Land Day was marked with demonstrations in memory of the seizure of 21 thousand dunams of land in Al-Jalil, Al-Muthalth and Al-Naqab on March 30, 1976. In Beit Jala, protesters marched to an unfinished section of the Israeli apartheid wall, where they put up Palestinian flags and set fire to a tire placed on the fence, symbolically attempting to remove the wall with an improvised battering ram. As soon as Israeli soldiers interrupted the protest, clashes broke out. Protesters threw stones towards the soldiers, to which they responded with teargas and sound grenades.

In Madama village, southwest of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian protesters, shooting at least fifty with rubber-coated steel bullets, and caused dozens to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation. Demonstrators were headed toward the southern area of the village to plant olive trees on Palestinian lands that were illegally confiscated by Israel, close to Yitzhar illegal colony.

The villagers of Bil’in, in the central part of the West Bank, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, marched Friday from the center of the village to the site of the Annexation Wall, constructed illegally on village land. They carried Palestinian flags, chanted against the Israeli occupation and for Palestinian national unity. They also called for the release of all political prisoners held by Israel. One Israeli activist burned the Israeli flag at the site of the Wall, in protest of Israeli policy that dehumanizes, brutalizes, humiliates and controls Palestinian lives.

Israeli occupation violations against Palestinians continue, in terms of land confiscation, demolition of buildings (housing units and establishments) and forcible displacement of residents. Israeli occupation authorities usurped 6,386 Dunams of Palestinian land in the various governorates of the West Bank in 2015. In all, Israeli Occupation Authorities have seized control of more than 85% of the total area of historical land of Palestine which totals about 27,000 km2. Arabs comprise 48% of the total population, but are able to utilize only 15% of the land.

Read More: Clashes Erupt in West Bank during Land Day Demonstration | Israeli Soldiers Injure 50 Palestinians Near Nablus on Land Day | Bil’in marks 41st anniversary of Palestinian land Day | This Week in Palestine, March 31, 2017 | As Palestinians Mark Land Day, Israel Illegally Controls More Than 85% Of Palestine

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