Anees Suheil Barghouti
30 March 2018•Update: 30 March 2018
JERUSALEM
As Palestinians staged mass rallies along the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel on Friday, Israel deployed thousands of soldiers along the other side of the border fence.
According to Israel’s Channel Two, thousands of soldiers from the Golani Brigade, the Givati Brigade and the Nahal Brigade -- along with Air Force and Special Forces personnel -- were deployed along the border on Friday in anticipation of the mass rallies.
Some areas along the border have been designated “closed military zones”, the broadcaster reported, going on to note that Army Chief-of-Staff Gadi Eizenkot was personally overseeing the border deployments.
On Wednesday, Eizenkot threatened to use live ammunition against Palestinian demonstrators who threatened Israel’s “security infrastructure”.
Soldiers, he was quoted as saying by local media, had received permission to open fire on protesters “if Israeli security infrastructure comes under threat”.
Tens of thousands of Gazans have already gathered along the strip’s roughly 45-kilometer eastern border with Israel to reaffirm their right to return to their ancestral homes in historical Palestine.
Friday’s mass demonstrations are also intended to pressure Israel to lift its decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The rallies have been endorsed by virtually all Palestinian political factions, which have repeatedly stressed the peaceful nature of the event.
Tent camps have been set up along the border -- only 700 meters from the border fence in some cases -- for a planned open-ended sit-in.
Land Day
Dubbed the “Great Return March”, Friday’s rallies in the Gaza Strip also coincide with Land Day, which commemorates the murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in 1976.
On March 30 of that year, thousands of Palestinians in the northern Galilee region demonstrated against Israel’s seizure of large tracts of Arab land, prompting Israeli troops to enter the region in force.
Demonstrations first erupted in the town of Deir Hanna, which had earlier been the target of severe oppression by Israeli police.
This was followed by further protests in the town of Arrabeh, during which one Palestinian was killed -- and dozens more injured -- by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian's death triggered widespread demonstrations -- and violent clashes with Israeli troops -- in a number of other Arab communities, in which another six Palestinians were killed.
