Land Day is held on the anniversary of March 30, 1978, when Palestinian villages and cities across the country witnessed mass demonstrations against the states plans to expropriate 2,000 hectares of land in Israel's Galilee region. In coordination with the military, some 4,000 police officers were dispatched to quell the unrest. At the end of the day, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by state security forces.
The Day of the land - or Land Day marked the first mass mobilization of Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. It's commemoration is a reaffirmation that the Palestinians who remained in the area on which Israel was declared in 1948, are an inseperable part of the Palestinian people and their struggle.
It commemorates the Palestinians sense of belonging to a people, to a cause and a country, to stand united against racial oppression and rules of apartheid,and the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government, giving continual potency to the Palestinians cause. Land Day continues to be poignantly relevant, amid news of plans for forced evictions of Bedouin in the Negev/Nagab, demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and the often lethal enforcement of a no-go-zone in Gaza.
As relevent as ever as Israel pushes to confiscate land, expand their colonies, and continue to build their illegal settlements.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/what-palestines-land-day
Palestinian planting olive Trees on Land Day
'if the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, thir oil would become tears.'
- Mahmoud Darwish
No comments:
Post a Comment