Moussa
2011-05-16 04:50:52 UTC
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/May-16/Israeli-massacre-at-Lebanon-border.ashx
Israeli massacre at Lebanon border
May 16, 2011 02:48 AM (Last updated: May 16, 2011 02:52 AM)
By Mohammed Zaatari
The Daily Star
MAROUN AL-RAS: Ten Palestinian protesters were shot dead and 112 others
wounded Sunday by Israeli forces along Lebanon’s borders with Israel as
thousands of unarmed Palestinians rallied to the frontier to mark the
Nakba, the 63rd anniversary of the expulsion from their homeland.
Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children, some wrapped in
kaffiyehs, flocked in buses from various Palestinian refugee camps across
Lebanon to the borders, in a rally they called “the march to return to
Palestine.” The buses carried the names of Palestinian villages whose
residents were displaced in 1948.
Lebanese activists also took part in the march, which counted Hezbollah
among its organizers.
Rather than gathering in assigned spots in the border village of Maroun
al-Ras, some protesters made their way to the barbed wire along the borders
after throwing stones at the heavily deployed Internal Security Forces and
Lebanese Army units who tried to prevent their advance.
Israeli troops then opened fire on the demonstrators, who pelted the
Israeli soldiers with stones and tried to climb the barbed wire and erect
Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs on it. “We sacrifice our souls and blood
for Palestine,” chanted the protesters.
Demonstrators carried a huge banner reading in Hebrew and in Arabic: “The
people want to return to Palestine,” echoing slogans raised by Arab
protesters who recently toppled autocratic rulers.
The Lebanese Army said in a statement that 10 protesters were shot dead and
112 wounded.
Lebanon filed a complaint against Israel before the U.N. Security Council
through its permanent mission in New York to protest the killing and
wounding of civilians in Maroun al-Ras.
Lebanon said that the aggression “constituted an act of hostility and
stresses again the violation of the Lebanese sovereignty by Israel and its
disregard of the U.N. resolutions,” the state-run National News Agency
said.
Also, Lebanon called upon the U.N. Security Council to assume its
responsibilities in preserving international peace and security and
pressure Israel to refrain from its aggressive and provocative acts against
Lebanon.
The army statement added that the wounded demonstrators, some of whom
remain in a critical condition, were transferred to nearby hospitals.
“The march aimed at reminding the new generation that our parents and
grandparents were displaced from their land which was taken over by the
Jews,” one of the demonstrators told The Daily Star. “It is also a message
to the West and specifically to the U.S., which calls for freedom and
democracy, that we want to return [to our land] in line with [U.N. Security
Council] Resolution 194,” he added. Tanks and patrols were seen on the
Israeli side of the borders in the area of Maroun al-Ras, while the U.N.
Interim Forces in Lebanon organized patrols along the Blue Line.
In the afternoon, Lebanese Army forces managed to disperse the protesters
after opening fire in the air.
Deaths were also reported during similar protests which took place in the
occupied Syrian Golan Heights and in the Gaza Strip.
The NNA said that among the protesters killed were Imad Abu Shaqra,
Mohammad Moussa, Mohammad Abu Shalha, Mohammad Saleh, Saleh Abu Rashid and
Mohammad Fandi.
The Israeli assault prompted heavy criticism from top Lebanese officials.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in a statement that “on this day,
we cannot but strongly condemn Israel’s continuous violation of human
rights, and the fact that it faces peaceful movements of the Arab citizens
in Lebanon, the Golan and Palestine with killing and murder.”
Also, Hariri stressed the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to
their homeland and Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution
1701. “The right of our Palestinian brothers to return to their independent
state with Jerusalem as its capital is one of the bases of the joint Arab
action, which Lebanon, with all its political and national parties, abides
by,” Hariri said, as he urged the international community to work on
achieving peace in line with the Arab Peace Initiative launched in Beirut
in 2002.
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said in a statement that Israel had
deliberately challenged the world, the international community and the U.N.
by opening fire on unarmed protesters who demanded the implementation of
U.N. resolutions. Mikati said that Israel had delivered through Sunday’s
acts a message to the world, saying that it is above accountability and
condemnation.
“The excessive Israeli aggression on Lebanon stressed another time that
this enemy cannot live and survive on the land of Palestine except through
the acts of killing, displacement and threats to its surrounding,” the
statement added.
Mikati said that Israel’s crimes should motivate the Palestinians to
enhance their reconciliation in the face of the “conspiracy that targets
the Palestinian cause.”
President Michel Sleiman slammed the “criminal Israeli acts against
peaceful civilians in south Lebanon, Golan [Heights] and Palestine.”
Hezbollah saluted the souls of the “martyrs along with the wounded who fell
on the road to Palestine and who sacrificed their dear souls to stress
their right of return to their occupied land.” The party slammed the
“Israeli barbarism,” and said that “the bloody and horrible crimes which
were committed by the forces of occupation today against the Palestinian
people calls upon the international community to assume its
responsibility.”
Maj. Gen. Alberto Cuevas Asarta, the commander of the peacekeeping force in
Lebanon, said that he contacted senior officials of various factions and
urged them to exercise restraint in light of the “dangerous incidents” on
the border.
