Defending the borders
The IDF successfully defended the borders of Israel today against attacks on the Golan Heights from Syria and against Palestinians on the West Bank. They were attempting to commemorate their Naksa, the "set-back" that they received with the stunning victory of the IDF in the Six-Day War of June 5, 1967. The Lebanese Army issued an order declaring their border with Israel a closed military zone, and there were no demonstrations there.
On the Syrian border, thousands of Palestinians were bused in by the Assad regime in a cynical attempt to distract attention away from the slaughter of Syrian civilians in numerous towns around Syria by the Syrian armed forces and secret police. Yesterday approx 35 were reported to have been killed and the day before over 100 were killed according to Syrian human rights organizations. So far in the past two months ca. 1,000 people have been killed and over 20,000 arrested or missing. The Syrian Government reported yesterday that 20 were killed and 225 injured by the IDF firing on those attempting to actually cross the border, but Israeli sources could not confirm this. The IDF claimed that they warned people not to approach the border and that they fired mainly at the legs of demonstrators and according to their reports only 2 were killed and 11 injured. The attempted breaches occured near the Druze town of Majdal Shams, where ca. 100 managed to breach the border fence last week on Nakba Day but this time were stopped by tear gas and live rounds, and at Kuneitra, the abandoned Syrian city near the Israeli border. Here the crowd attempted to throw missiles down on the IDF soldiers guarding the border, but only one soldier was injured. It is shameful that the Syrian regime is using the Palestinian cause to distract people from its own repressive measures, but that actually is what it has always been doing.
On the West Bank there were several small clashes, the major one at Kuneitra. The IDF and Israeli police held the demonstrators back using water cannon with foul-smelling liquid. Overall the demonstrations were small, consisting of hundreds, not even thousands and certainly not the mass human waves that Arafat once envisaged. Some demonstrators camped out and intend to continue their attempts to breach the border in the next few days. Among the rioters were several Arab MKs. Whether or not the numbers will grow or decrease over the years, this is another tactic in the Palestinian/Arab attempts to destroy and demonize Israel. Their lack of success this time indicates that this tactic will be another in the long list of Palestinian/Arab defeats.
On the Syrian border, thousands of Palestinians were bused in by the Assad regime in a cynical attempt to distract attention away from the slaughter of Syrian civilians in numerous towns around Syria by the Syrian armed forces and secret police. Yesterday approx 35 were reported to have been killed and the day before over 100 were killed according to Syrian human rights organizations. So far in the past two months ca. 1,000 people have been killed and over 20,000 arrested or missing. The Syrian Government reported yesterday that 20 were killed and 225 injured by the IDF firing on those attempting to actually cross the border, but Israeli sources could not confirm this. The IDF claimed that they warned people not to approach the border and that they fired mainly at the legs of demonstrators and according to their reports only 2 were killed and 11 injured. The attempted breaches occured near the Druze town of Majdal Shams, where ca. 100 managed to breach the border fence last week on Nakba Day but this time were stopped by tear gas and live rounds, and at Kuneitra, the abandoned Syrian city near the Israeli border. Here the crowd attempted to throw missiles down on the IDF soldiers guarding the border, but only one soldier was injured. It is shameful that the Syrian regime is using the Palestinian cause to distract people from its own repressive measures, but that actually is what it has always been doing.
On the West Bank there were several small clashes, the major one at Kuneitra. The IDF and Israeli police held the demonstrators back using water cannon with foul-smelling liquid. Overall the demonstrations were small, consisting of hundreds, not even thousands and certainly not the mass human waves that Arafat once envisaged. Some demonstrators camped out and intend to continue their attempts to breach the border in the next few days. Among the rioters were several Arab MKs. Whether or not the numbers will grow or decrease over the years, this is another tactic in the Palestinian/Arab attempts to destroy and demonize Israel. Their lack of success this time indicates that this tactic will be another in the long list of Palestinian/Arab defeats.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:31 PM
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