Land Day
Land Day | |
---|---|
Observed by | Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories |
Date | March 30 |
Next time | March 30, 2024 |
Frequency | Annual |
Land Day (
In 1976, in response to the
Scholarship on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict recognizes Land Day as a pivotal event in the struggle over land and in the relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state and body politic. It is significant in that it was the first time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organized a response to Israeli policies as a Palestinian national collective.[1] An important annual day of commemoration in the Palestinian national political calendar ever since, it is marked not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but also by Palestinians all over the world.[7]
Background
The
The Israeli government adopted in 1950 the
According to Oren Yiftachel, public protest against state policies and practices from among the Arabs in Israel was rare prior to the mid-1970s, owing to a combination of factors including military rule over their localities, poverty, isolation, fragmentation, and their peripheral position in the new Israeli state.[13] Those protests that did take place against land expropriations and the restrictions Arab citizens were subject to under military rule (1948–1966) are described by Shany Payes as "sporadic" and "limited", due to restrictions on rights to freedom of movement, expression and assembly characteristic of that period.[14] While the political movement Al-Ard ("The Land") was active for about a decade, it was declared illegal in 1964, and the most notable antigovernment occasions otherwise were the May Day protests staged annually by the Communist party.[13]
Catalyzing events
The government of Israel declared its intention to
Yiftachel writes that the land confiscations and expansion of Jewish settlements in the northern Galilee formed part of the government's continuing strategy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee which itself constituted both a response to and catalyst for "Palestinian resistance", culminating in the events of Land Day.[17] According to Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the land was to be used to construct "[...] 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."[3][18] Orly Helpern of The Jerusalem Post writes that the lands were confiscated by the government for security purposes, and that they were subsequently used to build a military training camp, as well as new Jewish settlements.[3]
Yifat Holzman-Gazit places the 1976 announcement within the framework of a larger plan devised in 1975. Some 1900 dunams of privately owned Arab land were to be expropriated to expand the Jewish town of
Protest of 1976
The government decision to confiscate the land was accompanied by the declaration of a
The events of the day were unprecedented.[23] According to the International Jewish Peace Union, "To preempt incidents inside Israel on Land Day, about 4,000 policemen, including a helicopter-borne tactical unit and army units, were deployed in the Galilee [...]"[25] During the protests, four unarmed demonstrators were shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and two more by police.[3] Nahla Abdo and Ronit Lentin write that three of the dead were women, and that, "the army was allowed to drive armoured vehicles and tanks along the unpaved roads of various villages of the Galilee."[23] About 100 Arabs were wounded and hundreds of others were arrested.[4][5]
The New York Times reported that the killings were carried out by police during "riots in the Galilee region to protest over Israeli expropriation of Arab land."[26] In Arutz Sheva, Ezra HaLevi writes that the riots started the night before, "with Israeli-Arabs throwing rocks and firebombs at police and soldiers. The riots continued the next day and intensified, resulting in many wounded members of Israeli security forces and the death of the six Arab rioters."[27] Yosef Goell, writing in The Jerusalem Post, says that, "What actually set off the rioting that led to the deaths was a wild attack by hundreds of inflamed young Arabs on an unsuspecting IDF convoy driving on the road by the villages of Sakhnin, Arrabe and Deir Hanna. There was no prior provocation on the part of that IDF convoy, unless one insists on seeing a provocation in the very presence of an Israeli army unit in the heart of Israeli Galilee."[28]
A 2003 Israeli government document notes that, "Arab public figures tried to limit the protests, but lost control over the events. The protestors burnt tires, blocked roads, and threw rocks and molotov cocktails." Placing the six fatalities within the context of "severe clashes" between protestors and security forces, it is also noted that there were many injuries on both sides.[29] Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal write that Land Day differed from the Kafr Qasim massacre in that the Palestinians in Israel exhibited a "[...] daring confidence and political awareness totally lacking in 1956; this time Arab citizens were not passive and submissive. Instead they initiated and coordinated political activity at the national level, responding to police brutality with their own violence."[30]
Impact
During the Land Day events, a new sense of national pride, together with anger toward the state and police and sorrow over the dead protesters, developed among the Arab community in Israel.
