On the Meanings of Land Day

The fiftieth anniversary of Land Day marks that immortal legacy inscribed by the children of the Palestinian people in the interior in 1976, affirming that the 'Israelization' measures, the imposition of facts on the ground, and the deportations practiced by the Zionist movement since the early last century, culminating in the declaration of (independence) in 1948, are nothing but myths and illusions that haunt the leadership of that movement, based on the theft of rights and bloodshed, which built its beliefs on forcibly emptying the land of its legitimate owners. What kind of (state) was built through deception and deportation on the ruins of another people! Then came the imposition of military rule, followed by the Kafr Qasim massacre in 1956, and the seizing of lands and homes by the Jewish Agency, confiscating everything related to the Arabs as properties of 'absentees,' that is, the children of the homeland and its rightful owners who were forcibly displaced by the terrorism and killings practiced by Zionist gangs against villages and towns, erasing them to force their inhabitants to leave.

In the meanings drawn from Land Day, as announced by the immortal progressive national leader Tawfiq Ziad on the eve of the announcement of land confiscation under the Judaization plan for the Galilee and his famous saying, 'The people decided to strike,' it was the glorious March uprising and the falling of martyrs from the triangle of Land Day: Sakhnin, Ara, and Deir Hanna, an additional testament that there is an authentic people attached to its land, unlike the occupier's claims that the land is empty and contains no one. Also, the unity of the people, its organized living forces, and the broad popular masses with high belonging exploded their surging anger to declare that the land has protectors. Thus, it created the difference and the event that remains and will remain.

Today, amidst the suffering of the land across the bleeding wound in the side of the homeland, we need to draw lessons indeed, in word and action, because the land today, just as it was, is a banner of the open struggle against the settler gangs, extending the same wicked plan to cleanse it, and behind them stands an extremist government that provides them with all financial, military, political, and ideological resources. How could it not, as they serve as its striking arm in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, after believing that the genocide in Gaza has succeeded in shaping consciousness and separating the sector from the West Bank and Jerusalem, and tearing apart what remains by establishing settlements on it? For example, the area classified as Area C constitutes about 60% of the West Bank and is steadily swallowing up what little remains of it! Pastoral settlement in the Jordan Valley and Masafer Yatta, attacking villages and towns, desecrating more than 45 villages and towns during the holiday period in the past few days, burning properties and vehicles, and ongoing brutal assaults according to the annexation plan, with no distinction between Area C or any other area. The title is complete subjugation through military force and forced displacement, alongside the multiplying demolition orders and land confiscations, which human rights organizations describe as the widest in decades, aimed at ending the Palestinian presence, which has become effectively threatened by presenting facts and revealing numbers and data on the ground. The current reality documented by the relevant authorities indicates terrifying and dangerous indicators for the first time, for instance, in the Salfit Governorate, where the number of settlers exceeds the number of residents, while the number of settlements is also larger than the number of Arab villages in it. The difficult question remains posed before everyone: What is to be done?

Here, the unequivocal answer seems to be that the only way within the available options for Palestinians is to work on a national resistance program and change the tools that are no longer suitable in the traditional manner. Even previous means of popular action have become in need of serious review in light of the arming of settlers and army orders for direct lethal fire. Thus, solutions are limited within this framework. Therefore, it is crucial to restore work and new methods through protection and safeguarding committees and work for the cooperation of all: local councils, committees, grassroots institutions, and citizens, supporting them by providing all means of work and local initiatives and encouraging projects that would strengthen the elements of steadfastness, in addition to allocating budgets despite the scarcity of available resources due to the financial blockade, alongside work at the political level to continue seeking in the corridors of the United Nations and international bodies to activate legal accountability, boycott campaigns, and impose sanctions on the occupying state and enforce international law.

The enduring lesson of Land Day is to maintain national and popular steadfastness amidst changes and transformations in the region and the world, clinging to the right and the condition of existence and survival in an epic that remains immortal, preserved by generations, safeguarding it from generation to generation, affirming their right, deep belonging, existence, and legitimate defense of rights and identity.