Arabs in Israel demonstrate to mark Land Day
Thousands protest 1976 land confiscation, vowing to protect land and criticize decision not to declare a general strike.
Thousands of Israeli Arabs participated in across the nation Monday marking the 39th Land Day – an annual day commemorating Israeli confiscation of Arab lands.
Demonstrations took place in Deir Hanna, in the Lower Galilee, and Rahat, in the south. The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and urged the continuation of the struggle against "land confiscation and tearing down of houses in the Arab sector."
Land Day marks the anniversary of the Israeli government's decision in 1976 to confiscate 20,000 dunams of land from Arab citizens in the Galilee.
Protestors shouted slogans like "We will sacrifice our lives for the martyrs" and "We will protect our lands". Many sharply criticized the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, which decided not to declare a general strike in the Arab sector to mark the day.
Although there was no strike, many parents kept their children home from school. According to reports, about 70% percent of Arab students did not go to classes.
"It doesn't feel like Land Day, because there's no strike," said Mahmoud Masaruwa, a resident of Wadi Ara. "Where is the Joint Arab List? They didn't do anything. If this had to do with the Knesset elections, we would see a different reaction. It seems like Land Day has become unimportant."
MK Ahmad Tibi of the Joint Arab List, who participated in the Rahat demonstration, said: "67 years have passed since the founding of Israel and there is still no equitable allocation of land, there is continued expropriation from Arabs in favor of the Jewish majority, there is a lack of planning and construction, there are unrecognized Bedouin villages and a threat called the Prawer Plan.
"The matter of revenge continues to be the main obstacle to equality for the Arab minority. Land Day symbolizes more than anything the exclusion, complacency, and discrimination against the Arab minority, which will continue to fight for its basic rights. We bow our heads to the martyrs who fell in '76 and we keep making their voices heard."
