Palestinians prepare to mark Land Day with rallies

The Higher Arab Follow-Up Committee that represents the Palestinians in Israel on Tuesday called on the public to participate in a march that will start Wednesday afternoon in the town of Sakhnin, then to Arraba, and ends at Deir Hanna in northern occupied territories where the central rally will be held.

It said in a statement that Land Day is marked this year as the Israeli state escalates its aggression against Arab lands in the Naqab desert with plans to build 12 settlements for Israeli Jews on Palestinian land, two of them for religious Jews.

At the same time, it added, instead of expanding the area of the Arab cities and towns, the Israeli government continues to build Jewish settlements at the expense of the Arab towns, such as Umm al-Fahem, and area villages, by incorporating most of the land for the settlement instead of the Arab towns.