Israel committed genocide: Sleiman

Israel committed genocide: Sleiman

Tue Jun 7, 2011 2:39AM

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman

On Monday, the office of Lebanese President Michel Sleiman issued a statement condemning “the genocide conducted by the Israel occupation forces in the Golan (Heights) that led to the killing of 23 unarmed martyrs," Xinhua reported.

The fatalities, which included a woman and a child, occurred on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on protesters inside Syria as they were approaching the Syrian highlands.

The demonstrators were marching on the anniversary of the June 5, 1967 Naksa Day or Day of the Setback, when Tel Aviv occupied Syria's Golan Heights region as well as the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The Israeli aggression also wounded 350 people.

Sleiman's office also asserted that Israeli aggression will never coerce the Palestinian people and Arab states to stop calling for the observation of the full rights of the Palestinians, including the right to return to territories in their homeland that were occupied during the Six-Day War of 1967.

2008 estimates put the number of Palestinian refugees at over 4.6 million.