Friday, March 30 marks the 31st anniversary of Land Day for Palestinians inside the Green Line, the West Bank and Gaza and in the Diaspora. Thirty-one years ago in 1976, six Palestinians from the Galilee were shot and killed by Israeli security services during peaceful demonstrations protesting the impending confiscation of their land. One hundred others were injured and 300 arrested that day.

Israeli authorities had announced that 5,500 acres of Palestinian-owned land would be confiscated from villages in the Galilee in what is now northern Israel. Palestinian communities inside Israel declared a general strike and took to the streets in protest where they were violently confronted by Israeli police. The area was declared a closed military zone and was later utilized for massive illegal settlement expansion in the Galilee area.

Since then, Palestinians have marked this day as Land Day, which not only commemorates those who lost their lives, but also embodies the Palestinians’ ongoing struggle to retain their land. For the Palestinians living inside Israel, the issue of land has been a continuous point of contention with Israel since 1948. Just a few years after the state of Israel was created, approximately 85 percent of Palestinian territory had been confiscated by Israeli authorities, mostly from refugees who were forced out or fled the fighting during the war. Since then, Israel has confiscated more than two-thirds of the land originally owned by Palestinians. (Source: Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine).

Today, there are 220,000 displaced Palestinians in Israel who cannot return to their homes and villages. 70,000 of these so-called Israeli citizens live in 43 unrecognized villages inside the Green Line. Palestinian-Israelis are often described as second-class citizens in Israel, suffering from discrimination and lack of equal opportunities. In many Palestinian villages, especially those unrecognized by the state, basic municipal services are absent or severely lacking.

Land Day has become a national day of solidarity and protest among all Palestinians and is marked by mass demonstrations inside the Green Line, in the West Bank and Gaza and abroad. This year, many activities are being focused on the issue of land confiscation and the Apartheid Wall being built in the West Bank. Several local and international organizations have organized protests, demonstrations and photo exhibits on the Separation Wall in various areas of the West Bank and inside Israel.

In Sakhnin and Kufr Qanna inside the Green Line, protesters will march to the cemetery where the six Palestinians were killed in 1976.