RAMALLAH, March 30, 2011 (WAFA) - Palestinians Wednesday rallied in several areas of Ramallah city commemorating Land Day, which coincide on March 30th.
Palestinians raised banners, calling for unity of Palestinians inside and outside of Palestine, for ending internal division and for the removal of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Ex-detainee, Mahmoud Abu Baker, who was the first Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, wore a sign which said “my land is the land of resistance, a pledge we swore to keep”
Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative and a participant in the rally said that Land Day is a symbol of Palestinian’s unity and called all Palestinians to escalate popular resistance against Israeli occupation.
Land Day which coincides on March 30, is annually commemorated by Palestinians in honor of the events of that date in 1976, on which, in response to the Israeli government's plan to expropriate thousands of dunums of land (1 dunum = 1000 meters squared) for ‘security and settlement purposes,' a general strike and marches were organized in Arab towns from the Galilee to Naqab desert (the Negev). Six Arab citizens were killed, about one hundred were wounded and hundreds of others were arrested in the ensuing confrontations. The event was significant because it marked the first Palestinian national collective act by Arabs inside Israel since its formation in 1948.
R.S./F.R.
