The Palestinian people commemorate Land Day and stress their adherence to their legitimate rights

Today, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as the Palestinians in the  lands occupied in 1948 commemorate the 46th Anniversary of “Land Day” by holding several activities that affirm their adherence to Palestine and their rejection of the Israeli occupation policy of settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories, mainly its announcement of building thousands of settlement units in Al-Quds and its vicinity in a bid to Judaize the city and displace its residents.

Land Day marks the events that took place on March 30th, 1976 when demonstrations erupted across the Palestinian cities and villages in protest against the occupation’s seizure of 21,000 dunums of the land of Galilee in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948. The occupation suppressed these demonstrations by opening fire on the protestors, leading to the martyrdom of six Palestinians and the wounding and detaining of hundreds others.

Land Day is a National Palestinian occasion that reminds the world of the human tragedy of the Palestinian people due to the Israeli occupation’s racist policies, including settlement building, Judaization attempts and house demolitions which have led to the displacement of hundreds of Palestinian families.

In a statement marking the Land Day anniversary, the Palestinian People’s Party said that “this occasion comes as attempts to undermine the Palestinian cause continue unabated which necessitates intensive efforts to unify the Palestinian ranks and end the state of division”. The party reiterated the Palestinian’s adherence to their homeland and their continuous struggle against the occupation’s policies of aggression, settlement expansion, and ethnic cleansing.

The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, on its part, called for mobilizing all the abilities of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation’s Judaization plan in Al-Quds, its policy of settlement expansion and blockade and all other aggressive practices that target the Palestinian land, people and cause.

The Palestinian forces and national institutions also issued a statement on Land Day asserting that the Palestinian people will confront the attacks of the Israeli occupation forces and settlers with the same strength and determination they confronted the occupation forces in 1976 upon the Land Day events.

The Palestinian people, who have foiled the enemy’s conspiracy to undermine their just cause, has unrelenting determination to foil any conspiracies that target their rights, said the statement.

It stressed that the Palestinians will continue with their struggle until they defeat the occupation and expel it from the entire lands occupied in 1967, establish their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital and secure the return of the Palestinian refugees in implementation of the UN resolution No. 194ز

Hamda Mustafa