JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian protesters planning to breach Israel’s borders again will be halted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu, speaking Thursday evening at a conference in Jerusalem, said Syria and Iran and the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist groups are behind the planned mass protests planned for Sunday.
"Like any country in the world, Israel has the right and duty to guard and defend its borders," he said. "Therefore my instructions are clear: to act with restraint, but with the necessary decisiveness to protect our borders, our communities and our citizens."
Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon are planning to march on Israel’s borders on Naksa Day, meaning setback, commemorating Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, during which eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control.
On May 15, Palestinian protesters commemorating Nakba Day — the "catastrophe" of Israel’s founding in 1948 — breached Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon, leading to the deaths of 11 demonstrators. Most reportedly were killed by Lebanese troops.
The Lebanese army on Thursday declared the area around its border with Israel a closed military zone in order to prevent Palestinian protesters from demonstrating there.
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