16 dead, dozens injured as violence erupts along Israel's borders with Syria

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 9:42 AM on 16th May 2011

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Israeli troops today clashed with Arab protesters along three hostile borders, including the frontier with Syria, leaving 16 people dead and dozens more wounded in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations marking a Palestinian day of mourning for their defeat at Israel's hands in 1948.

Along Israel's border with Syria, thousands of protesters stormed the fence and hundreds burst through, pelting soldiers with stones, the military said. Soldiers guarding the border opened fire to stop them. Dozens were wounded and four were reported killed.

Israeli defence officials said the military had not expected protesters to try to breach the border and was caught by surprise.

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Violence: Eight people have been killed after clashes erupted along the Israel border with Syria

Overrun: Demonstrators cross from Syria into the annexed Golan Heights as part of the Nakba day - the official creation of the Israeli state in 1948

It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side, and Israeli officials accused Damascus of fomenting the violence in an attempt to divert attention from the deadly crackdown on protests within its borders against the rule of President Bashar Assad.

'The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention away from the brutal crackdown of their own citizens to incite against Israel,' said an Israeli military spokesman.

'Thousands of Syrian civilians breached the Israel-Syria border near the Israeli village of Majdal Shams.

'Israeli defence forces opened fire in order to prevent the violent rioters from illegally infiltrating Israeli territory. A number of rioters have infiltrated and are violently rioting in the village. From initial reports there are dozens of injured that are receiving medical care in a nearby hospital.'

In the deadliest incident, ten people were killed when they marched from inside Lebanon toward the border with Israel, according to Lebanese security officials. The Israeli military said troops opened fire when rioters attempted to break through the fence into Israel. Israeli defence officials also suggested the Lebanese army, which fired in the air to disperse the protesters, might have been responsible for some of the deaths.

Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, an Israeli military spokesman, said soldiers fired when demonstrators began vandalising the border fence.

The army was 'aware' of casualties on the other side, he said.

The Israeli military said 13 soldiers were lightly wounded in the Lebanon and Syria clashes.

Panic: Two men carry an injured Palestinian after tear gas was fired during clashes with the Israeli police near Ramallah in the West Bank

Fanning the flames: A Palestinian protester stokes a burning barricade blocking a road on the outskirts of Jerusalem

Today's unrest - which came after activists used Facebook and other websites to mobilize Palestinians and their supporters in neighbouring countries to march on the border with Israel - also marked the first time the protest tactics that have swept the Arab world in recent months have been directed at Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to act with 'maximum restraint'.

'But nobody should be mistaken. We are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty,' he added in a brief address broadcast live on Israeli TV stations.

By early evening, the Israeli military said the borders were quiet. Military jeeps and armoured vehicles could be seen leaving the area in the northern Golan Heights where the border was breached. Israel captured the strategic heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.

Targeting: Israeli soldiers take up positions near the Druze town of Majdal Shams as hundreds of Palestinians attempt to cross the border

Injuries: A Palestinian boy is lifted to safety during the violence and, right, an injured Israeli soldier calls in support

The unrest came as the Palestinians marked the 'nakba', or 'catastrophe', the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement in the war at the time of Israel's founding in 1948.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted, and the dispute over the fate of the refugees and their descendants, now numbering several million, remains a key issue in the Mideast conflict.

It also comes at a critical time for U.S. Mideast policy. President Barack Obama's envoy to the region, George Mitchell, resigned on Friday, and the U.S. president may now have to re-think the administration's incremental approach to peacemaking. Obama is to deliver a Mideast policy speech in the coming week.

Syria has demanded the Golan Heights back as part of any peace deal, but the border has been quiet since the 1973 Mideast war despite hostility between the two countries.

A senior Israeli government official said: 'This appears to be a cynical and transparent act by the Syrian leadership to deliberately create a crisis on the border so as to distract attention from the very real problems that regime is facing at home.'

The protesters who came from the Syrian side were believed to be Palestinians who live in refugee camps in Syria. By late afternoon, Israeli military officials said about 100 people had been caught and were being sent back to Syria. It was not known how many remained on the loose.

War zone: Palestinian protesters take position during clashes with Israeli troops at a refugee camp outside Jerusalem

'The residents are in shock, they had no idea this was going to happen,' Dolan Abu Salah, mayor of Majdal Shams, said. He said the town's residents, members of the Druse Arab sect, were neutral and did not want to get involved.

The clash with the Lebanese protesters occurred about 25 miles to the west. The shooting erupted at the tense border village of Maroun el-Rass, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in the month-long war Israel fought with Hezbollah in 2006. Thousands of Palestinian refugees had travelled to the village in buses adorned with posters that said: 'We are returning.'

Many came from the 12 crowded refugee camps in Lebanon where some 400,000 Palestinian refugees live.

Young Hezbollah supporters wearing yellow hats and carrying walkie-talkies organised the protesters and handed out Palestinian flags.

'Israel may be 63 years old today but its days are numbered,' said Abbas Jomaa, 50, who was carrying his four-year-old son on his shoulders and holding a Palestinian flag.

'Sooner or later we will return.'

Hold the line: Israeli soldiers stand guard as Syrian protesters can be seen approaching the border line

'Staged': Israel accused the Syrian government of deliberately allowing protesters near the border line to detract from problems within the country

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said one person was killed and 65 others were wounded when demonstrators tried to approach a heavily fortified border crossing into Israel.

A second Palestinian was killed in a separate incident. Israel's military said he was trying to plant a bomb along the fence.

In Jordan, police blocked a group of protesters trying to reach the border with Israel.

Inside Israel, police were on high alert for disturbances among the country's large Arab minority. In a reflection of the jitters, a deadly traffic incident involving an Arab truck driver in Tel Aviv set off fears that an attack had been carried out.

The truck ploughed through a crowded street, crashing into a bus, several cars and pedestrians, killing one and injuring 16 others. Police said the 22-year-old driver claimed it was an accident, but said they were still investigating.

'Based on the devastation and debris, we're still examining if it was carried out deliberately,' a police spokesman said.

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