Twelve dead in border skirmishes

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights - Violence erupted on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, leaving at least 12 dead and dozens wounded, as Palestinians marked what they term "the catastrophe" of Israel's founding in 1948.

Israeli troops shot at protesters in three separate locations to prevent crowds from crossing Israeli frontier lines in the deadliest such confrontation in years.

Israeli and Syrian media reports said Israeli gunfire killed four people after dozens of Palestinian refugees entered the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, along a disputed border that has been quiet for decades.