***image2***On Friday 26 October, Palestinian demonstrators from the West Bank village of Mazraâ were shot at with live ammunition by Israeli Occupation Forces and settlers while protesting against the theft of their land.
By order of the Occupation forces, 1,000 dunums of the villageâs land are being confiscated and given to the two nearby settlements of Tel Mon and Nehleâil. Two months ago bulldozers arrived to tear up the olive trees on Mazraâ land to the west of the village.
The demonstration started at the Mazraâ village hall and marched to the site of the uprooting, holding Palestinian flags and chanting slogans condemning the occupation and colonisation. Palestinians from the nearby village of Abu Shukheidim joined the demonstration.
As the marchers reached the area where the trees are being uprooted, tens of settlers and occupation forces opened fire with tear gas and live ammunition. A second group of settlers chased Palestinian villagers away then set to work cutting down the villagerâs olive trees. Occupation forces closed the entrance of the village and enforced a full curfew until late night.
Fridayâs demonstration was the second in the village since the Occupation announced the confiscation. There are around 2,000 olive trees on the land, but the farmers have been denied access to their lands to harvest their olives since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000.