By JPOST.COM STAFFgaza strip land day protest 311(photo credit: AP)
1,500 Beduins gathered at the unrecognized community of Al-Arakhiv in the Negev to mark the 34th anniversary of Land Day, which commemorates the killing of six Israeli Arabs on March 30, 1976, during protests over land confiscations.According to Israel Radio, the demonstrators – who were joined by Arab Israeli MKs – chanted anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic slogans and waved Palestinian flags. MK Taleb A-Sanaa (United Arab List-TAAL) was quoted by the radio station as saying that the Palestinians must unite to protect the Aksa Mosque.“There can be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem and without Al-Aksa,” A-Sanaa reportedly said; fellow party member Ahmed Tibi was said to have expressed similar sentiments.MKs Ibrahim Sarsour and Hanan Zouabi (UAL-TAAL), as well as members of the northern and southern branches of the Islamic Movement, also attended the demonstration.At similar demonstration in Sakhnin, over 10,000 protesters spoke out against recent demolitions of Arab homes and “anti-Arab” bills such as the Nakba Law. Israel Radio reported that two of the demonstrators, their faces masked, held up posters depicting Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.Palestinian sources reported later on Tuesday that sixteen demonstrators were wounded at a Land Day protest in Gaza, where Palestinian youths were sent to a spot near the security barrier in which civilian traffic is prohibited.The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that a 15-year-old boy waskilled and a nine-year-old seriously wounded by IDF fire. The boy,Muhammad al-Farmawi, was reportedly shot after approaching the securityfence near the Dahaniya airport in the south of the Strip.The agency reported that “dozens” of other people had been wounded.The IDF denied reports that any demonstrator had been killed, but admitted to shooting in the leg those protesters who had attempted to breach the forbidden area.After more than a year of quiet, tensions along the Gaza border haverisen recently. Last week two soldiers and two Palestinian gunmen werekilled in clashes, after troops crossed the fence to confrontterrorists placing bombs just over the border.
