Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday injured a number of Palestinians who were planting olive trees in protest at land confiscation in the northern Jordan Valley.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the IOF heavily fired tear gas canisters at the protesters injuring some of them.
A local committee against the settlement had called for a tree planting event in al-Baqi’ah plain in the Jordan Valley to defend Palestinian lands threatened with illegal seizure by the Israeli occupation authorities.
About 10000 Palestinians live in the Jordan Valley and depend on livestock and agriculture for food and income.
The Israeli occupation authorities control more than 80% of the Jordan Valley where 21 Israeli settlements are built. For them the Jordan Valley is a security and economic reserve and they seek to maintain their presence there within any final solution with the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority however insists that it is not possible to establish an independent state without the Jordan Valley the West Bank’s richest part in natural resources which covers 30% of its area.
