30 March 2009 by الفلسطينية
Land Day 2009. No different than 2008, 2007, etc. with the passage of time, israeli policy is cosistant: the maximum amount of land with the least amount of palestinians.
this year its time to take a stand
and boycott is working. initial figures tell us that in 2009 alone 21% of Israeli exports have been affected. (if someone has the raw data on this or knows where to get it plz email me)
here are some cool resources on land day to keep you busy as you cruise the internet today:
In 1976, Israel announced the confiscation of a total of 5,500 acres of Palestinian lands from the Galilee region and classified them as closed military zones. These areas would later become settlements.
The Palestinians responded by holding a general strike against Israel and organizing peaceful demonstrations against the annexation of their land. During demonstrations in Sakhnin on the first Land Day—March 30, 1976, Israel responded violently—killing 6 Palestinians, injuring 96, and arresting over 300.
After this, many other Arab towns and villages were declared ‘closed military zones' and some had curfews imposed on them. To this day, Israeli hostilities and land confiscations continue unchecked.
Land Day serves as a reminder of Israeli injustice and occupation of Palestinian land. It is a day for demonstrations and to unite Palestinians in their struggle against the occupation.
And today, they commemorate the 32nd year of intense struggle, in a context of settlement expansion, building of new section of the wall, the further creation of new checkpoints and arbitrary policies, while Gaza is still mourning its deaths.
Since the first Land Day, about 750,000 acres of Palestinian land have been stolen from the 1.5 million acres that make up the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This land has been used mostly for building illegal settlements and Jewish-only roads.
Settlements are considered illegal by International Law—UN Security Council Resolution 242 states that “the occupying power cannot move segments of its own population to parts of the land it occupies.” And the 4th Geneva Convention condemned Israel's settlement activities and called for the ceasing of all settlement expansion.
However, Israel has continued to ignore the International Community. Settlement expansion has continued and the new Israeli government has plans to move tens of thousands of new settlers into the West Bank.
Another way Israel has stolen land from the Palestinians is by the construction of the Wall; which has annexed about 45% of West Bank territory. Only 14% of the Wall has been built on the internationally recognized Green Line or in Israel—86% of it has been constructed inside of the West Bank.
There are 80 settlements located between the Wall and the Green Line—making the wall a de facto tool for the theft of Palestinian land. The International Court of Justice has stated that the Wall is a breach in International Law; however, its construction continues.
This year on Land Day, there are demonstrations planned in areas all over the West Bank—most will take place in the villages around Ramallah, Jerusalem and Bethlehem and in the most popular place where non-violent resistance against the Wall and the occupation demonstrations are taking places, such as the towns of Ni'lin, Bil'in, Jayyous and Al Masra.
In addition to the demonstrations, the National Committee to Resist the Wall, has called for a partial strike from 1-3pm in all districts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many other civil society movement involved in the struggle for social justice like the Palestinian National Initiative coordinated several gathering and solidarity events.
There will be marches in the centers of major cities beginning at 1:30pm. And outside of Palestine, there will be events organized all in all areas of the Diaspora as well as in the historic Palestine and the Arab towns inside the 1948 borders.
A Global day to fight impunity. In your homelands too.
For the first time this year, Land Day is supported by the BDS movement (Boycott Disinvestment and Sanction) with will add a “BDS Global day” to the initial event. Their goal is to organize Palestinians and the world to boycott Israeli products.
The call for a global day of action on March 30 came out of the World Social Forum in Brazil and aims to promote BDS as the most effective tool to stop Israeli policies of land theft and colonization and the discrimination, and daily killings that have been carried out against the Palestinian people.
The ongoing defense of Palestinian land and agriculture from the Wall and settlement project is now ties to the call for boycott of Israeli products and institutions.
“Where farming becomes a form of resistance, choosing Palestinian over Israeli products is an essential part of the Palestinian struggle for justice, freedom, and return. Where a people is besieged, bombed and starved with the complicity of governments around the world, the call for global BDS becomes an essential tool to break the siege”, advocates the movement.
Furthermore, encouraging signs on the efficiency on the boycott measures have been released today by an Hebrew-language business paper 'The Marker', stating that since the beginning of 2009, 21% of Israeli exporters say they have directly felt the effects of this boycott.
The poll was conducted by the Israeli Union of Industrialists, and the percentage was extracted from a sampling of 90 companies from a variety of industries, including high tech, construction, textiles and food products.
Some of the companies that are being boycotted in the campaign include Motorola, which produces fuses for the M80 series of rockets, Caterpillar, which produces the D9 bulldozer which is used in the demolition of Palestinian homes, Connex and Alstom, which won the bid to construct a high-speed rail through Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem – destroying the homes of all Palestinians along the route with no compensation or legal recourse, Agrexco, which exports fruit and vegetables under the trade name Carmel which come from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
To find an extensive database of companies that either profit from the Israeli occupation or export products that come from Israeli settlements, please visit: http://www.whoprofits.org
A Palestinian girl wearing traditional clothing plants a tree, to mark Land Day following a march in Beit Hanoun,in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, March 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Palestinians take part in a protest marking Land Day near the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip March 30, 2009. Land Day is the annual commemoration of protests in 1976 against Israel's appropriation of Arab-owned land in Galilee (PALESTINIAN). REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA POLITICS CONFLICT ANNIVERSARY)
A Palestinian woman waves the national flag in front of Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the village of Maasarah near Bethlehem on March 27. President Shimon Peres sought to reassure the world that Israel's incoming government will continue the peace process, following EU warnings of "consequences" if the new cabinet did not commit to the creation of a Palestinian state. (AFP/File/Musa al-Shaer)
A Palestinian waves Palestinian flags during a protest marking Land Day near the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip March 30, 2009. Land Day is the annual commemoration of protests in 1976 against Israel's appropriation of Arab-owned land in Galilee. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA POLITICS CONFLICT ANNIVERSARY)
A Palestinian works on his field close to the controversial (this is yahoo news for you. try illegal!) you d Israeli barrier near the West Bank town of Idna, west of Hebron March 30, 2009. Palestinians on Monday marked Land Day, the annual commemoration of protests in 1976 against Israel's appropriation of Arab-owned land in Galilee. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK CONFLICT POLITICS ANNIVERSARY)
A Palestinian farmer sits in his field, as a protest marking Land Day, not seen, passes by in the West Bank village of Nilin, near Ramallah, Monday March 30, 2009. Land Day commemorates the killing of six Arab citizens of Israel by the Israeli army and police on March 30, 1976 during protests over Israeli confiscation of Arab land (insert Palestinian). (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Backdropped by a section of Israel's separation barrier, Palestinians take part in a demonstration against house demolishing in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, in the West Bank town of Aram, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Saturday, March 28, 2009. Eighty-eight homes in the Silwan neighborhood are slated for demolition by the Israeli government who says that they were built illegally. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
throowwwwwww back: throwing stones is in, and we're partying like its 1987.
Masked Palestinian stones-throwers prepare to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers, during a protest marking Land Day in the West Bank village of Nilin, near Ramallah.
Posted in: Labels: activism, boycott/divestment/sanctions, land day, land theft, settlements
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