Golan: Israel troops fire on pro-Palestinian protesters

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Written by BBC News BBC News
Published: 05 June 2011 05 June 2011
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The BBC's Kevin Connolly: ''There is gunfire every 10 or 15 minutes'

Israeli soldiers have opened fired on pro-Palestinian protesters in Syria as they marched on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel had vowed to prevent a repeat of a similar march last month, in which hundreds of people had managed to breach the border fence.

Unconfirmed reports on Syrian state TV said 14 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded.

The protesters were marking the 44th anniversary of the 1967 Mid-East war.

Several hundred demonstrators - Palestinians and their Syrian supporters - marched to the razor-wired fencing and freshly dug trenches close to the frontier village of Majdal Shams at around noon.

Many carried Palestinian flags and threw rocks and rubbish over the fence.

Israel's military said its soldiers shouted warnings in Arabic and fired warning shots in the air, before aiming at the legs of those who had reached the fence.

After live gunfire failed to disperse the crowds, Israeli troops fired volleys of tear gas over the border. Many people fled while others lay on the ground.

An Israeli military spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post they were only aware of 12 injuries.

Ahead of Sunday's march, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not allow "extremists" to breach Israel's borders.

"I have instructed our security forces to act with determination and restraint in order to protect our sovereignty our borders, towns and citizens," he said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Another Israeli military spokeswoman, Avital Leibovich, told reporters: "This is an attempt by the Syrian regime to divert the world's attention from the Syrian bloodshed that has been taking place in recent weeks."

She added that Israeli forces were better able to stop border protests now than they were last month as they had since prepared "for a variety of operation scenarios".

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 war, along with other territories including the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The anniversary is known in Arabic as the Naksa, or "setback".

On 15 May, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on the borders with Israel, in the Palestinian territories, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

They were marking the 63rd anniversary of Nakba, which in Arabic means "catastrophe" - when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes amid the fighting after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

At least 12 people died during the 15 May demonstrations, which at one point saw hundreds manage to cross into the Golan Heights.

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