Nakba Day 2011 | UN-Truth

There were several Israeli media reports published yesterday (in English) and today (in Hebrew) that the IDF has, in recent weeks, laid new minefields in the Golan — as part of the military preparations against continuing demonstrations at the “border”.

According to these reports, new minefields were laid in the weeks between the May 15 Nakba Day demonstrations [marking the expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians in the fighting that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948] and the June 5 demonstrations held on Sunday [to mark the 1967 war and the start of the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan].

On May 15, Israeli officials were surprised by an infiltration of Palestinians and their supporters who managed to cross the lines and enter the Golan town of Majdal Shams. One of these infiltrators even managed to get as far as Yaffa, the birthplace and home town of his parents, where he went for a meal, looked around, and then turned himself in to Israeli police.

The Syrian Golan Heights was occupied by Israel in the June 1967 war — and annexed by Israel in 1980, a move that UN members said was “null and void”.

The well-informed Defense Correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz, wrote in an article published last night [06/06/2011 22:01] that “In general, the army was pleased with the way it handled the protests on Sunday … In the weeks before, the IDF prepared extensively, laying down new minefields, digging trenches and installing new barbed-wire fences … At least eight of the dead, IDF sources said on Monday, were killed by mines that exploded after the protesters threw Molotov cocktails in fields near the border, causing their premature detonation”. This was posted here.

Laying new minefields in the Golan raises serious questions — including whether proper notification was made, particularly to the Syrian authorities (also to the UN, which has peacekeeping missions there).

It also raises questions about whether such military measures — normally intended to address grave dangers and prevent invasions — are also intended as the Israeli response to protest demonstrations and civilian infiltration.

Continue reading IDF reportedly laid new minefields in Golan ahead of Sunday demonstrations

It was the first coordinated, simultaneous, united (though under different leaderships) attempt by Palestinian refugees to return to the land of their origin (if not birth, as up to three generations have been now born outside, in the worldwide diaspora since 1947-48).

In the West Bank, the May 15 Qalandia checkpoint event was planned as non-violent.

The coalition of Manara (Ramallah’s Central Square) + Mar15 youth groups insisted on that, and appealed to the Qalandia youth not to throw stones in order to avoid provoking a forceful IDF response.

Qalandia on a good day – the photo that needs no caption
taken on 4 May by Tamar Fleishman of Machsom Watch:

Qalandia on a good day - photo by Tamar Fleishman

In the hours ahead of the planned 11 am start of the event, IDF troops and Border Police units and special forces arrived at the checkpoint. One group of about 12-15 soldiers wearing olive green uniforms moved out of the staging area and lined up along the entrance on the Jerusalem side of Qalandia as cars were passing by. They all pointed the barrels of their black automatic rifle-sized weapons up to the sky, and in unison they cocked the triggers several times, in a group ritual that was also an intimidating display.

Plenty of IDF troops on the scene at Qalandiya checkpoint were armed with weapons that could only use live bullets — but reports of the use of live ammunition, or of any injuries resulting from live ammunition, remained unconfirmed.

In any case, the stone-throwing started within an hour of the start of the demonstration…

Demonstrators say the tear-gassing began first.

Photos posted by Sawt al-Manara on Facebook
the start of Nakba Day demonstration at Qalandia
Fadi Quran, one of leaders of Manara youth coalition, in black beret:

In the black beret and t-shirt, Fadi Quran, one of leaders of Manara youth coalition

and

Demonstrators run away from tear gas barrage which affects trapped cars, businesses, and families in their homes along the street

Israeli activist Joseph Dana said at a press briefing on IMEU’s Blogtalk radio on Tuesday afternoon that the Israeli military “immediately opened fire with tear gas”, and noted that “there was a solid hour, or hour-and-a-half, at the start of the demonstration when not a single stone was thrown, yet there were dozens of injuries caused to demonstrators [by the IDF]”…

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights [PCHR], based in Gaza, reported Monday that “The demonstrators threw stones and empty bottles towards Israeli soldiers, who had been heavily deployed near the checkpoint beginning in the early morning. Israeli forces immediately fired rubber-coated metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the demonstrators”…

The truth is that almost nobody had a complete view of everything that happened.

Continue reading Nakba Day demonstration at Qalandia did not end as planned