Land Day
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Land Day (Arabic: يوم الأرض transliterated Yom al-Ard Hebrew: יום האדמה, Yom Ha'adama), March 30, commemorates the killing of six Arab citizens of Israel by the Israeli army (IDF) and police in 1976 during protests over Israeli expropriations of Arab land.
A general strike and large demonstrations took place in the villages of Sakhnin, Arrabe and Deir Hanna. The demonstrations were peaceful at first, but then turned to riots as roads were blocked, and stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown. [1] [2]Six Arab citizens of Israel were killed - four unarmed demonstrators were shot by the IDF and two more by police - and hundreds of others were jailed and wounded. [3] [4]
Since then, Land Day has become an annual day of commemoration and demonstrations, held not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but by Palestinians all over the world. [5]
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[edit] Historical Background
Arab Palestinians were a largely agrarian people, 75% of whom made their living off the land before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. 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." [6]
[edit] Absentee Property Law
Israel's Absentees' Property Law of March 1950 transferred the right of owners of the land to a Custodian of Absentee Property. It was used to confiscate lands belonging to the over 750,000 Palestinian refugees, the majority of whom fled Palestine 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. [7] More than a million square dunams of land were expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel alone from 1948 to 2003. [8]
[edit] Catalyzing Events
See also: The Koenig Memorandum
On February 29, 1976, the Ministry of Finance passed a decree calling for the confiscation of 21,000 dunams (5,000 acres) of land between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arrabe. [9] Nayef Hawatmeh 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." [10]
According to the Jerusalem Post, the lands were initially confiscated for "security purposes," but were actually used to build new Jewish settlements and a military training camp. [11]
The government decision to confiscate the land was accompanied by the declaration of a curfew to be imposed on the villages of Sakhnin, Arrabe, Deir Hanna, Turhan, Tamra, and Kabul, effective from 5 p.m. on March 29, 1976. [12]
[edit] The Land Day Protest of 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. [13] A general strike and marches took place throughout the Arab towns, from the Galilee to the Negev.
The demonstrations were peaceful at first, but tensions rose as roads were blocked, and stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown. Israeli police then called in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for assistance,[2] one convoy of which came under attack by hundreds of youth, resulting in the shooting and killing of six unarmed Arab citizens.[14][15] At least 100 others were wounded and many others jailed.[16]
[edit] Commemoration & Significance
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." [3].
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. [4] The day is also commemorated annnually by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian Diaspora worldwide. [17]
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." [18]
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." [19]
[edit] Casualties of Subsequent Land Day Commemorations
2001 - Israeli army (IDF) kills five Palestinians in Nablus and one in Ramallah; 150 Palestinians injured, several critically. [5]
[edit] References
- ^ After the War: Arab Strike Held Only in Occupied Areas. New York Times (March 31, 1991). Retrieved on 2.1.2006.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Remembering Land Day. BBC News (March 30, 2001). Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day. The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). Remembering Land Day. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Laurie King-Irani (Fall 2006, Issue no. 216). Land, Identity and the Limits of Resistance in the Galilee. Middle East Report Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Uri Davis. A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees. MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, June 25, 2001.
- ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). Remembering Land Day. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Remembering Land Day. BBC News (March 30, 2001). Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). Remembering Land Day. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day. The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day. The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). Remembering Land Day. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Orly Halpern. "Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day", The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition, March 30, 2006. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Yosef Goell. "Land Day? No: Call it 'Lie Day'", The Jerusalem Post, March 26, 2001.
- ^ Remembering Land Day. BBC News (March 30, 2001). Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Nayef Hawatmeh (7-13 April 2005, Issue No. 737). Remembering Land Day. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
- ^ Press Release: Palestine Land Day 2006. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights (March 30, 2006).
- ^ Agence France Press (March 30, 2002). Israeli Arabs Protest Against Arafat Siege on "Land Day". Common Dreams News Center. Retrieved on 1.11.2006.
