Hawzah News Agency (Occupied territories of Palestine) - Palestinian protesters dressed as Father Christmas are tear gassed by Israeli troops as they demand access to Jerusalem to pray.

Palestinians said they wanted to visit holy sites in Jerusalem Al Quds but could not Without permits they were stopped at Israel's West Bank separation barrier.

Israeli troops fired tear gas at the protesters carrying Palestine flags. There were reports of Israeli forces firing rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd.

Palestinian protesters dressed as Father Christmas were tear gassed by the Israeli Army as fights broke out in Bethlehem yesterday.
Video footage showed Israeli security forces blocking the demonstrators at the Bethlehem checkpoint where the scuffles erupted.

One man in a Santa outfit was seen throwing a tear gas grenade back at Israelis and another was lying on the floor after inhaling the gas. No-one was killed.

One demonstrator, Fareed al Atrash, said: 'We are here today in order to reach Jerusalem Al Quds for religious rituals.' 

'We want to reach the Palestinian capital Jerusalem Al Quds and we want to say that this land is a Palestinian land and it is our right to reach our lands.' 

The organiser of the demonstration, Monther Amirah, said in Arabic: 'We are in this protest to say that the occupation and the terrorism are two faces of the same coin and we want to say to the whole world that the Palestinians are facing organised terrorism from the occupation and that we will continue to resist this Nazi occupation.' 

At least 231 Palestinians have been killed in violence in Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip since October 2015.
Israel says at least 156 of them were assailants in lone attacks often targeting security forces and using rudimentary weapons including kitchen knives. Others died during clashes and protests.

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