Commemorating Palestinian Land Day

Stephen Lendman: On March 30, Palestinians worldwide observed Land Day. They've done so since 1976.

Nationwide protests and general strike action erupted. At issue was Israel's land confiscation policy and brutal occupation harshness.

In early 1975, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin announced plans to Judaize the Galilee. "Developing the Galilee," he called it.

He wanted to transform it into a majority Jewish region, construct eight industrial estates, and develop its economy exclusively for Jews. Doing so required dispossessing Arab citizens.

In 1976, General Yisrael Koenig headed Israel's northern region. In March, he prepared a secret report. It recommended encouraging Jewish immigrants. He wanted them populating the Galilee and Negev regions. He wanted Israeli Arabs removed to accommodate them.

Confiscating 60,000 dunums of Arab-owned Galilee land was planned. Rabin claimed doing so was for "security and settlement purposes."

Demonstrations were declared illegal. Israeli Arabs ignored threats. They rallied. Thousands of security forces confronted them. They did so violently. Six Palestinians died. Dozens more were injured. Hundreds were arrested.

Police states operate that way. Israel's one of the worst.

Land Day 1976 was special. Israeli Arabs resisted. They did so en masse for the first time. They protested internal colonization. They showed political awareness. They defied Israeli ruthlessness. They did so courageously. They showed they'd no longer be ignored.

In 1948, Israel stole 78% of Palestine. In 1967, they took the rest. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains the longest unresolved one of our time.

Israeli Arabs comprise 20% of Israel's population. They're treated like fifth column threats. From 1948 - 1966, they lived under military rule. It applied only to them. They're Israeli citizens. It didn't matter.

Their fundamental freedoms were restricted. Many were denied. Israel prevented attempts to organize internal pan-Arab cohesion. Divide and rule reflects policy.

So is land confiscation. By 1993, over 80% of Arab-owned land was stolen. Today it approaches 90%. Palestinians were displaced. Jews replaced them.

Land Day reflects Palestine's struggle. Militarized occupation is rejected. So are illegal settlements.

Land Day matters. Israel Arab rights are spurned. Longterm occupation is illegal. Palestine's an isolated prison. State terror is official Israeli policy. The price of freedom involves resistance.

Over a million Palestinians are Israeli citizens. They live mainly in the Little Triangle along the Green Line, the Galilee and Negev desert. They suffer hugely. Unemployment is high. Little government support compensates. Their needs are largely ignored.

Dozens of discriminatory laws harm them. Restrictive planning policies limit residential building and commercial development. Most Arab citizens have no viable options.

Bedouin Israelis live in dozens of Negev villages. They're unrecognized. They're denied essential services. They're targeted for dispossession. Israel plans stealing their land for Jews.

Rashid Hussein (1936 - 1977) was a noted Palestinian poet. In 1959, he participated in founding the Land Movement. His poems reflected his passion.

"With the Land" says:

The land comes near me

drinks from me

leaves its orchards with me

to become a beautiful weapon

defending me

Even when I sleep

the land comes near me

in my dream.

I smuggle its wild thyme

between exiles

I sing its stones

I will even sweat blood

from my veins

to drink its news

so the land comes near me

leaves a stone of love with me

to defend it

and defend me

When I repay it

I will embrace it a thousand times

I will worship it a thousand times

I will celebrate its wedding on my forehead

on the rubble of exiles

and the ruins of prisons

I will drink from it

It will drink from me

So that the Galilee would remain

beauty, struggle, and love

defending it

defending me

I see the land;

a morning that will come

and the land will come near me

"Without a Passport" says:

I was born without a passport

I grew up

and saw my country

become prisons

without a passport

So I raised a country

a sun

and wheat

in every house

I tended to the trees therein

I learned how to write poetry

to make the people of my village happy

without a passport

I learned that he whose land is stolen

does not like the rain

If he were ever to return to it, he will

without a passport

But I am tired of minds

that have become hotels

for wishes that never give birth

except with a passport

Without a passport

I came to you

and revolted against you

so slaughter me

perhaps I will then feel that I am dying

without a passport