An-Najah News - On 30^th of March every year, Palestinians celebrate the unforgettable Land Day.

Today, Monday, marks the 44th anniversary of Land Day, which was the first direct confrontation of Palestinians inside ’48 territories with the Occupation, since 1948, and 6 martyrs were killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Land Day events date back to the year 1975, when the Occupation leaders announced a plan to judaize the Galilee and establish several Jewish cities in the region on land owned by Arab citizens.

Also, on February 29, 1976, it approved the confiscation of 21,000 acres of land in the Galilee, including the lands of Al-Mal, which belong to farmers from Sakhnin, Arabeh, Deir Hanna, and Arab al-Sadah.

At the time, the Al-Mal area was part of the closed military zone, which was called 'District 9', and the entry of farmers and landowners to it was subject to the permission of the Israeli military ruler, renewable every three months.

After issuing the judaizing plan, the Committee for the Defense of the Lands, formed in 1975, chaired by pastor Shehadeh, met with the heads of Arab local authorities to discuss developments and ways to address the confiscation process, and they agreed to declare a general and comprehensive strike for one day on March 30, 1976.

The Israeli Occupation tried to break this strike by all means, but it failed against the steadfastness of Palestinians and their attachment to their land, and they suppressed the Deir Hanna demonstration. In spite of this, an evening demonstration was launched in the neighboring village of Araba, and the Occupation forces intervened to suppress it and used live bullets and tear gas.

And in the morning of 30th March, despite the curfew, after the news of Khair Yassin's martyrdom spread, angry demonstrations broke out in most Arab towns.

The most important of them was in the city of Sakhnin, in which three martyrs of Land Day were killed by the Occupation, Khadija Shawahana, Raja Abu Raya and Khader Khalayleh.

In the city of Kafr Kana, the Palestinians organized an angry demonstration that the Israeli Occupation Forces intervened to suppress. Mohsen Taha was shot by a soldier in the head, and died, in that demonstration.

In Taibeh, before launching the demonstration, the Israeli Occupation forces stormed the city and opened fire randomly at the crowd, and Rafat Al-Zuhairi, a resident of Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, was killed.