Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght-Palestinians on Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of Land Day, commemorating Palestinian protests against Israeli regime land seizures that were violently suppressed 40 years ago.
This day is being marked while a few days ago the United Nations urged the Israeli regime to “halt and reverse” it’s illegal land appropriation in the occupied West Bank, calling the latest seizure an “impediment to the two-State solution.” The US also criticized the move as undermining a long-term solution. On 15th March the Israeli regime seized 579 acres (234 hectares) near the Dead Sea and the Palestinian city of Al Ariha (Jericho).
“I can tell you that the secretary-general views the recent classification by Israeli authorities of some 2,340 dunums (acres) of land as 'state land' in the occupied West Bank as an impediment to the two-State solution,” spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN views the increase in settlement activities by Israel as a push towards the “consolidation of its control of the West Bank,” which are illegal under international law.
“The secretary-general urges the government of Israel to halt and reverse such actions in the interest of peace and a just final-status agreement,” Dujarric added. "Land Day", commemorates six Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli troops 40 years ago while demonstrating against the seizure of their land in the northern Galilee region.
The land confiscation south of Jericho followed that of around 5,000 dunams (1,240 acres) of Palestinian land in Bethlehem district in 2014. On March 30, 1976, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against the Israeli regime’s seizure of thousands of square kilometers in the Galilee region, where Palestinians constitute an overwhelming majority.
Galilee residents responded to the land seizure by declaring a general strike, which prompted Israeli troops to enter the region in force and clash with angry Palestinians.
The day marked the first mass act by Palestinians living inside the occupied territories (Israel) and also served as a major symbol of the unity of Palestinians on both sides of the 1949 Armistice Line. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, whose population has risen from approximately 150,000 in 1976 to some 1.3 million today, still mark Land Day to demonstrate their continued will to hold onto their land and homes.
Shops were closed across Palestinian-majority towns in occupied territories (Israel) and local municipal offices closed as residents prepared to commemorate Land Day. Palestinian committees urged citizens to join rallies and other activities being organized to mark the occasion, including a major rally in the village of Um al-Heiran in the Negev and another in the village of Arraba al-Batouf in the Galilee.
Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip have marked the occasion by holding demonstrations in areas threatened by fresh land confiscations.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israeli regime has seized 85 percent -- some 27,000 square kilometers -- of the land of historical Palestine since the Israeli Zionist entity was established in 1948.
International law considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be "occupied territories" captured by Israel in 1967, deeming all construction of Zionist settlements on the land to be illegal.
Until today, Israel has continued to misappropriate Palestinian land in the West Bank -- on which it has steadily continued to build Zionist-only settlements -- in breach of international law.
Meanwhile a senior Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, leader Yahya Musa said that the Palestinian people will never accept the division of the Palestinian land, and called for a united national leadership.
Musa’s statements came in a rally east of Khan Younis on Tuesday within the events of the commemoration of the Land Day.
He stressed the need for a national project to work on unifying the objectives, strategies, missions and programs for the liberation of Palestine. “The only way to regain land and rights is the path of resistance”, he said.
The Hamas leader also called on Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support Palestinians in their struggle with the Israeli occupation.
"Our nation is still loyal to the oath to return to its occupied land and villages," said Musa.
"Without saturating the land in blood it won't be possible to return the homeland," added the official of the terror organization, who said the ceremony was held on the border with Israel to symbolize the hopes of "liberating" the land.
As the Israeli regime supplements its brutal crackdown on Palestinians with an increase in illegal settlement expansion, popular resistance continues to get stronger, whether in the form of local armed initiatives or more traditional forms of protest such as Land Day.