Misplaced Pages

Land Day

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tiamut (talk | contribs) at 16:20, 30 August 2008 (→Background: readding directly relevant material deleted earlier - removed material on Yom Kippur war - will post to talk shortly). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 16:20, 30 August 2008 by Tiamut (talk | contribs) (→Background: readding directly relevant material deleted earlier - removed material on Yom Kippur war - will post to talk shortly)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (August 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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 Arab invasion of May 1948, accompanied with a proclamation to create a "United State of Palestine" in place of the Jewish and Arab, two-state plan. As result of the war hundreds of thousands of Jews and Palestinian-Arabs had left or were expelled from their homes.
See also: Arab–Israeli conflict and Israeli–Palestinian conflict

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 Jewish refugees the right to migrate to and settle in the country. Israel's Absentees' Property Law of March 1950 transferred the right of owners of the land to a government-appointed Custodian of Absentee Property. The law was used to confiscate lands belonging to the over 750,000 Palestinian refugees, the majority of whom fled the area that became Israel in 1948. It was also used to confiscate the lands of Arab citizens of Israel who "are present inside the state, yet classified in law as 'absent'." Today, there are an estimated 200,000 "present-absentees" or internally displaced Palestinians from among the estimated 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel, representing some 20% of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel. More than a 1000 square kilometres of land were expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel alone between 1948 and 2003.

Catalyzing events

In February 1976, Israel declared plans to expropriate lands in the Galilee for official use, 21 km² (5,000 acres) located between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arrabe. Ori Nir of Ha'aretz writes that only 31 percent of the land in question, or less than one-third, was Arab-owned and that some of it was to be used to expand the Arab village of Majar near Acre and to build public buildings in Arab towns.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

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

Land Day poster (1984) by Abdel Rahman Al Muzain

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.

File:LandDay2.jpg
Land Day poster

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

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. Uri Davis. "A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees". MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, June 25, 2001.
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jpost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. "Remembering Land Day". BBC News. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
  9. "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)
  10. "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)
  11. "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)
  12. 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)
  13. "At least 3 dead in Middle East clashes". CNN. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2007-05-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. 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

Categories: