Violence Escalating In Israel

Naksa Day: 4 reported dead on Israel-Syria border

Syrian television on Sunday reported that four people were killed and 10 injured along the Syria-Israel border in the Golan Heights near Majdal Shams, reportedly from IDF fire. The IDF spokesperson said that the only information it had on deaths on the border were Syrian reports and therefore, it could not confirm the number of people killed or if there were any deaths.

A second demonstration was observed on the Syrian border in Kunetra, where 200 to 300 demonstrators amassed. The IDF said there was no attempt to cross the border at that event, and no injuries were recorded.

Syrian television also reported that demonstrators were attempting to breach the fence at several other points in the Golan Heights, Channel 2 reported.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned that there are "radical elements who are trying to breach [Israel's] borders to mark the anniversary of the start of the Six Day War," speaking at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We won't allow them to do it."

Activists clash with Border Police at Kalandia crossing

At least 250 Palestinian and left-wing demonstrators clashed with Border Police forces at the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah Sunday afternoon as part of "Naksa Day," or the 44th commemoration of the 1967 Six-Day War Palestinians see as a "setback" due to the capture of their land.

Channel 10 reported that protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails, and burning tires in the direction of police forces, who responded by firing tear gas and shock grenades. As winds began blowing the gas back at police officers, security forces began firing rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the demonstration.

Forty Palestinians were injured during the course of the demonstration, Israel Radio reported.

In other areas of the West Bank, dozens of Palestinians and left-wing activists marched toward the Elon Moreh settlement, attempting to break through the village's gates.

Arab-Israelis hold "Naksa Day' rally in Golan

Police prevented group of United Arab List Ta'al members from entering Druze village adjacent to Syrian border. Protestors en up demonstrating near checkpoint

The party members held a demonstration in the checkpoint where they were stopped to mark 'Naksa Day' – the 44th anniversary to the Six Day War which falls on Sunday.

Druze leaders met the Arab-Israeli activists in the road leading to Majdal Shams. The protestors waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Golan Heights are Arab" as well as slogans condemning the Israeli occupation

Tel Aviv: Thousands march for Palestinian state

Some 5,000 people marched through the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday evening in a demonstration calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. Setting out from the city’s central Rabin Square, protesters affiliated with the Hadash party, Meretz, Peace Now, the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement and the Geneva Initiative

Other protesters alluded to the revolution that took place earlier this year in Egypt, chanting, “We’re struggling like the Egyptians, against a government of racists.”

The demonstration was organized by the eclectic range of leftist organizations and political parties following Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress last month, in which he rejected US President Barack Obama’s call for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on pre-1967 lines with mutually agreed upon land swaps

Organizers promoted the event under the slogans: “Netanyahu says no – we say yes to a Palestinian state,” and “A Palestinian state is an Israeli interest.”

Addressing the rally, MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said of Netanyahu's speech to Congress, "[he] closed a chapter in our history called the peace process." Warning against not making peace, he said, "If there isn't peace, there won't be a continuation of the status quo." Recent events in the Middle East, Khenin explained, "will also reach us. Netanyahu is leading us toward disaster."

Related Headlines:

Video: Syrian Arabs Test IDF at Border, Four Killed

5 Palestinians killed, 10 hurt in clashes with IDF on Syria border

Hundreds of Palestinians clash with IDF

And this:

Rekindled Syrian protests could revive Assad's threat to hit Israeli border

Two unforeseen events Friday, June 3 rekindled Syrian protests with full force - just as Syrian President Bashar Assad was preparing to celebrate his reassertion of authority after suppressing the uprising against his regime with active Iranian and Hizballah help:

The leaders of the Syrian opposition-in-exile meeting in Antalya under Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's aegis struck a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood which brought 100,000 Brotherhood loyalists back on the streets in the northern town of Hama.

Northern Syria was aflame again after the uprising in the North and most other parts of Syria had largely subsided last week.

Fresh disturbances also hit the southern province of Horan and its capital Deraa a month after unrest there had been suppressed by troops shooting dead more than 500 protesters and injuring thousands.

And the new uprisings are leading to this:

The new outbreaks confronted President Assad with a fresh challenge at the very moment that he was polishing his victory speech to celebrate the crushing of the revolt against him.

He must now decide between carrying on with his iron-fist crackdown to douse persistent protests, or rely on the new bloodbath in Hama, Deraa and Deir a-Zur to act as a deterrent against the nationwide revival of mass demonstrations.

The third option, which he threatened earlier in the three-month revolt, would be to re-channel the fury directed against his regime into aggression on the Syrian-Israeli border.

Based upon the violence seen at the border this weekend, it appears that Assad may have chosen option #3.

In related news we see this:

Netanyahu to France: Thanks but No Thanks on Talks with PA-Hamas

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu thanked France for doing its best to help Israel and the Palestinian Authority reach a final status agreement but said no thanks to talks with a PA government that includes a non-repentant Hamas.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who arrived in Jerusalem on Wednesday, has invited the prime minister and PA officials to attend a Paris peace conference in late June.

Which predictably leads to this:

The proposal comes as a possible face-saving measure for the Palestinian Authority as chances increase that its bid to ask the United Nations to accept its creation as an independent country in September may fizzle

However, he said, “We would also like to emphasize and reiterate: Negotiations will not be conducted with a Palestinian [unity] government, half of which is Hamas, a terrorist organization that seeks to destroy Israel. I made it clear to Foreign Minister Juppe that Hamas must adopt the Quartet principles,” Netanyahu said.

“If the claim that there is a new spirit in Hamas is true, then it can find expression in the release of [IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit

Not to mention having Hamas declare that Israel has a right to exist as an independent nation - a concession that Hamas continues to refuse.