Land Day: Difference between revisions
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==Background== |
==Background== |
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{{See also|Arab–Israeli conflict|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}} |
{{See also|Arab–Israeli conflict|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}} |
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Prior to the [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|establishment]] of the [[State of Israel]] in 1948, [[Palestine]]'s [[Arab]] community was largely [[agrarian]], with 75% of it making its living off the land.{{cn}} Following the large scale [[1948 Palestinian exodus|Arab-Palestinian]] and [[Jewish exudos from Arab land|Jewish displacements]], resulted in from the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], land continued to play an important role in the lives of the 156,000 Palestinian-Arabs who had remained inside what became the state of Israel. For the displaced Arab-Palestinian community land functioned as its source for "communal identity, purpose and honor."<ref name=King>{{cite web|title=Land, Identity and the Limits of Resistance in the Galilee|author=Laurie King-Irani|publisher=Middle East Report Online|date=Fall 2006, Issue no. 216|accessdate=2006-11-01|url=http://www.merip.org/mer/mer216/216_king-irani.html}}</ref> |
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The Israeli government, in application of the [[Zionism|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 [[Land and Property laws in Israel#The 'Absentees Property Law'|Absentees' Property Law]] of [[March]] [[1950]] transferred the right of owners of the land to a government-appointed Custodian of Absentee Property, effectively legalizing the [[confiscate|confiscation]] of lands belonging to the [[Palestinian refugees]] who fled from 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|internally displaced Palestinians]] from among the estimated 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel, representing some 20% of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees|author=Uri Davis|publisher=MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, [[June 25]], [[2001]]|url=http://www.mideastjournal.com/israelsdemocracy1.html}}</ref> More than a 1000 square kilometres of land were expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel alone between 1948 and 2003.<ref name=Ahram/> |
The Israeli government, in application of the [[Zionism|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 [[Land and Property laws in Israel#The 'Absentees Property Law'|Absentees' Property Law]] of [[March]] [[1950]] transferred the right of owners of the land to a government-appointed Custodian of Absentee Property, effectively legalizing the [[confiscate|confiscation]] of lands belonging to the [[Palestinian refugees]] who fled from 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|internally displaced Palestinians]] from among the estimated 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel, representing some 20% of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees|author=Uri Davis|publisher=MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, [[June 25]], [[2001]]|url=http://www.mideastjournal.com/israelsdemocracy1.html}}</ref> More than a 1000 square kilometres of land were expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel alone between 1948 and 2003.<ref name=Ahram/> |
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Revision as of 23:36, 12 July 2009
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Land Day (Arabic: يوم الأرض, Yom al-Ard; Hebrew: יום האדמה, Yom Ha'adama), March 30, is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians, of the events of that date in 1976. A general strike and marches were organized in Arab towns from the Galilee to the Negev in 1976 in response to the government's announcement of a plan that would confiscate thousands of dunams of land in Arab areas.[1] The government sent in the Israeli army and police with tanks and heavy artillery.[1] In the ensuing confrontations, six Arab citizens were killed and hundreds of others were jailed and wounded.[2][1] [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]
Background
Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Palestine's Arab community was largely agrarian, with 75% of it making its living off the land.[citation needed] Following the large scale Arab-Palestinian and Jewish displacements, resulted in from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, land continued to play an important role in the lives of the 156,000 Palestinian-Arabs who had remained inside what became the state of Israel. For the displaced Arab-Palestinian community land functioned as its source for "communal identity, purpose and honor."[6]
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, effectively legalizing the confiscation of lands belonging to the Palestinian refugees who fled from 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.[7] More than a 1000 square kilometres of land were expropriated from Arab citizens of Israel alone between 1948 and 2003.[5]
Catalyzing events
In February 1976, Israel declared plans to expropriate lands in the Galilee for official use some 21 km² (5,000 acres) of land between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arrabe.[5] On March 11, 1976, the government published the plan to expropriate approximately 21,000 dunams (5,250 acres) of land in the Galilee. Ori Nir of Ha'aretz writes that only 31 percent of the land in question, or less than one-third, was Arab-owned, some of which was to be used to expand the Arab village of Majar near Acre and to build public buildings in Arab towns.[1][8] According to Orly Halpern of the The Jerusalem Post, the lands were confiscated for security purposes, but on top of a military training camp, they were also used to construct new Jewish settlements.[1]
Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), writes in Al-Ahram 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."[5]
The Land Day Protest of 1976
The government decision to confiscate the land was accompanied by the declaration of a curfew to be imposed on the villages of Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur'an, Tamra, and Kabul, effective from 5 p.m. on March 29, 1976.[1]
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.[5] A general strike and marches took place throughout the Arab towns, from the Galilee to the Negev.[1]
During the protests, four unarmed demonstrators were shot by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and two more by police.[1] At least 100 Arabs were wounded and many others jailed.[2] 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."[9] In annual commemorations of the day by Arab citizens, Israeli security forces are on alert but do not interfere in the protests.[1]
Legacy
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."[10]
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.[1] 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.[5]
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."[11]
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."[12]
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.[13][14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). "Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day". The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
- ^ a b "Remembering Land Day". BBC News. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2006-11-01.
- ^ Israeli Arab leader on Land Day: We'll fight Israel's 'rising fascism' by Yoav Stern and Jack Khouri, Haaretz, June 15, 2008
- ^ Thousands of Arabs mark Land Day by Yaakov Lappin, Jerusalem Post, March 30, 2008
- ^ a b c d e f 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) Cite error: The named reference "Ahram" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ 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) - ^ Uri Davis. "A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees". MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, June 25, 2001.
- ^ Demythologizing Land Day by Jerusalem Post
- ^ "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) - ^ "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:|date=(help) - ^ "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) - ^ 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) - ^ "At least 3 dead in Middle East clashes". CNN. March 30, 2001. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ 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
- 'The land speaks Arabic' / A public near its breaking point by Yoav Stern, Haaretz, March 31, 2008.
- Al Jazeera on 2006 protests
- BBC
- Daily Star
- Jerusalem Post
- Jewish Virtual Library
- Miftah