On the 30th of March 1976 the Israeli authorities laid hand over and confiscated 21000 dunums of land in AlJalil Al-Muthalath and Al-Naqab and responded violently to the protests and killed six Palestinian demonstrators according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The Palestinian people continue to mark this day as the Israeli violations against their lands have become unprecedented. While Israel issues demolition or stop-work orders against Palestinian structures other settlement expansion plans are escalating.
Last February Israeli bulldozers demolished more than 37 Palestinian structures in Occupied Jerusalem alone leaving 87 Palestinian families consisting of more than 700 members under the threat of forced displacement in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan.
Later in March Jewish settlers confiscated a land belonging to the Palestinian woman Fatima Salim in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Before confiscating lands Jewish settlers usually launch campaigns to plant trees in targeted Palestinian lands. Such campaigns are part of a broader effort to establish a Jewish presence in the West Bank and Jerusalem. In February of this year the Nachala Settlement Movement organized an activity to plant orange and lemon trees in 60 dunums of land in the Wad Abbas area west of the Deir Istiya town in the northern part of the West Bank city of Salfit.
Meanwhile the building of 4000 settlement units was approved which is the largest number of settlement units that has been approved since 2021.
As if constructing new settlement units was not enough; a week ago Jewish settlers were allowed to return to previously evacuated settlements after the Knesset passed a bill repealing clauses of the Disengagement Law that had banned Jewish settlers from living in four settlements. The bill enabled settlers to return to Homesh Ganim Kadim and Sanur which were evacuated in 2005.
Settlement expansion activities are deemed illegal under international law and the Palestinian people have been protesting against such activities. Not only their demands to stop the expansionist plans were rejected but also their peaceful anti-settlement marches are violently quelled by the Israeli occupation forces. Youths are shot dead arrested or attacked during the marches.
These persistent Israeli attempts constitute part of ethnic cleansing plans not only to expel the indigenous people but also to deny their existence at all. Only a few days ago the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boldly denied the Palestinian people’s existence calling it “the truth.” In a conference in Paris he asserted that there is no such thing as Palestinians because there is no such thing as the Palestinian people. Yet his comments which were widely condemned reflect the Israeli deliberate plans of land theft.
Palestinian youths are acutely aware of such Israeli attempts and therefore they are still facing ongoing challenges in their struggle to live peacefully on their lands. They mark the Land Day anniversary to reflect their steadfastness despite the repeated Jewish settlers’ attacks against their houses and the continued confiscation of their lands. They still believe such violence will never grant Israeli occupation and Jewish settlers security or legitimacy over the Palestinian lands.
