Israeli forces fire at 'Naksa' protesters

AL Jazeera Middle East

At least four reportedly killed along Syrian frontier during pro-Palestinian rally marking "Day of Defeat" in 1967 war. Last Modified: 05 Jun 2011 09:52

The protesters had gathered to observe the anniversary of the 'Day of Defeat' marking the end of the 1967 war Israeli forces have opened fire along the Syrian frontier to disperse a large crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempting to breach the border. At least four people were killed and several protesters were wounded, Syrian state TV said. The crowd had approached the border on Sunday, a day observed as "Naksa day" or "Day of Defeat", marking the 44th anniversary of the 1967 war, when Israel occupied the area. Several shots were heard on Sunday. Demonstrators were seen taking away several wounded people. Some ran away, while others continued to approach the border. Avital Leibovich, the Israeli army's spokesman, told Al Jazeera: "We (the military) saw near 12 noon an angry mob of a few hundreds of Syrians trying to reach the border fence between Israel and Syria. "We did three steps. We first warned them verbally, we told them not to get close to the fence in order for them not to endanger their lives," Leibovich said. "When this failed, we fired warning shots into the air. When this failed, we had to open fire selectively at their feet in order to prevent an escalation." Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Jerusalem, said Israeli forces opened fire in the air, but made no comment on any casualties. "Although Syrian television is reporting casualties, there is no way of verifying it at this stage," he said. "But we have seen this advance of a large number of protesters who managed to breach one line of razor wire and then effectively got positioned in the centre of it all in a trench area. Israel had vowed to prevent a repeat of a similar demonstration last month, in which hundreds of people burst across the border into Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. More than a dozen people were killed in that unrest, in which protesters had gathered to mark the 63rd anniversary of the "Nakba day", to mark the expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians following Israel's 1948 declaration of statehood.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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