Land Day Commemoration in Salfit; 100 Olive Trees Planted

On the 39th Anniversary of Land Day, a commemoration which originated on 30 March 1976, when thousands of people belonging to the Palestinian minority in Israel gathered to protest Israeli government plans to expropriate 60,000 dunams of Arab-owned land in the Galilee.

Palestinians from villages surrounding the Salfit District take to the land planting olive tree saplings on the 39th year commemoration of Land Day.

Palestinians from villages surrounding the Salfit District take to the land planting olive tree saplings on the 39th year commemoration of Land Day.

In the resulting confrontations with Israeli police, six Palestinians were killed, hundreds wounded, and hundreds jailed.  In the years since, those events have come to have a commemoration ceremony each year in villages across occupied Palestine.  This morning, over 100 Palestinians from villages around the District of Salfit gathered to commemorate this year’s Land Day with the planting of 100 olive tree saplings.

Joining the crowd of farmers and their families were several mayors from surrounding villages, including Amel Kukush Abu-Hiljeh, the mayor of Deir Istiya and Mayor Deek of Salfit along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority.


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