The Immortal Land Day

On 30 March ..... Land Day...... The truth

"And they are nothing but the clang of swords   they answer a sound for us or an echo"

"And before a martyr on her land       he invoked her name God and was martyred"

·       From the publications of the Palestinian News and Information Agency "Wafa"

"Palestinians commemorate, on the thirtieth of March each year, inside and in the diaspora—the anniversary of the immortal Land Day, whose events date back to 1976; when the first direct confrontation occurred between the Palestinian citizens on the one hand; and the Israeli establishment since 1948 on the other; the result of which was the elevation of six Palestinian martyrs; in addition to 49 injured and about 300 detainees:

The beginning of the events goes back to the Israeli government headed by Yitzhak Rabin announcing in 1975 a plan to Judaize the Galilee area; with the aim of building Jewish residential aggregations on land owned by Palestinian Arab citizens who constitute the majority in this area, under the name (Project for the Development of the Galilee).

In this context  the Israeli government approved on 29 February 1976 the expropriation of 21,000 dunams owned by Palestinian farmers from the towns of Sakhnin, and 'Arraba, and Deir Hanna, and 'Arab al-Sawa'id; to allocate them for building more settlements; noting that the Israeli authorities had confiscated during the years between 1948 and 1972 more than one million dunams of land from the Arab villages in the Galilee and the Triangle; in addition to millions of other dunams they seized in 1948.
In the wake of the expropriation decision, the Lands Defense Committee that emerged from local committees met within a public meeting held in the city of Nazareth on 18 October 1975; to discuss the latest developments, and ways to confront the expropriation process; and they agreed to announce a general and comprehensive strike for one day on 30 March 1976

On 29 March 1976 the Israeli authorities hastened to announce a curfew on the villages of Sakhnin, and 'Arraba, and Deir Hanna, and Tar'aan, and Tamra, and Kabul—from five o'clock in the evening. The Israeli government announced that all demonstrations were illegal; and threatened to open fire on the "instigators"; in order to prevent the implementation of the strike.

Despite the Israeli threats about the strike all Palestinian population centers from the Galilee in the north, to the Negev in the south participated; and massive marches denouncing and rejecting the land expropriation decision took place; so the Israeli response to break the strike was a bloody military one led by General "Raphael Eitan"; his forces, supported by tanks and armored personnel carriers, swept through the Palestinian Arab villages and towns, and began firing indiscriminately, resulting in six martyrs: four of whom were killed by army gunfire, and two by police gunfire; and dozens were wounded.

The Land battle did not end on 30 March 1976; rather it continues to this day. And we can say that all Palestinian days are akin to "Land Day"; for every day the racist occupation government expropriates Palestinian lands, builds settlements, demolishes homes and displaces populations."