jordan pulse -
Thursday marks the 47th anniversary of Land Day, which came after the donation of the Palestinians in the occupied territories in 1948, against the policies of uprooting and Judaization pursued by the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinians in the occupied territories, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the diaspora commemorate this anniversary, through a series of events and activities.
The events of the eternal Earth Day date back to March 30, 1976, when the Palestinians of the interior rose up against the occupation’s seizure of about 21,000 dunums of Palestinian village lands in the Galilee region, including Arraba, Sakhnin, Deir Hanna, and Arab al-Sawaed, and others, in favor of establishing more lands. Settlements, within the framework of the "Judaization of the Galilee" plan.
That day was accompanied by the Palestinians announcing the general strike, and the occupation tried to break it by force, which led to the outbreak of confrontations, which resulted in the death of six Palestinians, and the injury and arrest of hundreds.
Since that time, Land Day has been considered a pivotal event in the struggle over land, and a prominent national day in the history of the Palestinian struggle and the life of our people, whether inside or outside Palestine. This occasion witnesses many Palestinian popular activities and movements that confirm the unity of our people and their adherence to their land.
The Higher Follow-up Committee - the supreme leadership body of the Palestinians of 48 - stated that the occupation confiscated about one and a half million dunums from them since its occupation until 1976, and they only had about half a million dunums left, except for millions of dunums of refugee property and public communal lands.
Researchers point out that land confiscations for the purpose of Judaization reached their climax in early 1976 under various pretexts, including "law" and "serving the public interest", or in activating what is known as the Mandatory "emergency laws".
The comprehensive strike was announced, in direct response to the confiscation of the 60,000 dunums of land (Al-Mil), which was used in 1942-1944 as a military training area for the British Army during World War II, in return for paying a rental fee to the owners of the land.
After 1948, the occupation maintained the situation that prevailed during the British Mandate era, as citizens were allowed to access their lands to cultivate them with special permits.
In 1956, the Israeli authorities closed the area with the aim of establishing plans to build Jewish settlements within the project of Judaizing the Galilee, and preventing residents from entering the area on 13-2-1976.
The issuance of a confidential document (Kenning) on the first of March 1976 by the administrator of the Northern Brigade in the Israeli Ministry of Interior (Israel Kenning), which was later named after him, and which aimed at emptying the Galilee of its Palestinian people and seizing and Judaizing their lands, was one of the reasons for the trend towards the strike.
The Kenning document called for reducing the percentage of Palestinians in the Galilee and Negev regions, by confiscating their remaining agricultural lands and besieging them economically and socially, and directing new Jewish immigrants to settle in the Galilee and Negev regions.
It focused on intensifying Jewish settlement in northern Galilee, establishing an "Arab" party that is considered a "brother" to the Israeli Labor Party and focusing on equality and peace, and raising coordination between government agencies in dealing with Arab issues.
The document stressed the need for economic restrictions on Palestinian families by pursuing them with taxes, as well as reducing the percentage of Palestinians in educational attainment, encouraging professional orientations among students, facilitating the emigration of Arab youth and students abroad and preventing their return to it.
Systematic escalation
The Israeli response to the "Land Day" donation was severe, as the first challenge, and for the first time after the occupation of the Palestinian land in 1948, when reinforced forces from the occupation army, supported by tanks and armored vehicles, entered the Palestinian villages and reoccupied them.
The martyrs of Earth Day are: Khadija Qassem Shawahna, Khair Ahmed Yassin, Raja Hussein Abu Raya, Khader Eid Mahmoud Khalayleh, Mohsen Hassan Sayed Taha, and Raafat Ali Zuhdi.
The anniversary of Land Day this year comes amid an Israeli escalation against Palestinian lands and residents in the Negev.
At the beginning of January 2022, the Negev witnessed a popular uprising against the Israeli attack against it to bulldoze and harass its lands, with the aim of passing the occupation's uprooting plans, and resolving the land issue.
As a result of the donation, confrontations and protests broke out with the occupation forces, resulting in dozens of injuries and hundreds of detainees, including minors and girls.
According to the Palestinian census, the estimated number of Palestinians at the end of 2021 was about 13.8 million, of which 5.3 million live in Palestine, and about 1.6 million Palestinians live in the 1948 lands.
The occupation exploits more than 85% of the total land area in historical Palestine, although the Jews during the British occupation exploited only 1,682 square kilometers, which constituted only 6.2% of the land of historical Palestine.
The Higher Follow-up Committee of the Arab masses in the occupied territories called for the widest participation in the commemoration of the 47th anniversary of Land Day.
The committee stated that the central march to commemorate the anniversary will start today, Thursday, from Al-Shuhada Street in Sakhnin at three o’clock, to the memorial, under the slogan “United, we confront fascism and protect the home and the human being.”
In the Gaza Strip, the National and Islamic Action factions called on our people to participate in the mass mobilization, in commemoration of Earth Day, after the noon prayer today, on the land of Malaka camp, east of Gaza City.
Safa