Land Day also resulted in the Arabs gaining a presence in
The protest did little to stop the 1975 land expropriation plan. The number of mitzpim established reached 26 in 1981 and 52 in 1988. These mitzpim and the "development towns" of
Studies of Israeli media coverage
Israeli
Bar-Tal and Teichman also cite a 2000 study by professors Gadi Wolfsfeld, Eli Avraham and Issam Aburaiya that analyzed coverage by
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. Often serving as a day for the expression of political discontent for Arab citizens of Israel, particularly surrounding issues of equal land and citizenship rights, in 1988, they declared that Land Day should serve as "a Palestinian-Israeli civil national day of commemoration and a day of identification with Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, to be marked by yearly demonstrations and general strikes."[3][30]
Not only did Land Day work to forge political solidarity among Arab citizens of Israel, but it also worked "[...] in cementing the acceptance of the "1948 Arabs" back into the larger Palestinian world and into the heart of mainstream Palestinian nationalism."[30] The day is commemorated annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide.[18] In 2007, the Press Center of the Palestinian National Authority described 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."[32] However, in recent years, many observers have noted that the Arab population inside Israel seems less enthusiastic about the protests, despite the organizers' efforts to promote hype. Many see this as a sign of growing reconciliation on the grass-roots level.[33]
Annual commemoration and protests
An
During the Second Intifada in 2001, on the 25th anniversary of Land Day, which fell on a Friday, the weekly "Day of Rage", Palestinians were called upon to demonstrate.[34] Tens of thousands of Arab citizens, joined by some Jews, demonstrated in peaceful marches inside Israel, carrying Palestinian flags.[34] During demonstrations in the West Bank, four Palestinians were killed and 36 wounded in Nablus when Israeli forces used live ammunition against protesters throwing stones and molotov cocktails.[34] In Ramallah, one Palestinian was shot dead and 11 others injured when soldiers clashed with 2,000 demonstrators who burned pictures of Ariel Sharon and waved Iraqi and Palestinian flags; Palestinian gunmen also joined the clashes after an hour, drawing heavy Israeli fire from tank-mounted machine guns.[34] There were also demonstrations in the Gaza Strip and in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon.[34]
In the Land Day demonstrations of 2002, Arab citizens of Israel expressed their solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, speaking out against the "Israeli siege of Palestinian leader
Calls to launch
Also in 2009, thousands of Arab citizens, some carrying Palestinian flags, marched through the towns of
In anticipation of Land Day protests of 2012, Israel sealed off the
During the
See also
- 2011 Israeli border demonstrations
- House demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
- Koenig Memorandum
- Nakba Day
- October 2000 events
References
- ^ a b c Levy and Weiss, 2002, p. 200.
- ^ a b Khouri, Jack; Stern, Yoav (June 15, 2008). "Israeli Arab leader on Land Day: We'll fight Israel's 'rising fascism'". Haaretz.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). "Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day". The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
- ^ a b Byman, 2002, p. 132.
- ^ a b "Remembering Land Day". BBC News. March 30, 2001. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
- Jerusalem Post. Archived from the originalon September 16, 2011.
- ^ Schulz and Hammer, 2003, p. 77.
- ^ a b King-Irani, Laurie (Fall 2000). "Land, Identity and the Limits of Resistance in the Galilee". Middle East Report. No. 216, Losing Ground? The Politics of Environment and Space. Archived from the original on January 8, 2001. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- ^ Herb and Kaplan, 1999, p. 260. "[...] the geographical scale of the Arab identity in Israel has changed dramatically a few times during the twentieth century. Prior to the disastrous 1948 defeat, they were an integral part of the agrarian Palestinian society that was gradually building its national consciousness."
- ^ Nassar and Heacock, 1990, p. 29. A popular slogan that emerged among Palestinians after the 1967 war was al-Ard qabl al'Ard ("land before honor").
- ^ a b Uri Davis. "A Democratic State for all of its Citizens and Refugees". MidEast Journal 2001, Original Abridged version in Ha'aretz, June 25, 2001. Archived from the original on February 14, 2007.
- ^ Salman Abu Sitta in Masalha and Said, 2005, p. 287, footnote 33. Sitta also gives an estimate for the total land area owned by Arab citizens prior to the expropriations: 1,400 square kilometers (540 sq mi). Half of this total, some 700 square kilometers (270 sq mi), had been expropriated by the early 1960s.
- ^ a b c Yiftachel, 2006, p. 170.
- ^ Payes, 2005, p. 7.
- ^ Endelman, 1997, p. 292.
- Jerusalem Post
- ^ Yiftachel, 2006, p. 69.
- ^ a b Nayef Hawatmeh (April 7–13, 2005). "Remembering Land Day". Al-Ahram Weekly Online. Archived from the original on October 29, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
- ^ a b Holzman-Gazit, 2007, p. 140.
- ^ a b c McDowall, 1990, p. 157-158.
- ^ Kimmerling and Migdal, 1993, p. 178.
- ISBN 978-0-300-13441-4. pp.130,131
- ^ a b c d Abdo and Lentin, 2002, p. 139.
