Three-Pronged Provocation Against Israel on Nakba (Catastrophe) Day
Today is “Nakba Day,” when Palestinians and Arabs mourn the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. This holiday was different than past ones, as it saw a coordinated attempt to breach Israel’s borders on three fronts: the Golan, Lebanon and Gaza.
On the Golan front
The incident began when approximately 1,000 people on the Syrian side ran towards the border earlier on Sunday. The closest home to the border in Majdal Shams is about thirty meters from the border with Syria. Some 150 Syrians infiltrated the border and entered the Druse village. One Syrian was killed and 30 or 40 were wounded in clashes which ensued with the IDF. The army stated that soldiers fired at protesters’ legs, and said it was investigating how the infiltrators successfully crossed the border into Israel. The IDF detected Syrian military nearby, who were not preventing protesters from crossing the border. Col. Eshkol Shukran, commander of the Golan Regional Brigade was lightly injured by rocks thrown in the incident. Following the incident, IDF tanks and paratroopers were deployed throughout Majdal Shams. (Edited for space.)
On the Lebanon front
Israeli army gunfire killed at least two and wounded over 10 others Sunday on the Lebanese side of the border as thousands of Palestinians gathered in Maroun al-Ras—one kilometer from the Israeli border—to mark the 1948 creation of Israel, officials said. The organizers of the rally told AFP that Hezbollah, which fought a bloody war against Israel in 2006, had financed the event.
Several dozen young demonstrators had managed to cross a Lebanese army cordon and massed near the border, shouting: “By our soul, our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine.” Some threw stones towards the border, where Israeli soldiers were visible, an AFP correspondent said. (Edited for space.)
On the Gaza front:
In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing. A number of Palestinians were wounded when IDF soldiers dispersed the crowd. On Sunday afternoon, IDF forces fired on a suspect planting an explosive device along the border in the northern Gaza Strip. A hit was identified, the IDF said.
Please read the referenced articles for more important information.
Analysis. The information points to the fact that this Nakba Day was a coordinated attempt to infiltrate Israel on multiple fronts, even if for only a few hours. Obviously, nothing like this happens in Syria without the government’s knowledge, and the same is true of the Hamas regime in Gaza. This three-pronged provocation was thought up by Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria and probably the Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in Syria.
