News / Palestine

10 Israelis detained in al-Khalil pro-Palestinian rally

Saturday, 20 February 2016 4:21 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 20 February 2016 4:20 PM ]

Israeli troops arrest Palestinians during clashes in the village of Beit Ummar near the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), on October 11, 2015. ©AP

Israeli forces have detained 10 Israelis for taking part in a rally to mark the 22nd anniversary of an Israeli massacre at a mosque in the occupied West Bank at the hands of an illegal settler.

Nearly 200 protesters, most of them Palestinians, participated in the anniversary demonstration on Saturday in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

The forces attacked the demonstrators to disperse them after some of the protesters reportedly threw stones at troops.

On February 25, 1994, Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein gunned down 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is also revered by Jews, in the heart of al-Khalil.

Goldstein was affiliated with a racist group, which advocates the forcible expulsion of all Palestinians from the “Greater Israel.”

The anniversary demonstration comes as tensions are running high in the al-Khalil region. Scores of Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in a new upsurge of violence against them since last October.

Many were killed during purported attacks on Israelis, while others were gunned down during protests.

Israeli police officers and emergency personnel inspect the bodies of two Palestinians killed following an attack at Damascus Gate, a main entrance to the Old City of al-Quds on February 3, 2016. ©AFP

Since the start of October 2015, over 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

Tensions heightened in the occupied Palestinian territories in August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the holy Muslim site.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

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