Date: 30 Mar 2024
Press Release
“On the Anniversary of Land Day”
The International Commission “Hashd” Organization commemorates 48 years since the anniversary of Land Day, while the occupation continues to seize lands and commit acts of genocide in Gaza, along with field killings, colonial settlement, and racial discrimination in Palestine
Today, Saturday, March 30, 2024, marks the passage of 48 years since the immortal Palestinian Land Day, commemorated by Palestinians on March 30 of each year. Its events date back to March 1976 when Zionist authorities seized thousands of dunums of privately owned or communal lands within the borders of areas predominantly inhabited by Palestinians. Land Day is considered a pivotal event in the struggle for land and in the relationship of Arab citizens with the Zionist political entity.
Today also marks the sixth anniversary of the Great Return March and Breaking the Siege, which resulted in the martyrdom of hundreds and the injury of thousands of unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza.
This year’s anniversary of Land Day coincides with the continued brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza, now entering its 176th day, as Israeli military authorities persist in their campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people, deepening the occupation of Gaza with American partnership and immunity. This is evident in their ongoing policies of displacing Palestinians from their land and depriving them of the most basic necessities of life.
As of the preparation of this statement, Israeli forces have committed approximately 2,888 massacres against the Palestinian people, resulting in the martyrdom of 41,000 individuals, including 14,350 children, 9,460 women, 364 medical personnel, 48 civil defense members, and 136 journalists. Additionally, 75,092 citizens have been documented as injured. Israeli forces have destroyed 70% of buildings, facilities, and homes in Gaza, including 168 governmental buildings, 100 schools and universities completely destroyed, 305 partially destroyed, 227 mosques completely destroyed, 294 partially destroyed, and 3 churches. 70,000 housing units have been completely destroyed, and 290,000 housing units have been partially destroyed, rendering them uninhabitable. Furthermore, 200 archaeological sites have been destroyed in Gaza.
Israel continues its accelerated Judaization measures in the West Bank and Jerusalem, aiming to erase Islamic landmarks, displace Palestinians from Jerusalem, seize and demolish homes, prohibit construction, erect walls, expand settlements, and separate cities and villages in the West Bank, benefiting from international silence and American support.
During the year 2024, Israel executed the largest land grab operation in the West Bank in 30 years, seizing a total of 10,640 dunums (1 dunum equals 1,000 square meters). In two separate announcements, the occupation seized 2,640 dunums of land from the towns of Al-Eizariya and Abu Dis, east of occupied Jerusalem, and 8,000 dunums of land from the Jordan Valley for the expansion of the existing Yafit settlement on Palestinian land. Additionally, 8,000 dunums in the Jordan Valley were allocated as Israeli territory for the construction of hundreds of housing units, along with areas designated for industry, commerce, and employment.
According to the monitoring conducted by the organization, settler activity has significantly escalated in the West Bank since the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022. More than 850,000 Israelis reside in illegal colonial settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The International Commission “Hashd” as our Palestinian people commemorate Land Day and as they celebrate the resilience of our people, especially in Gaza, which is subjected to genocide, and as we honor our martyrs and wounded who have watered this land with their pure blood, and as we condemn the continuation of Israeli aggression in Gaza, and as we renew our strong condemnation of the ongoing Israeli crimes of genocide, forced displacement of populations, colonial settlement, racial discrimination, annexation of occupied territories, and seizure thereof; and as we remind the international community of the tragedy and suffering experienced by the Palestinian people since 1948, living in a state of refuge, dispersal, and constant human rights violations, and as we reaffirm the Palestinians’ right to confront and resist Israel and its occupying forces’ denial of their legitimate and inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, we hereby record and demand the following:
- Hashd International Association: Condemns the ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza and the continuous international failure to stop it, under the continued impunity and impunity enjoyed by Israeli leaders and soldiers, which contributes to the continued and exacerbated suffering of the Palestinian people due to their deprivation of their right to determine their political and economic destiny.
- Hashd International Association: Calls on the Security Council to expedite its role in monitoring the implementation of its ceasefire resolution and ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid and the International Court of Justice’s decisions providing international protection for Palestinians from genocide and ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid in all possible ways, and taking serious action to prevent the expansion of the ground attack on Rafah city, which threatens the displacement of Palestinians outside the occupied Palestinian territories, ensuring the opening of additional humanitarian corridors and the development of mechanisms for the entry of humanitarian and relief aid to ensure its sufficient flow, contributing to stopping the famine and humanitarian disaster caused by the continued Israeli aggression on Gaza for 176 consecutive days.
- Hashd International Association: Calls on the State of Palestine and the world to refer the ongoing genocide and aggression to the International Criminal Court for a serious investigation, and calls on the public prosecutor’s office to issue arrest warrants against perpetrators of genocide and war crimes, to stop the policy of procrastination, and selectivity in implementing international law, and also calls on the State of Palestine to join the lawsuit filed by South Africa in the International Court of Justice and support the pathways for using the principle of judicial jurisdiction to hold Israeli occupation leaders and their partners accountable before national courts.
- Hashd International Association: Calls on the United Nations, the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention, the Parties to the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, the Free People of the World, and international and regional organizations to escalate their individual and collective efforts, political, diplomatic, and popular movements to stop Israeli aggression and catastrophic civilian suffering before it is too late and to ensure the enforcement of International Court of Justice decisions protecting Palestinians from genocide, and to support the work of UNRWA and other international organizations in providing relief to the Palestinian people until the end of the occupation and the dismantling of the colonial and apartheid system.
- Hashd International Association: Emphasizes that this occasion and the current circumstances constitute a unique opportunity to affirm the importance of Palestinian unity, including the dedication of Palestinian national unity in various places of Palestinian presence in exile and refuge, and the necessity of serious action to end the division and prioritize national interest, as it represents a top priority to enhance our people’s ability to confront Israeli occupation crimes and racist Israeli policies.
- Hashd International Association: Appeals to the peoples of the world to strengthen their solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to the war aggression on Gaza and enable them to exercise their legitimate rights in accordance with international law and the humanitarian goals embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant international treaties and agreements.
End
The International Commission to Support Palestinians Rights (Hashd)
