IOF quells a march on occasion of Land Day

Amnesty international expressed fears that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) could violently suppress planned Palestinian protests in the occupied Palestinian territories to mark "the annual Land Day" this weekend.

Amnesty has called on the Israeli occupation authority to refrain from using unnecessary force on Sunday 30 March, when Palestinians will start to hold rallies commemorating the Land Day.

The annual event will also commemorate the killing of several Palestinians by Israeli security forces during a rally on March 30, 1976, which was held to protest Israel's appropriation of Arab land in the Galilee.

Amnesty has warned that it delegated a team on the ground to monitor any Israeli violations against Land Day participants on Sunday.

"Amid news of plans for forced evictions of Bedouins in the Negev/Naqab, demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and the often lethal enforcement of a no-go zone in Gaza, 'Land Day' demonstrations will protest ongoing policies as well as commemorate historical events. Israeli forces must not resort to unnecessary or excessive force as they so often have done in the past," Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty international, said.

"Israel's authorities have failed to respect the right of Palestinians to exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly. Amnesty international's researchers will be monitoring events on Sunday closely to examine whether the rights of demonstrators are respected," Luther added.

Amnesty said it had documented a pattern of increasingly lethal use of unlawful force by Israeli soldiers in recent years against Palestinian peaceful protests.

It affirmed that even participants in previous peaceful protests near the Gaza periphery had also been injured after having been shot with live ammunition or hit with tear gas grenades fired by Israeli soldiers.

"Amnesty international is calling on the Israeli authorities to ensure that all forces policing demonstrations receive clear instructions that comply with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, which require that the use of any force by police should be strictly limited to those situations where it is absolutely necessary and strictly proportional to the legitimate aim pursued.

"Security forces must ensure that their members are clearly identifiable. There have been concerns in the past about undercover plain-clothes officers being involved in incidents of use of excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators," the organization stated in a press release on Saturday.

In a related incident, the Israeli ministry of education threatened the principals of Arab schools in the 1948 occupied lands to take disciplinary measures against all Palestinian teachers who would participate in a general strike on the Land Day. 

Director-general of the education ministry Michal Cohen directed in a strongly worded letter all school inspectors to warn the principals of Arab schools against any absence of teachers or administrators on the Land Day.

According to the letter, the Arab school principals are demanded to provide Cohen with their assessment of the situations in their schools on the morning of Sunday and report about any absence of teachers or any administrators who may take part in the strike on the Land Day.

 The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday morning quelled demonstrations staged by dozens of Palestinians near the border fence in the north of Gaza, in commemoration of the Land Day.