Marking Land Day when nothing is forgotten yet unity prevails
Land Day* in Sakhnin, which has a strong history of general strikes and civil protest. Photo: Alarab
Thousands of Israeli Arabs protest, strike on Land Day
Arabs in Galilee and Negev as well as Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank demonstrate against home demolitions and land expropriation; many businesses, public institutions and medical centrein Arab sector stay closed in protest.
By Hassan Shaalan, Liad Osmo, Ynet news
March 30, 2016
Israel’s Arab citizens went on a general strike on Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of Land Day.
Palestinians visit the monument on 30 March 2016 set up for the six killed in 1976 in Arrabeh and Sakhnin. Photo by MEE
Businesses, public institutions, and medical centres in the Arab sector were closed on Wednesday, while protests organized by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel were held in the Galilee and the Negev in the afternoon.
Thousands of people protested at the villages of Arraba and Sakhnin in the Western Galilee and the village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev. Protesters called to continue the fight against home demolitions and land expropriation. They waved Palestinian flags and banners that said: “Give me land or give me death.”
Palestinian flags at a Land Day protest in Umm al-Hiran
The PNA men in suits come to Umm al-Hiran to show a united front for this peaceful protest about Israeli land theft.
“We will keep fighting for our lands. The Israeli government and the police won’t deter us,” one of the protesters said.
Protesters were also joined by Arab MKs and by the leader of the outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Raed Salah.
Two ways of marking Land Day in Sakhnin – sober and serious, or joyful and decorative
Photo by Al-Arab, above and below.
“The Israeli government may come one day and accuse us of terrorism or incitement that they’re responsible for,” Salah said. “That’s why we will say that we’re the victims of terrorism, racism and incitement, which is perpetrated by the Israeli government. Even if they shut down the Islamic Movement a thousand times, we’ll remain on our lands and in our homes and fight for our people and continue saying ‘we will sacrifice our lives for al-Aqsa.'”
The first Land Day demonstration 1976, Photo by Communist Party
Ahmad Mansour, a resident of Tira, was not convinced the strike was effective. “The strike won’t contribute anything. The Follow-Up Committee is wasting time and doing nothing to save the lands and save homes from demolition orders. Every year they do the same thing, but we’re tired of it. Their silence will just encourage the government to continue the demolitions and land grabs,” he said.
A businessman from Acre agreed, “The Follow-Up Committee doesn’t represent us, it can’t make us strike.”
All business owners share the support for the general strike and close their businesses in sympathy
The chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee, Mohammad Barakeh, disagreed with the critics. “The strike has been very successful. We also learned of a lot of citizens who are coming to the main rallies today in the Negev and Galilee. It sends an important message to the government in Israel – there’s no doubt about the need to fight for our existence and our home. The government must respect our rights at any cost,” he said.
In the Gaza Strip, a 2.3-kilometre-long fence was created by local artists, who painted murals depicting Jerusalem’s history. The fence’s centre goes through Gaza City’s al-Katiba Square.
One of the artists told Palestinian newspaper al-Quds that the fence is meant “to display the history of Jerusalem throughout the generations, as well as the Judaization process it is undergoing today.”
The Land Day fence in Gaza. Photo by AP
Another artist said he sought to express “the steadfastness and patience of the Palestinian people in their struggle against the occupation.”
Young boy in Gaza worried about where to fly his flag. Photo by Reuters.
Land Day has been marked on March 30 every year since 1976. On that day 40 years ago, Israeli Arabs declared a general strike in protest of government decisions to expropriate Arab lands in the Galilee. A day before the strike, violent clashes broke out between IDF and Border Police forces and residents of the villages Deir Hanna, Arraba and Sakhnin in the Galilee. In an effort to stop the escalation of violence, the IDF sealed off these villages as well as nearby villages. Some of the residents tried to leave and six protesters were killed and 38 wounded in clashes with security forces.
Artists in Gaza created and built a model of the West Bank Dome of the Rock. Seen here on Land Day as a man walks past on his way to the rally, March 30, 2016. The annual Land Day rallies commemorate the killing by police of six Arab citizens in 1976 during protests against land confiscations in northern Israel’s Galilee region. Photo by Suhaib Salem
NOTES AND LINKS
* Commemorating Land Day, March 30from Wikipedia
Land Day (Arabic: يوم الأرض, Yom al-Ard; Hebrew: יוֹם הַאֲדָמָה, Yom HaAdama), March 30, is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians of the events of that date in 1976. In response to the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of land for security and settlement purposes, a general strike and marches were organized in Arab towns from the Galilee to the Negev. In the ensuing confrontations with the Israeli army and police, six unarmed Arab citizens were killed, about one hundred were wounded, and hundreds of others arrested.
Scholarship on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict recognizes Land Day as a pivotal event in the struggle over land and in the relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state and body politic. It is significant in that it was the first time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organized a response to Israeli policies as a Palestinian national collective. An important annual day of commemoration in the Palestinian national political calendar ever since, it is marked not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but also by Palestinians all over the world.