49th Land Day
Land Day marks March 30, 1976, when Palestinians rose up in mass strike and protest against the Zionist seizure of thousands of dunams of land in the Galilee. Six Palestinians were martyred because they refused to accept land theft. That day exposed the truth that Zionism was never just an occupation of 1967. It was always a settler colonial project built on the erasure of an Indigenous people from their own homeland. In Islam, the land is an amanah, a trust from Allah. To defend it is not only political. It is a moral obligation against oppression and a refusal to betray the generations who came before us.
Israeli security forces deploy as Palestinians demonstrate against the establishment of Israeli outposts on their lands, in Beit Dajan east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on April 29, 2022. [Getty]
What began as land theft continues today through settlement expansion, forced displacement, home demolitions, military zones, etc. All meant to sever Palestinians from their land piece by piece.
How Does Dispossession Happen?
Settlement Expansion: Continuous theft of Palestinian land.
Military Firing Zones: Restricting access to ancestral lands.
Legal Barriers: The 2026 revival of land registration in Area C creates new areas for land registration in the occupied West Bank, thereby restricting Palestinian ownership.
Relevance to Palestinians at home and abroad
Homeland: From Masafer Yatta to the Naqab, Palestinians remain rooted under siege. Even new land registration measures in Area C are part of this same structure to tighten Zionist control and restrict Palestinian ownership.
Diaspora: An affirmation of the Right to Return, and proof that no imperial power can break the bond between a people and their homeland.
For Palestinians, Land Day is the refusal to be erased by settler-colonial policies. It reminds us that “to be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul” - Simone Weil.
Violating Humanitarian Law:
UNDRIP: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms the right to land and resources traditionally owned or occupied.
Protection from Displacement: Forced transfer is beyond policy failure; it is a violation of international humanitarian law and a crime against a people’s right to remain on their land.
From the Palestine to Turtle Island, Indigenous peoples have been engaged in a centuries-long defense of sacred sites and the right to self-govern one’s own life. More than a name, Land Back is the tangible restoration of Indigenous lands returning where they belong to the hands of the Indigenous. It works to challenge systems that exploit Indigenous communities and dismantle the structures that disregard the Earth.
Ireland and Palestine are connected through this shared expierence. British rule in Ireland exploited land as a weapon and met resistance with brutal repression. That same empire later imposed the Balfour Declaration on Palestine, promising away a land that was never Britain’s to give. Arthur Balfour was also the architect in Ireland, where repression and dispossession were central to his politics.
This is why so many in Ireland support Palestine. They recognized checkpoints, raids, surveillance, sectarian policing, and colonial arrogance because they knew those patterns already.
TAKE ACTION!
Share & Amplify: Uplift Palestinian voices to renounce the erasure of their stories.
Support Initiatives: Join campaigns, advocacy efforts, and community projects that defend the land.
This Land Day, we honor the martyrs of 1976 by refusing Zionist erasure. The land is still Palestinian. The people are still resisting. And our duty is to remain principled, unshaken, and on the side of liberation.
Show Up: Attend protests, teach-ins, and local events representing a unified front.
Follow & Learn: Support groups committed to justice and Indigenous sovereignty, like PDM!
