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News :: Israel / Palestine |
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Preparations for Security Fence Protests |
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by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
20 Feb 2004
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Palestinian protests designed to coincide with Hague hearing on the separation fence. |
IDF ready for Palestinian demonstrations
The Israel Defense Forces is prepared for wide-scale Palestinian demonstrations along the separation fence, to coincide with the two-and-a-half days of hearings.
The Palestinian Authority has already declared Monday as a day of rage and protest against the fence.
Foreign Ministry and Jewish Agency officials said Friday that an Israeli delegation of terror victims was going to The Hague, as were individual Jews and Jewish groups in Europe who volunteered to go.
Meir Rosen, the director of international law in the IDF Judge Advocate General's office, told Israel Radio on Friday that Israel was being held to a different standard than the rest of the world. "It's clear that there are two types of international justice: one that applies to the entire world, and one that applies to Israel."
At this stage, the army has not seen a dramatic public response to the PA's calls for participation in the rallies, which are expected to last a few days, but major efforts are being made to organize them.
There are also preparations being made for army dealings with the media. The police and IDF expect Israeli peace activists as well as International Solidarity Mission activists to take part in the rallies.
PA officials and Fatah political activists are involved in the preparation for the demonstrations, with the PA planning on extensive international media coverage of them. Apparently the PA is interested in large demonstrations, not armed clashes with the army, to emphasize the civic nature of the protest.
After the wave of demonstrations against the fence that climaxed in the IDF's shooting of an Israeli protester in December, there has been a decline in the scope of the protests against the fence.
Major General Moshe Kaplinski, head of IDF Central Command, has instructed the forces under his authority to prepare for the demonstrations in the West Bank, with senior commanders meeting with troops deployed near the fence to ensure that there is sufficient equipment for crowd control and dispersal, as well as refresher training in use of water cannons and tear gas.
Rubber-coated steel bullets are to be used as a last resort to disperse unruly crowds. Army sources said the IDF will not use force to prevent Palestinian demonstrations, but will foil any attempt at actually damaging the barrier.
(c) 2004, Haaretz
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See also:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/396302.html
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