freepalestine
28th October 2010, 19:33
Far-right march faces protest
Published yesterday (updated) 28/10/2010 20:26
http://www.revleft.com/vb/images/ViewDetails/Eng-1.jpg http://www.revleft.com/vb/images/ViewDetails/Eng+1.jpg
TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Several Palestinian citizens of Israel were arrested after demonstrating against a march by far-right Israeli activists in the city of Umm Al-Fahm on Wednesday.
Palestinians threw stones and set fire to tires when far-right protesters entered the city, which contains the largest Palestinian community inside Israel. Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas.
Al Jazeera correspondent Sherine Tadros said 10 Palestinians were arrested. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, Knesset member Afu Aghbaria, of the Palestinian Hadash party, was injured, apparently by stun grenade. An undercover Israeli operative "disguised as an Arab" was also injured, according to the same report.
The far-right march was held to call for the outlawing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, an Islamist movement among Palestinian citizens of Israel. In July, the movement's leader Sheikh Raed Salah was convicted of assault for spitting on a border guard in 2007, a charge he denies.
The marchers planned to wave Israeli flags and march near Islamic Movement offices in Umm Al-Fahm to protest Salah's participation in last May's Gaza-bound flotilla.
Afu Agbaria, the Knesset member who was reported injured told Al Jazeera the right-wing march was "provocation against the people of Umm al-Fahm and the Arab minority in the country."
"They are attacking the legitimacy of the Arab presence in the country in co-ordination with the right-wing extremists in the government," he said.
The demonstration comes a day after hundreds of Land of Israel Movement activists and supporters of the outlawed Kach movement held a memorial service marking 20 years since Rabbi Meir Kahane's assassination.
Settler activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who led the march with Baruch Marzel, told the Israeli daily Haaretz: "I don't understand why, when Peace Now comes to demonstrate at my house in Hebron, it's for the glory of freedom of expression, but when we want to fulfill our legitimate right, suddenly it's a provocation."
Umm al-Fahm Deputy Mayor Mustafa Ghalin said "Images of conflict help them raise funds and we don't want to play into their hands, so the decision was to continue with the regular routine for most of the residents, while the municipality's representatives and employees, along with key political activists, will get across the clear message that Umm al-Fahm will never be open to those extreme right-wingers," Haaretz reported.
Police have been meeting with city officials and political activists over the past few weeks in what they say is an effort to maintain calm.
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327953
Published yesterday (updated) 28/10/2010 20:26
http://www.revleft.com/vb/images/ViewDetails/Eng-1.jpg http://www.revleft.com/vb/images/ViewDetails/Eng+1.jpg
TEL AVIV (Ma'an) -- Several Palestinian citizens of Israel were arrested after demonstrating against a march by far-right Israeli activists in the city of Umm Al-Fahm on Wednesday.
Palestinians threw stones and set fire to tires when far-right protesters entered the city, which contains the largest Palestinian community inside Israel. Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas.
Al Jazeera correspondent Sherine Tadros said 10 Palestinians were arrested. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, Knesset member Afu Aghbaria, of the Palestinian Hadash party, was injured, apparently by stun grenade. An undercover Israeli operative "disguised as an Arab" was also injured, according to the same report.
The far-right march was held to call for the outlawing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, an Islamist movement among Palestinian citizens of Israel. In July, the movement's leader Sheikh Raed Salah was convicted of assault for spitting on a border guard in 2007, a charge he denies.
The marchers planned to wave Israeli flags and march near Islamic Movement offices in Umm Al-Fahm to protest Salah's participation in last May's Gaza-bound flotilla.
Afu Agbaria, the Knesset member who was reported injured told Al Jazeera the right-wing march was "provocation against the people of Umm al-Fahm and the Arab minority in the country."
"They are attacking the legitimacy of the Arab presence in the country in co-ordination with the right-wing extremists in the government," he said.
The demonstration comes a day after hundreds of Land of Israel Movement activists and supporters of the outlawed Kach movement held a memorial service marking 20 years since Rabbi Meir Kahane's assassination.
Settler activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who led the march with Baruch Marzel, told the Israeli daily Haaretz: "I don't understand why, when Peace Now comes to demonstrate at my house in Hebron, it's for the glory of freedom of expression, but when we want to fulfill our legitimate right, suddenly it's a provocation."
Umm al-Fahm Deputy Mayor Mustafa Ghalin said "Images of conflict help them raise funds and we don't want to play into their hands, so the decision was to continue with the regular routine for most of the residents, while the municipality's representatives and employees, along with key political activists, will get across the clear message that Umm al-Fahm will never be open to those extreme right-wingers," Haaretz reported.
Police have been meeting with city officials and political activists over the past few weeks in what they say is an effort to maintain calm.
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327953