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Israeli undercover soldiers detain 4 Palestinians during Ramallah rally

Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers at the Beit El checkpoint
Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers at the Beit El checkpoint
RAMALLAH, Dec 13 (KUNA) -- A team of the "Musta'arabim", Israeli undercover soldiers, has detained four Palestinians in renewed clashes at the northern entry of Ramallah during a rally against the recent US move on Jerusalem.
The clashes took place Wednesday at the Beit El checkpoint with the arrival of the Palestinian rally.
The Israelis, dressed as Arabs, and masked with the traditional Palestinian Keffiyeh (scarf), or other black masks, managed to infiltrate among the protesters, pretending to be hurling stones at the Israeli forces on the opposite side, together with the protesters. All of a sudden, they got out fire arms and caught four Palestinian young men whose identities have not yet been identified. The Musta'arabim also attacked some journalists covering the rally.
The Musta'arabim a well-trained unit of the Israeli Army. Members speak perfect Arabic, and are also dressed as Arabs, just like natives. They are tasked with penetrating among Palestinians during anti-Israel protests and rallies.
The unit has carried out scores of assassinations, especially during the First Intifada (Uprising) in 1987, as well as detaining many young men in the Palestinian popular protests of 2015. They are known among Palestinians as "death squads." When the rally, that mainly comprised journalists and lawyers, as well as many others Palestinians, arrived at Beit El checkpoint, the protesters set fire to tyres and threw stones at the Israeli forces, which retaliated with live ammunition.
A member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate secretariat, Omar Nazzal, told KUNA that the move to Beit El was in line with the stance adopted by the Arab Journalists Union.
The union has called journalists in all Arab cities to rush to streets and express their rejection of the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The world's journalists support Jerusalem as the "capital of Palestine and the permanent capital of the Arab media," Nazzal added. Journalists are now "engaged in the open conflict with the (Israeli) occupation." For his part, solicitor Ghadanfer Kamanji told KUNA: "Jerusalem is Arab, and the capital of Palestine." Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Ramallah Mufaq Sahweel said the protests against the US step would go on Thursday, and on Friday Palestinians will perform the noon prayers at the Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank, the nearest to "occupied Jerusalem." He added that protests would carry on until the international community is forced to assume its responsibility toward the Palestinian people, he noted. (end) nq.msa