The annual Land Day rally on the Checkpoint Kalandria on the West Bank turned violent today as Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up groups of Palestinian stone-throwers who were trying to march towards Jerusalem.

Medics in the Gaza Strip said the Israelis also used live ammunition to prevent protesters from nearing the frontier wall, seriously wounding one man.

One Hamas leader in Gaza said the march is to protest against government policies adding, in Arabic,

ISMAIL HANIYEH: "When the crowds move from 80 countries towards Jerusalem, they send a strong message to the Israeli occupation that nobody can accept all they do in Jerusalem - the Judaism, the settlement (building) and digging underneath the blessed Aqsa Mosque."

"Land Day" marks the anniversary of the death of six Arab Israelis who were killed in 1976 by Israeli forces while protesting against laws that permitted the confiscation of their land.