28/03/2009 Israeli Arab MK Mohammad Barakeh said on Saturday he was attacked by Israeli occupation army soldiers during a demonstration in Al-Khalil.

Barakeh, chairman of the Hadash party, said occupation troops pushed him violently and sprayed him with tear gas when they through tear gas and shock grenades into the crowd.

The incident occurred when Israeli soldiers asked dozens of leftist and Palestinian demonstrators to disperse. They had staged their protest in front of the settlement inside the occupied West Bank city, a frequent flashpoint for tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Barakeh, however, refused to leave and told the soldiers that the only people able to make such a request were the city's true owners, the Palestinians.

The Israeli occupation army claimed in response that troops were not at all violent toward the lawmaker.

http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=79419&language=en