https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

Israeli army arrests opponents of controversial barrier

5th August 2003

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Israeli troops stormed a house in the West Bank early today and arrested 40 opponents of its controversial security barrier, 34 of them foreigners of the International Solidarity Movement, some of the detainees said.

The protestors were occupying the house in Mashah, near the town of Qalqiliya, in a bid to stop the Israelis bulldozing the Palestinian owner's garden to build the fence cutting off the West Bank from Israel.

They said by telephone that the troops had arrested 34 foreigners and six Israelis and put them on two buses, which were taking them to an unknown destination.

The Palestinians and rights groups charge that the barrier, which consists either of a strong fence or a concrete wall, is an attempt by Israel to annex the West Bank's "bread-basket" and unilaterally determine the borders of a future Palestinian state.

The ISM has been leading an aggressive campaign in recent weeks to protest against the fence as well as roadblocks hampering freedom of movement in the West Bank.

US activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah in March and fellow ISM member Tom Hurndall from the UK was declared clinically dead after being shot in the same area a month later.

Today's arrests came as a senior US official said the US is considering punishing Israel for the construction of the barrier in Palestinian areas.

The plan would withhold from Israel US loan guarantees in the amount the Jewish state spends on the construction east of the official Green Line division between Israel and the West Bank, the official said.

Israel says the barrier is essential to prevent Palestinian militants infiltrating from the West Bank to carry out anti-Israeli attacks. – Sapa-AFP.
Advertisement

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      FEEDBACK

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here


About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za