Druze protesters clash with police searching restaurant in Golan village

Israel news

11 07 2010

A large number of police surrounded the village during the search, residents said, leading thousands of protesters to resist their attempts.

Several Druze residents from the Golan village of Majdal Shams were wounded Sunday evening in clashes with Israel Police, according to eyewitnesses.

The confrontation occurred after police officers entered a restaurant in the village in an attempt to carry out a search. A large number of police surrounded the village during the search, residents said.

Police said their efforts were met with resistance from the village residents. Backup forces arrived on the scene and attempted to disperse the resisters.

According to the head of the northern district unit police force, « 20 officers attempted to carry out a search and were attacked by hundreds of village residents. »

After negotiating with community leaders, police managed to move the crowd back from the building so that ambulances could get through.

The police officers who were trapped in the restaurant by the mob have since been rescued.

« There was serious violence during the confrontation, » the police officer said. « There was stone throwing and violent attempts by the residents to enter the restaurant. » He added that there have been no injuries reported so far.

A number of police cars were damaged during the incident.

A village resident who witnessed the incident told Haaretz that thousands of people surrounded the restaurant in an attempt to stop the police.

Eyewitnesses said that several people, including children, were wounded as police tried to disperse the protesters.

1,000 Druse surround police

Jpost.com

07/11/2010

Elders, negotiation team end standoff with crowd.

A tense standoff between a massive crowd and police in the Druse village of Majdal al-Shams in the Golan ended peacefully on Sunday night thanks to the efforts of village elders and a police negotiation team.

Several officers had entered a home to conduct a search as part of a police investigation in the early evening, police said.

Before long, a crowd of over 1,000 villagers surrounded the home and refused to allow the officers to leave.

During the height of the incident, police dispatched a negotiation team to the village, to begin a dialogue with village elders. The elders then attempted to persuade the crowd to allow the trapped policemen to leave.

Meanwhile, large numbers of riot police armed with crowd dispersal means were ordered to the village by Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen, in case the negotiations failed. The backup forces included elite anti-terror forces, Special Patrol forces and Border Police.

The rescue operation was overseen by Northern District Police head Cmdr. Shimon Koren.

Ultimately, after a standoff lasting over an hour and a half, negotiations were successful and the crowd dispersed, allowing the officers to leave the home, accompanied by local leaders.

Israeli police injure 10 in Golan Heights

Presstv.ir

Mon, 12 Jul 2010

Hundreds of angry protesters in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights clash with Israeli police who fire tear gas injuring at least 10 people.

The clashes in the town of Majd al-Shams broke out on Sunday when Israeli police attempted to search a restaurant. Locals surrounded the building trapping some 10 policemen inside for several hours.

Witnesses said that police called in reinforcements who fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Israeli media reported that at least 10 locals were hurt during the clashes.

Israel has occupied Syria’s strategic Golan Heights plateau since 1967 six-day war and annexed it in 1981. Damascus has repeatedly demanded its return as a non-negotiable condition for peace, which Israel has rejected.

Informations

Majdal Shams (Arabic: مجدل شمس.‎; Hebrew: מַגְ’דַל שַׁמְס‎) is a Druze village in the northern part of the Golan Heights, the center of Druze life in the region. Majdal Shams is situated in the southern foothills of Mt. Hermon, and is surrounded by thousands of dunams of orchards, the main crops of which include first class apples and cherries. Israel captured Majdal Shams in 1967 and has occupied it since.^[1]

Majdal Shams is the largest of the four Druze villages in the Golan. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, as of September 2005 Majdal Shams’s population was 8,800. The population growth rate is 2.5%. The ratio between men and women is 951 for every 1,000 men. The village is politically and spiritually governed by the Abu-Salah and Safdie families.^[2]

The inhabitants of Majdal Shams hold Syrian citizenship. For this reason they are not drafted into the Israeli army (although a minority serve voluntarily) and many travel to Syria regularly to visit family or receive university degrees in Damascus. A year after Israel annexed the Golan, a six-month non-violent general strike was launched on April 14, 1982, in which Majdal Shams played a notable role.

One kilometer east of the town center, on the other side of the valley, is the Shouting Hill (Hebrew גבעת צעקות), where Majdal Shams’ Druze line up with bullhorns to make small-talk with relatives on the Syrian side. The busiest time seems to be Friday and Saturday afternoons.

The Arabic name Majdal Shams is adapted from an Aramaic language name meaning « tower of the sun ».

~ par Alain Bertho sur 12 juillet 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots, الشغب