- ^ Frankel, 1988, p. 40.
- ^ International Jewish Peace Union (IJPU), 1987, p. 26.
- ^ "After the War: Arab Strike Held Only in Occupied Areas". The New York Times. March 31, 1991. Retrieved February 1, 2006.
- ^ HaLevi, Ezra (March 31, 2006). "Israeli Arabs Observe 'Land Day' in Lod, Wave Hamas Flags". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ Yosef Goell (March 26, 2001). "Land Day? No: Call it 'Lie Day'". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on April 5, 2007.
- ^ a b State of Israel Judicial Authority. "The State of Israel Judicial Authority: Investigation committees" (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Kimmerling and Migdal, 2006, p. 196.
- ^ a b Bar-Tal and Teichman, 2005, pp. 153–154.
- ^ "On the eve of Land Day, Israel Continues Aggression". International Press Center, Palestine. May 9, 2006. Archived from the original on August 28, 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
- ^ Jerusalem Post Editorial (April 2, 2014). "Lackluster Land Day". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "Five Palestinians Killed as War of Words Flares in the Middle East". Mid-East Realities. March 30, 2001. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ Agence France Press (March 30, 2002). "Israeli Arabs Protest Against Arafat Siege on "Land Day"". Common Dreams News Center. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
- ^ "Israeli Arab groups mark Land Day". BBC News. March 30, 2005. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ "Palestinians protest over evictions". Al Jazeera English. March 28, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ "Press Release: Palestine Land Day 2006". BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. March 30, 2006. Archived from the original on April 15, 2006. Retrieved March 30, 2006.
- ^ "Land Day Protest: Palestinian Women's Group Rallies at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem". Alternative Information Center. March 30, 2009. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ a b Sharon Roffe-Ofir (March 30, 2009). "Arab Leaders on Land Day: We're not Afraid of Right". Ynetnews. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ Sameh A. Habeeb (March 30, 2009). "The Palestine Telegraph". Retrieved August 1, 2009.
- ^ "Israel seals off West Bank for Land Day protests". CBC News. March 30, 2012.
- ^ Guy Azriel (March 30, 2012). "Israeli forces clash with Palestinian protesters marking Land Day". CNN.
- ^ a b "One Palestinian killed, scores injured, as Israeli troops clash with Land Day marchers". Al Arabiya. March 30, 2012.
- ^ "Hamas says 5 killed in Gaza border clashes were its members". Ynetnews. March 31, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ "Hamas admits 5 of its gunmen among 16 Gazans killed in Friday's border violence". The Times of Israel. March 31, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Israeli army kills 17 Palestinians in Gaza protests". www.aljazeera.com.
Bibliography
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- Byman, Daniel (2002). Keeping the peace: lasting solutions to ethnic conflicts. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6804-7.
- Endelman, Todd M. (1997). Comparing Jewish societies (Illustrated ed.). University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-06592-9.
- Frankel, William (1988). Survey of Jewish affairs. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-0-8386-3343-4.
- International Jewish Peace Union, (IJPU) (1987). Israel & Palestine political report (Nos. 130–147 ed.). Magelan S.A.R.L.
- Herb, Guntram Henrik; Kaplan, David H. (1999). Nested identities: nationalism, territory, and scale (Illustrated ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-8467-0. (10)..
- Holzman-Gazit, Yifat (2007). Land expropriation in Israel: law, culture and society]. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-2543-8. (10)..
- Kimmerling, Baruch; Migdal, Joel S. (1993). Palestinians: the making of a people (Illustrated ed.). Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-917321-3. (10)..
- ISBN 978-0-674-01129-8. (10)..
- Lévy, Daniel; Weiss, Yfaat (2002). Challenging ethnic citizenship: German and Israeli perspectives on immigration (Illustrated ed.). Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-57181-292-6.
- McDowall, David (1990). Palestine and Israel: The Uprising and Beyond (Illustrated, reprint ed.). I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-289-0. (10)..
- ISBN 978-1-84277-623-0. (10)..
- Payes, Shany (2005). Palestinian NGOs in Israel: the politics of civil society (Illustrated ed.). I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-630-0.
- Nassar, Jamal Raji; Heacock, Roger (1990). Intifada: Palestine at the crossroads (Illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-93411-8.
- Schulz, Helena Lindholm; Hammer, Juliane (2003). The Palestinian diaspora: formation of identities and politics of homeland (Annotated ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-26820-2.
- Sorek, Tamir (2015). Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804795180.
- ISBN 978-0-8122-3927-0.
External links
- Media related to Land Day at Wikimedia Commons