Thousands of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs held rallies on Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of “Land Day” – when protests against the Israeli
Thousands of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs held rallies on Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of “Land Day” – when protests against the Israeli confiscation of land in the Galilee region ended in violence and death.
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Six Arab Israelis were killed by Israeli security forces during the demonstrations in 1976.
The commemorations, which were marked by a minute’s silence, featured slogans such as “the earth is the homeland”.
“Land day was the first Palestinian uprising, and it started here in the Galilee and the Negev. It started as a defence of the land, that they (the Israelis) were planning to confiscate – but it became a defence of their existence: a National Day, a Palestinian, Arab and International Day,” said Mohammad Barakeh, chairman of the High Follow-up Committee, the main representative body for Arabs in Israel.
There were also protests in Gaza featuring a poster more than 2,000 metres long, described as the longest in the world.
That claim was unconfirmed – but the message to the Israelis was crystal clear: a mural spelt out, in English, the words “You leave, we stay – it’s our LAND”.
There were similar sentiments in the West Bank where a rally was held outside a prison.
It ended up in clashes betweens stone-throwing Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.