RAMALLAH, Friday, August 7, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Friday afternoon opened fire at Palestinians protesting against Israel’s move to seize their land for settlement construction in Turmus Ayya town, north of Ramallah.

Mayor of Turmus Ayya Said Taleb said that Israeli troops opened fired towards peaceful protestors marching against Israel’s illegal move to seize large swaths of their land to make room for the expansion of a colonial settlement, injuring five protestors with rubber-coated steel bullets in their feet and causing dozens to suffocate from tear gas.

He pointed out that Israeli forces seized 3500 dunams of the villagers’ farmland, known as the Eastern Plain, and set up several tents on them as a prelude for the construction of a colonial settlement outpost several months ago.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry confirmed that a Palestinian was hit with tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops in his face. He was rushed to a hospital in Ramallah, where medics described his condition as stable.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu has declared many times his willingness to annex the illegal colonial settlements besides to the Jordan Valley, and consolidate settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The annexation move is based on the US-touted Mideast plan, dubbed deal of the century, which in fact endorses Israel’s longstanding policy of permanent occupation, colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people.

The annexation of Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 is illegal under international law, and it would put much of the occupied West Bank under Israeli sovereignty, leaving only a few small pockets of densely populated Palestinian bantustans.

K.F.