MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights: Syrian police blocked dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters from approaching the Israeli frontier on Monday, while the toll of demonstrators killed trying to break through into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights Sunday rose to 23. Syrian police set up a pair of checkpoints, including one a half-mile from the border. Nearly 20 protesters, some waving Syrian flags, began walking down a hill leading to the border when two police officers blocked their advance by extending their arms. Protesters passed Syrian and UN outposts without impediment on Sunday and during a similar border rush three weeks ago, and it was not clear why Syrian security forces intervened Monday. Syrian Health Minister Wael Al-Halqi said Monday that 23 people, including a child, were killed and 350 were wounded when Israeli soldiers opened fire and blocked them from entering the Golan. A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement issued Monday said the Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators were reaffirming their natural and legal right to liberate and return to their land. The weekend protests in Syria were organized by Palestinian groups to mark 44 years since Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War, an event known in Arabic as the “Naksa” or “setback.” Seven of the dead, their coffins draped with Palestinian flags, were buried Monday at a Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus. Women on balconies showered the coffins with rice and flowers in a traditional sign of grief. The other 16 were buried at another camp in the Syrian capital. British Foreign Secretary William Hague voiced concern about the casualties. “We recognize Israel's right to defend herself,” he said in a statement, but added, “It is vital that any response is proportionate, avoiding lethal use of force unless absolutely necessary, and that the right to protest is respected.” Both Palestinian governments - the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the anti-Israel Hamas government in Gaza - praised the protesters. Meanwhile in southern Lebanon, dozens of Palestinian youths took to the streets of two refugee camps on Monday to denounce the weekend killing of protesters at the border. The youths carried Palestinian and black flags as they marched in the Ain Al-Helweh and Mieh Mieh camps where a general strike was observed, with schools and businesses closed. Pro-Palestinian protests had also been planned for Sunday along Lebanon's border with Israel, but were cancelled for fear of an escalation similar to that which left six people dead last month. On May 15, clashes between protesters and Israeli soldiers left six dead on the Lebanese border and four more in the Golan.
