Israeli gunfire killed 11 people and wounded about 220 others on Sunday as demonstrators on the Syrian side tried to cross the ceasefire line on the annexed Golan Heights, Syria’s SANA news agency said.
Hundreds of protesters rushed towards the ceasefire line, attempting to cut through a line of barbed wire and head into the Golan Heights in a repeat of demonstrations last month that saw thousands mass along Israel’s north.
Similar protests were held in the West Bank, where hundreds demonstrated at Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah, and in Gaza, where several hundred gathered in the north of the coastal enclave.
Palestinian youth had urged over the internet: ‘March to Jerusalem.
‘Forty four years ago our dignity was stripped away from us again.
‘On June 5th 1967 our homeland was occupied.
‘Forty four years ago we were ethnically cleansed from our land.
‘On June 5th 2011 we call upon all free men and women to march to Jerusalem
‘Let us march with our heads held high, shielded by the strength of our free spirits, to pray and in pursuit of freedom, justice and dignity.
‘We shall march towards the homes we were ethnically cleansed from… towards freedom… Towards Jerusalem!
‘Let us practice our legitimate right to pray in our mosques and churches in Jerusalem.
‘We shall pray together as one, Muslims & Christians, and challenge the oppression of the Israeli military with our flesh.
‘Join us at the Qalandiya checkpoint at 11am on June 5th, 2011.
‘Our souls and soles will be marching on.
‘To Jerusalem… We Shall Return.
‘May Palestine One Day be Free, Like the Spirits of her Children.’
In Majdal Shams, on the occupied Golan, Israeli troops opened fire as demonstrators sought to push through the mined ceasefire line, which has been reinforced with two lines of curled barbed wire blocking access to a fence.
‘Despite numerous warnings, both verbal and later warning shots in the air, dozens of Syrians continue to approach the border and IDF (Israel Defence Forces) forces were left with no choice but to open fire towards the feet of protesters in efforts to deter further actions,’ an Israeli army spokesman said.
On the Israeli occupied side, Majdal Shams locals pleaded with soldiers to stop firing as troops used loudspeakers to warn demonstrators in Arabic that ‘anyone who comes close to the fence will be responsible for their own blood.’
‘Our aim is to plant the Syrian flag on the occupied land,’ one of the protesters, Mohammed Shaiber, said in the television report.
Syrian television showed footage of protesters trying to scale the barbed wire as Israeli soldiers atop a tank opened fire.
Israel forces were placed on high alert after activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in Arab nations bordering the Jewish state, called for protesters to march on Israeli checkpoints and border areas.
Protests were also staged in Gaza and the West Bank, where hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Qalandiya checkpoint by Ramallah, throwing stones at Israeli troops who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Ten demonstrators were taken to hospital with light wounds from rubber bullets, while another 20 were treated at the scene for tear gas inhalation.
‘To Jerusalem we go,’ read signs held by protesters, who marched to the checkpoint separating the central West Bank from Jerusalem, located on the route of the separation wall, built some 5 kilometres on the Palestinian side of the 1967 border.
‘Freedom is a human right,’ another sign said, held by one of the few men who were able to bypass a heavy Israeli military cordon outside the checkpoint, which severed the crowed in two.
Men trickled into the area in front of the soldiers slowly, and when ten had amassed and tried to form a human chain in front of the checkpoint, soldiers began firing tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated bullets on the group.
When soldiers in riot gear carrying plastic shields attempted to push the men back, they resisted by sitting on the ground and refusing to move until they were evacuated by force.
Following the initial confrontation, Palestinian youth at the back of the crowed threw stones at soldiers.
At least two protesters were seriously injured, and at least 37 were treated in ambulances for tear-gas inhalation, medics said.
Elsewhere, around 100 people demonstrated in central Hebron in the southern West Bank, while dozens of protesters tried to march from the northern West Bank village of Deir al-Hatab to the nearby Elon Moreh settlement.
In Gaza, Hamas police arrested around a dozen protesters who broke away from a rally at the entrance of the northern town of Beit Hanoun, and tried to march to the Erez border crossing with Israel.
Sunday’s protests, timed to coincide with the 44th anniversary of the Six-Day War when Israel captured the Golan from Syria as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, were planned as a repeat of massive demonstrations last month.
On May 15, thousands of protesters massed on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, trying to force their way across on the anniversary of Israel’s creation.
Israeli troops opened fire on demonstrators as they stormed the borders from Syria and Lebanon, leaving six dead on the Lebanese side of the border and four dead on Syria’s side.
Meanwhile in Lebanon on Sunday, Palestinian refugees staged a day of mourning but the Lebanese army banned any gatherings at the border with Israel to avoid a repeat of the violence.
But an Iranian delegation toured the border area and a parliamentary official from Iran waved a Palestinian flag in the direction of Israeli soldiers watching from the other side.
l Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal’s director Ayyoub Abu Sha’ar said.
Closed out of frustration, Abu Sha’ar said the Egyptian authority’s ‘mechanism’ at the terminal was unclear, citing Egypt’s decision to close the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials.
Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials.
Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border.
Egyptian security sources said the delay was due to maintenance works underway at the crossing.
Egyptian authorities opened the crossing on Saturday afternoon, but only for passengers on foot.
The director of border crossings in Gaza, Salameh Barakeh, said the decision was difficult to implement due to the number of patients, elderly people and children who were travelling among others across the sole Egyptian exit from Gaza.
Abu Sha’ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza’s foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal.
He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed.
Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing on May 28 after it had been largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a blockade after militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
