Palestinian Land Day Commemorated in Occupied Territories and Around the World

34 years ago today, the Israeli army killed six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel when they were demonstrating against the expropriation of Palestinian land in Israel.  Today, thousands of people across occupied Palestine, and in solidarity actions around the world, continued to protest Israeli occupation and colonization and commemorated March 30, 1976, a day known as Land Day.

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reports that Palestinians attempting to plant trees in the West Bank village of Budrus were tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets.  In Israel, Palestinian citizens of the Jewish State protested in Sakhnin, in the north of Israel, according to the Israeli news site YNet.  Other actions were held across the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, six marches were held across the besieged coastal area, challenging the Israeli “buffer zone,” which stretches as much as two kilometers inside Gaza, Ma’an reported.  The “buffer zone” renders thirty percent of Gaza’s farmland inaccessible, according to a United Nations report.  During the protests, which crossed into the “buffer zone,” 11 people were wounded by Israeli troops, according to CNN.  In a separate incident, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed near Rafah, although there are conflicting reports on whether Israeli troops killed the boy.

Around the world, Palestinian solidarity activists commemorated Land Day by mobilizing around the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel.

Here’s a video from the English-language Al Jazeera on Land Day: