The Israeli army forces cracked down on Sunday on demonstrators in the West Bank cities, marking the Land Day anniversary.
Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators in various West Bank cities, including Bethlehem and Nablus took to the streets, marking the Land Day anniversary, a Palestinian national occasion remembered annually by crowds of Palestinians in West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and the Diaspora.
In Bethlehem city, local Palestinian sources said that the Israeli army soldiers attacked demonstrators with rifle buttons and whips, causing the injury of four of them.
The sources added that the demonstration came in protest of the continued Israeli confiscation of Palestinian-owned farm lands for the construction of a separation barrier, Palestinians dub as ‘ Apartheid Wall’.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers responded with tear gas canisters against a similar demonstration in the West Bank city of Nablus, arresting a number of demonstrators including a university student.
Dalal Salama, head of the Nablus-based Palestinian Women Union, said that today’s rally sent out a message of determination to continue non-violent resistance for the best of removing hundreds of Israeli checkpoints, which hamper locals’ movement.
A sign, placed near an army checkpoint read ‘we are sticking to our legitimate rights to freedom, justice and peace, despite the checkpoints and siege ‘.
Members of civil society organizations in the Palestinian city also took part in the Land Day rally.
In 1976, the Israeli occupation authorities expropriated thousands of acres of Palestinian-owned lands inside Israel ’48 Arab lands or the green line’, sparking large-scale protests inside Arab-Palestinian communities and leading to the death of 6 Palestinians.
Since then, Palestinians everywhere, mark the anniversary as a sign of commitment to their right to Palestinian lands, which Israel took over in 1948, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