Asarta stressed that UNIFIL would keep its forces on the ground to assist
the Lebanese Army in line with Security Council Resolution 1701.
Israeli massacre at Lebanon border
May 16, 2011 02:48 AM (Last updated: May 16, 2011 02:52 AM)
By Mohammed Zaatari
The Daily Star
MAROUN AL-RAS: Ten Palestinian protesters were shot dead and 112 others
wounded Sunday by Israeli forces along Lebanon’s borders with Israel as
thousands of unarmed Palestinians rallied to the frontier to mark the
Nakba, the 63rd anniversary of the expulsion from their homeland.
Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children, some wrapped in
kaffiyehs, flocked in buses from various Palestinian refugee camps across
Lebanon to the borders, in a rally they called “the march to return to
Palestine.” The buses carried the names of Palestinian villages whose
residents were displaced in 1948.
Lebanese activists also took part in the march, which counted Hezbollah
among its organizers.
Rather than gathering in assigned spots in the border village of Maroun
al-Ras, some protesters made their way to the barbed wire along the borders
after throwing stones at the heavily deployed Internal Security Forces and
Lebanese Army units who tried to prevent their advance.
Israeli troops then opened fire on the demonstrators, who pelted the
Israeli soldiers with stones and tried to climb the barbed wire and erect
Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs on it. “We sacrifice our souls and blood
for Palestine,” chanted the protesters.
Demonstrators carried a huge banner reading in Hebrew and in Arabic: “The
people want to return to Palestine,” echoing slogans raised by Arab
protesters who recently toppled autocratic rulers.
The Lebanese Army said in a statement that 10 protesters were shot dead and
112 wounded.
Lebanon filed a complaint against Israel before the U.N. Security Council
through its permanent mission in New York to protest the killing and
wounding of civilians in Maroun al-Ras.
Lebanon said that the aggression “constituted an act of hostility and
stresses again the violation of the Lebanese sovereignty by Israel and its
disregard of the U.N. resolutions,” the state-run National News Agency
said.
Also, Lebanon called upon the U.N. Security Council to assume its
responsibilities in preserving international peace and security and
pressure Israel to refrain from its aggressive and provocative acts against
Lebanon.
The army statement added that the wounded demonstrators, some of whom
remain in a critical condition, were transferred to nearby hospitals.
“The march aimed at reminding the new generation that our parents and
grandparents were displaced from their land which was taken over by the
Jews,” one of the demonstrators told The Daily Star. “It is also a message
to the West and specifically to the U.S., which calls for freedom and
democracy, that we want to return [to our land] in line with [U.N. Security
Council] Resolution 194,” he added. Tanks and patrols were seen on the
Israeli side of the borders in the area of Maroun al-Ras, while the U.N.
Interim Forces in Lebanon organized patrols along the Blue Line.
In the afternoon, Lebanese Army forces managed to disperse the protesters
after opening fire in the air.
Deaths were also reported during similar protests which took place in the
occupied Syrian Golan Heights and in the Gaza Strip.
The NNA said that among the protesters killed were Imad Abu Shaqra,
Mohammad Moussa, Mohammad Abu Shalha, Mohammad Saleh, Saleh Abu Rashid and
Mohammad Fandi.
The Israeli assault prompted heavy criticism from top Lebanese officials.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in a statement that “on this day,
we cannot but strongly condemn Israel’s continuous violation of human
rights, and the fact that it faces peaceful movements of the Arab citizens
in Lebanon, the Golan and Palestine with killing and murder.”
Also, Hariri stressed the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to
their homeland and Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution
1701. “The right of our Palestinian brothers to return to their independent
state with Jerusalem as its capital is one of the bases of the joint Arab
action, which Lebanon, with all its political and national parties, abides
by,” Hariri said, as he urged the international community to work on
achieving peace in line with the Arab Peace Initiative launched in Beirut
in 2002.
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said in a statement that Israel had
deliberately challenged the world, the international community and the U.N.
by opening fire on unarmed protesters who demanded the implementation of
U.N. resolutions. Mikati said that Israel had delivered through Sunday’s
acts a message to the world, saying that it is above accountability and
condemnation.
“The excessive Israeli aggression on Lebanon stressed another time that
this enemy cannot live and survive on the land of Palestine except through
the acts of killing, displacement and threats to its surrounding,” the
statement added.
Mikati said that Israel’s crimes should motivate the Palestinians to
enhance their reconciliation in the face of the “conspiracy that targets
the Palestinian cause.”
President Michel Sleiman slammed the “criminal Israeli acts against
peaceful civilians in south Lebanon, Golan [Heights] and Palestine.”
Hezbollah saluted the souls of the “martyrs along with the wounded who fell
on the road to Palestine and who sacrificed their dear souls to stress
their right of return to their occupied land.” The party slammed the
“Israeli barbarism,” and said that “the bloody and horrible crimes which
were committed by the forces of occupation today against the Palestinian
people calls upon the international community to assume its
responsibility.”
Maj. Gen. Alberto Cuevas Asarta, the commander of the peacekeeping force in
Lebanon, said that he contacted senior officials of various factions and
urged them to exercise restraint in light of the “dangerous incidents” on
the border.
Asarta stressed that UNIFIL would keep its forces on the ground to assist
the Lebanese Army in line with Security Council Resolution 1701.