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Land Day (Template:Lang-ar, Yom al-Ard; Template:Lang-he, Yom Ha'adama), is an annual protest day for Palestinians, occurring on March 30, charging Israel with discriminating against the Arabs of the state, especially as regards land distribution. The first such protest occurred on March 29-30, 1976, concerning Israeli expropriations of land in the Galilee during which six Arab citizens had been killed by the Israeli security forces amid violent clashes.

Background

The Arabs of Palestine were a largely agrarian people, 75% of whom made their living off the land before the the establishment of the Israeli state. After the Palestinian exodus and the large-scale upheavals effected by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, referred to by Palestinians as al-Nakba, land continued to play an important role in the lives of the 156,000 Palestinians who had remained inside what became the state of Israel. Laurie King-Irani submits that for this community in rupture, land functions, "as the source of communal identity, purpose and honor."

The Israeli government, in application of the Zionist vision of establishing a homeland for the Jewish People, adopted in 1950 the Law of Return; designated to give Jewish people and refugees the right to migrate to and settle in the country. Israel also applied several emergency ordinances formulating definitions for dealing with lands of the absentee Palestinian-Arabs who have now become refugees themselves.

Catalyzing events

Several more wars occurred between Israel and its Arab neighbours in the following years until on October 1973, Syria and Egypt staged, along with Iraq and the Arab coalition, a surprise attack on Israel on the the Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur. At first, the Arab forces overwhelmed the Israeli forces (IDF) situated on the Suez Canal and the Golan Heights but later the IDF turned the tide and, eventually, a cease-fire was secured in the backdrop of US–Soviet counter threats to become directly involved.

The heavy costs of the war to Israel -- who had suffered 2656 deaths and 7250 injured -- were a catalyst for the government's decision to strengthen its presence close to the Golan Heights, which borders Syria, and to that purpose a Galilee Development Plan was decided upon. In February 1976, Israel declared plans to expropriate lands in the Galilee for official use, 21 km² (5,000 acres) of which approximately 31 percent were Arab-owned.

According to Orly Halpern of the The Jerusalem Post, the lands were confiscated for security purposes, but on top of a military training camp, they were also used to construct new Jewish settlements.

Arab concerns

Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), explains that, "These vast tracts of land were to be turned over to the construction of eight Jewish industrial villages, in implementation of the so-called Galilee Development Plan of 1975. In hailing this plan, the Ministry of Agriculture openly declared that its primary purpose was to alter the demographic nature of Galilee in order to create a Jewish majority in the area."

The Land Day Protest of 1976

The government decision to confiscate the land was accompanied by the declaration of a curfew to be imposed on the villages of Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur'an, Tamra, and Kabul, effective from 5 p.m. on March 29, 1976.

Local Arab leaders from the Rakah party, such as Tawfiq Ziad, responded by calling for a day of general strikes and protests against the confiscation of lands to be held on March 30. A general strike and marches took place throughout the Arab towns, from the Galilee to the Negev.

During the protests, four unarmed demonstrators were shot by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and two more by police. At least 100 Arabs were wounded and many others jailed. The New York Times wrote that the killings were carried out by police during "riots in the Galilee region to protest over Israeli expropriation of Arab land." In annual commemorations of the day by Arab citizens, Israeli security forces are on alert but do not interfere in the protests.

Legacy

For Palestinians, Land Day has since become a day of commemoration and tribute to those who have fallen in the struggle to hold onto their land and identity. The Press Center of the Palestinian National Authority has characterized it "...as a remarkable day in the history of the Palestinian people's struggle, as the Palestinians in such a particular day embrace the land of their ancestors, their identity and their existence."

It often serves as a day for the expression of political discontent for Arab citizens of Israel, particularly surrounding issues of equal land and citizenship rights. The day is also commemorated annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide.

Calls to launch non-violent resistance protests to ongoing land confiscations regularly occur on Land Day. For example, the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights issues a press release for Land Day 2006, calling for "boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel" and an end to "racial discrimination, occupation, and colonization."

In recent years, Arab citizens of Israel have focused on expressing solidarity with their West Bank and Gazan brothers and sisters. In 2002, for example, Land Day demonstrations by Arab citizens of Israel also spoke out against the "Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters."

In 2001 during the Second Intifada, a general strike and "Day of Rage" was called for by Palestinians on the anniversary of Land Day. Five Palestinians were killed in Nablus during stone-throwing protests where 10,000 had taken to the streets, and one Palestinian was killed in a half-hour exchange of gunfire at Ramallah, where 1,000 had marched on an Israeli checkpoint; many others were wounded by rubber bullets.

See also

• Koenig Memorandum
• October 2000 events

References

1. Israeli Arab leader on Land Day: We'll fight Israel's 'rising fascism' by Yoav Stern and Jack Khouri, Haaretz, June 15, 2008
2. Thousands of Arabs mark Land Day by Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post, March 30, 2008
3. 'The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917–1988. Part II, 1947–1977.
4. Laurie King-Irani (Fall 2006, Issue no. 216). "Land, Identity and the Limits of Resistance in the Galilee". Middle East Report Online. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. "Israel: The Yom Kippur War". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
6. "Arab-Israeli War of 1973-74". Encarta Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
7. Simon Dunstan. "The Yom Kippur War: The Arab-Israeli War of 1973". Osprey Publishing. Retrieved 2008-08-29. pg. 117, ISBN 9781846032882
8. ^ Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). "Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day". The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
9. Demythologizing Land Day by Jerusalem Post
   On March 11, 1976, the Israeli government published a plan to expropriate approximately 21,000 dunams (5,250 acres) of land in the Galilee. As Ori Nir of Ha'aretz has pointed out, only 31 percent of the land in question, or less than one-third, was Arab-owned, some of which was to be used to expand the Arab village of Majar near Acre and to build public buildings in Arab towns.
10. ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). "Remembering Land Day". Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "Remembering Land Day". BBC News. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
12. "After the War: Arab Strike Held Only in Occupied Areas". New York Times. 1991-03-31. Retrieved 2006-02-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. "On the eve of Land Day, Israel Continues Aggression". International Press Center, Palestine. 2006-05-09. Retrieved 2007-05-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
14. "Press Release: Palestine Land Day 2006". BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. 2006-03-30. Retrieved 2006-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. Agence France Press (2002-03-30). "Israeli Arabs Protest Against Arafat Siege on "Land Day"". Common Dreams News Center. Retrieved 2006-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "At least 3 dead in Middle East clashes". CNN. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2007-05-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Jeffrey Heller (2001-03-31). "Six Palestinians Killed in Clashes". The Washington Post. pp. A.14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

External links

• 'The land speaks Arabic' / A public near its breaking point by Yoav Stern, Haaretz, March 31, 2008.
• Al Jazeera on 2006 protests
• BBC
• Daily Star
• Jerusalem Post
• Jewish Virtual Library
• Miftah

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from August 2008
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Politics of Israel
• March observances
• History of Israel