Land Day

Land Day
Land Day poster by Abed Abed El Hameed, 1985
Observed byPalestinians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
DateMarch 30
Next timeMarch 30, 2025 (2025-03-30)
FrequencyAnnual

Land Day (Arabic: يَوْم اَلْأَرْض, romanized: Yawm al-ʾArḍ; Hebrew: יוֹם הַאֲדָמָה, romanized: Yom HaAdama), recurring on March 30, is a day of commemoration for Palestinians, both Arab citizens of Israel and those in the Israeli-occupied territories of the events of that date in 1976 in Israel.

In 1976, the Israeli government's announced a plan to confiscate some 20,000 dunams (20 km2; 7.7 sq mi) of land for state purposes between the Arab villages of Sakhnin and Arraba, of which 6,300 dunams (6.3 km2; 2.4 sq mi) was Arab-owned.[1] It formed part of the Israeli government's strategy aimed at the Judaization of the Galilee. In response, Arab towns declared a general strike and marches were organized from the Galilee to the Negev.[2][3] The Israeli military and police killed six unarmed[4] Arab demonstrators, half of whom were women; injured one hundred more; and arrested hundreds of others.[3][5][6][7]

Scholarship on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict recognizes Land Day as a pivotal event in the struggle over land and in the relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state and body politic.[8] It is significant in that it was the first time since 1948 that Arabs in Israel organized a response to Israeli policies as a Palestinian national collective.[2] An important annual day of commemoration in the Palestinian national political calendar ever since, it is marked not only by Arab citizens of Israel, but also by Palestinians all over the world.[9]

  1. ^ Endelman, 1997, p. 292.
  2. ^ a b Levy and Weiss, 2002, p. 200.
  3. ^ a b Khouri, Jack; Stern, Yoav (June 15, 2008). "Israeli Arab leader on Land Day: We'll fight Israel's 'rising fascism'". Haaretz.
  4. ^ Orly Halpern (March 30, 2006). "Israel's Arabs to Mark Land Day". The Jerusalem Post, English Online Edition. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
  5. ^ Byman, 2002, p. 132.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Lappin, Yaakov (March 30, 2008). "Thousands of Arabs mark Land Day". Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011.
  8. ^ Matar, Dina (2011). What it Means to be Palestinian: Stories of Palestinian Peoplehood. I.B.Tauris. pp. 128–129. doi:10.5040/9780755610891. ISBN 978-0-7556-1460-8.
  9. ^ Schulz and Hammer, 2003, p. 77.