Arab protesters march on Israeli borders

JERUSALEM -- The surging tide of popular Arab unrest swept over Israel's borders for the first time as thousands of Palestinian refugees and fellow Arab protesters attempted to cross tightly secured frontiers from Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers responded by opening fire Sunday on the rock-throwing demonstrators. At least 15 people were killed and scores were wounded, officials said, at the Lebanese border village of Maroun Al-Ras and along the Golan Heights border with Syria.

The clashes took place on what Palestinians call Nakba Day, the Arabic word for "catastrophe," which marks Israel's 1948 founding and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians, many of whom now live in Lebanon and Syria.

The unprecedented incursion along the normally quiet border rattled the security felt by many Israelis, who have tended to view their country as an island of stability in a turbulent region.

In the aftermath, some said Israel's military would need to re-examine its defense strategy to include not only a possible uprising by Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, but also threats from the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in neighboring countries. Israeli analysts voiced concern that Palestinian refugees may have now been emboldened by the so-called Arab spring uprisings against longstanding autocratic leaders in Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria.

"A fear barrier was crossed today," said Israeli military analyst Yoav Limor on Israel's Channel 1. "If before, such options were discussed in the local Palestinian context, then tomorrow it could happen with the Palestinian Diaspora in the neighboring Arab countries."

Israeli officials blamed Syrian and Lebanese soldiers for failing to keep the protesters away from the border as they have in the past and accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of attempting to use the incident to distract attention from the popular uprising in his own country.

Independent Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani said Assad may have been trying to send a message to Israel and the international community about the regional chaos that could erupt if his regime collapsed. "Syria could be saying, 'If we lose, you lose, too, and this is a taste of what might happen,' " Rabbani said.