On the 30th
of March, we shall commemorate the 32nd Land Day. Land Day began as
a general strike in 1976 to protest against Israel’s policy of confiscating
Arab land, and ended with the shooting to death of six Palestinians from Sakhnin
and Arrabeh by the Israeli security forces. Israel’s policy of land
dispossession, which continues to today, is a clear symbol of the nature of the
regime. Over 70,000 Arab Bedouin live in the Naqab (Negev) in villages that are
not recognized by the State, and are therefore denied any infrastructure; while
these people have been living on their land since prior to 1948, Israel is
attempting to use the law to portray these original inhabitants of the land to
the world as trespassers. Israel is also refusing to allow 250,000 Arab citizens
living inside the Green Line who were expelled from their villages during the
Nakba to return to their homes and land, and at the same time is building new
towns in the Galilee from which they are prevented from living by imposing impossible
conditions and ‘selection committees’ to exclude them. In the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, Israel is continuing to construct the racist separation wall, severing
villagers from their agricultural land, to appropriate land to build “Apartheid”
roads (such as the Ring Road) exclusively for Jewish use, and to build yet more
settlements on Arab land. Israel
is also selling the land
of Palestinian refugees
that it terms “absentee property” to third parties, in total disdain of
international and Israeli law. This colonial regime has now been in existence
for over 60 years, on the basis of a Zionist ideology to control the “Land of
Israel”. Therefore, any democratic agenda must strive to topple this colonial
project, in order to create a democratic regime for all. The Apartheid regime
was overthrown in South
Africa, despite all its strength and
unyieldingness, as such regimes have no place in this century.
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Adalah’s Newsletter is a monthly publication issued in Arabic, Hebrew
and English. It highlights Adalah’s main activities, provides analysis
of human rights issues, and links to new reports. Suggestions, articles
and commentaries from our readers are welcome.
