30 March 2022 1:15 PM
Palestinian People Message on Land Day, “We are Staying!”
March 30, 2022
Today, March 30, Palestinians commemorate Land Day and memorialize the martyrs of the 1976 uprising against the expropriation of Palestinian lands. It was the first uprising to include the whole Palestinian people in Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem, diaspora, and occupied territories of 1948, reflecting the unity of our people and showing their willingness to sacrifice for their land.
After 46 years, the situation has not changed, as the occupation is still threatening Palestinians everywhere. Gaza, for instance, has been under suffocating blockade for 15 years and still suffers from the consequences of aggression and lack of reconstruction, in addition to unprecedented deterioration in human conditions.
As for West Bank, the settlements bite off a new part of its land every day, and settlers step up their violent attacks. While Palestinians are killed for the slightest suspicion, their homes are stormed on daily basis, and their children and women are arrested without charge, the settlers are protected by the occupation’s army in a stark representation of apartheid, as attested by several international organizations.
In the occupied territories of 1948, the occupation’s government still practices racial segregation against Palestinians, starting from land expropriation and villages demolition to murder, arbitrary arrest, and continuous incitement, in a stark contradiction with the false claims of democracy and equality by the occupation’s state.
Moving to the jewel of the crown and the capital of our state, Jerusalem, Palestinian residents still face the risk of displacement. While settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the occupation police on a daily basis, Palestinian are denied from practicing their religion freely.
In front of these unfortunate facts, including blockade, settlements, apartheid, and aggression on holy sites, we would like to highlight the following:
First, our people have the ultimate right to defend their land and holy sites by all possible means, especially in light of the international community’s silence on the violations committed against our people for 74 years.
Second, we warn against the occupation’s attempt to take advantage of international focus on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in order to impose new realities on the ground inside Al-Aqsa Mosque and the occupied territories of 1948 and step up its attacks on our people.
Third, we call upon the international community to immediately interfere and pressure the occupations before the holy month of Ramadan, especially in the light of settlers’ calls to perform provocative marches inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Gaza – Palestine
