Why Palestinians in Israel, like me, keep marching to protect our land

Marchers commemorating Land Day in the streets of Sakhnin, Israel, 30 March 2024

Nagham Zbeedat writes in Haaretz on 1 April 2024:

Every year, my grandfather would host family gatherings on Land Day, where he would share his stories. One story that continues to weigh heavily on my mind is the tragic death of our neighbor, Khadija Shawahna, a 23-year-old woman sent by her father to retrieve her younger brother, Khalid. Khalid, just eight-years old, had joined a protest sparked by the Israeli confiscation of Arab lands near my hometown of Sakhnin in 1976, the event that catalyzed the annual day of protest.

Despite her father’s hopes that Israeli soldiers wouldn’t shoot a woman, Khadija returned home carried by neighbors, her body drenched in blood.

This heartbreaking story is one of many associated with Land Day, a somber occasion marked this past Saturday by Palestinians wherever they live. For those living in Israel, the centerpiece is an annual march across the Galilee. It commemorates March 1976, when mass protests erupted following Israeli confiscation of Palestinian-owned land that laid bare the growing tension at the time between a growing Palestinian population and the shrinking amount of land available to them by the government.

It marked a pivotal moment – for the first time since 1948, Palestinians in Israel collectively protested state policies, reshaping the dynamics of land ownership and the relationship between Arab citizens and Israeli authorities.

While Land Day goes back nearly 40 years, we as Palestinians, on both sides of the Green Line, are still living it on a daily basis, and this year it is more relevant than ever. As we protest the land confiscation that happened in 1976, we are now also protesting to stop the war in Gaza and prevent the escalating calls inside Israel to turn the occupation of the northern Gaza Strip into a permanent reality, just like the West Bank and the illegal settlements.

The struggle for land persists unabated. Peace Now found that this year marks a peak in land privately owned by Palestinians West Bank land seized by Israel. Last month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a fervent proponent of the settler movement, announced further land seizures in the West Bank.

And this land appropriation seems set to be extended into the Gaza Strip, where there is growing campaign to reoccupy territories in the wake of the October 7 attacks have intensified tensions and led to the displacement of communities inside Gaza.

The attempts to seize Palestinian land does not stop in the West Bank and Gaza or within Israel. The Mossawa Center, an advocacy center for Arab citizens in Israel, points out in a recent report the state’s attempts to evacuate unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, as well as the reduced funding for Arab towns in the 2024 budget which was supposed to include funds for expanding Arab towns has been drastically reduced.

This structural discrimination can be seen in the numbers. While 330 million shekels ($90.2 million) has been allocated for total planning and building inside Israel, only 6.68 million shekels ($1.8 million) have been earmarked for the structural planning for Arab towns and for the implementation of a five-year plan for the economic advancement of the Arab community.

Arabs in Israel account for 21 percent of the country, but are barely represented in decision-making over the allocation of land. Israel’s National Planning and Building Council, which plans and regulates land use and development in the country, consists of 32 members. Only three of these members are Arab citizens of Israel.

This, the Mossawa Center notes, shows how Palestinians living in Israel are left out of the national planning process. This insulting under-representation reflects mistreatment and neglect of the Palestinian Arabs living in Israel.

This year, too, protesters marched on Land Day. The intergenerational struggle for justice was palpable among the throngs on Saturday; watching one man, Ali Khalil, marching alongside his young grandson stirred memories of my own childhood, traversing the distance between Sakhnin and Deir Hanna, year after year. These Galilee towns, deeply affected by the injustices of 1976, host the annual Land Day march, where I once wore a keffiyeh around my neck and echoed the chants led by protest leaders.

Ali Khalil with his grandson in Sakhnin, Israel at the Land Day march Saturday.Credit: Nagham Zbeedat
I was curious about the grandfather’s decision to bring his grandson to the protest. His response resonated deeply: “I want to instill in my grandson the understanding that this land is our homeland. We must never forget that this soil, these homes, and the air we breathe here belong to us.”

Navigating through the dense crowd, I couldn’t help but notice the abundance of young faces amid the sea of protesters. Despite the temptation of a leisurely day at the beach or a springtime picnic, these youth opted to don their keffiyehs, hoist the Palestinian flag high, and passionately chant the rallying cries, like “Hey occupier, withdraw your forces, colonization never lasts”. Older woman sang out, “Even if the sky falls, I will not abandon my land”.

I approached a 34-year-old young Palestinian man and asked him what this annual demonstration means to him, considering the first Land Day had occurred nearly half a century ago. His response was profound: “The Nakba continues, land confiscation persists, and the suppression of our people endures—all the factors that led to Land Day are still very much present today.”

He added, “We are a generation that did not witness the Nakba of 1948 firsthand, but we have learned about it from our elders, from our history books, and from documented accounts. It’s an ongoing struggle to unearth the truth of our past in order to comprehend the challenges we face in the present.”

While Land Day is deeply significant for Palestinians, it often evokes fear among many Jewish Israelis, contributing to misconceptions about Arab protests and their demands for fundamental human rights.

This year, though, I was taken aback by the increasing presence of Jewish Israelis at the protest, many of them waving Palestinian flags, donning keffiyehs, and brandishing banners alongside their Palestinian counterparts. One protester who only offered his first name, Uri, is a member of the Socialist Struggle Movement. He articulated a powerful message of solidarity: “A shared society can only be achieved through absolute equality, ending the occupation, lifting the siege on Gaza and putting an end to all forms of national suppression imposed on Palestinians.”

As he distributed banners calling for an end to the war on Gaza and an immediate halt to the forced starvation inflicted upon Gazans by Israeli policies.

The conspicuous presence of Israeli demonstrators at the protest starkly contrasted with the notably lower turnout of Palestinian participants. I couldn’t shake the memory of 2010, when nearly 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of Sakhnin, Arrabah and Deir Hanna. Saturday’s crowd, though sizable, didn’t come close to the numbers of past years, not even reaching half or a quarter of previous turnouts.

While factors like Ramadan fasting and the sweltering weather likely contributed to the decreased attendance, it was apparent from my conversations with Palestinian protesters that other issues played a significant role in discouraging them from participating in such an important event.

“I have a flight later today, and I can’t risk getting arrested at the airport,” confessed a 21-year- old Palestinian man who refused to share his name and grew wary once he learnt I was a journalist.

Similarly, when asked if I could interview her for Haaretz, a 29-year-old woman said, “I’ve been detained twice already for organizing and participating in protests. I’d rather not face detention for a third time.” These interactions were just a few among many, with several people declining to have their pictures taken or insisting on being photographed only from behind, reflecting a palpable fear and reluctance to openly engage in protests.

Land Day is not just a singular event; it symbolizes a continuous struggle that has unfolded every day for the past 76 years since Israel was established – not just the 48 years since its inception.

This ongoing struggle underscores the enduring quest for justice, equality and the preservation of our land, reminding us that our fight extends far beyond any single day or year.

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