The Palestinian people are reviving on Saturday the 37th anniversary of the Land Day in and outside Palestine in massive rallies.

The Palestinian people are reviving on Saturday the 37th anniversary of the Land Day in and outside Palestine in massive rallies.

37 years have passed on the “Land Day” which Palestinians commemorate annually to reassure their ownership of Palestine. This day was founded in 1976, when the Israeli occupation decided to expropriate thousands of Palestinian lands, specifically in Galilee.

Despite the peacefulness of the demonstrations, the Israeli military’s response was violent and led to several deaths and injuries.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement issued a statement, published by Paltoday, in which it stressed the importance of adhering to the land and sanctities, assuring that “defending them is a sacred duty which we derive from Islam.”

The Islamic Jihad added that “the choice of resistance and challenge is the only path for getting back our seized right.”

For its part, Hamas Movement stated that “the Palestinian people have the right to stay in their land and to get back all the lands occupied since 1948,” indicating that “occupation does not justify Zionist attempts to seize those lands, build settlements, and displace natives.”

Hamas added in a statement issued Saturday that “the public uprising of our people ... on the 30th of March, 1976, assured their ultimate rejection to the Zionist plans to rob their lands and try to judaize them.”

“This occasion has formed a new stage in the confrontation of the Zionist enemy, which is public uprisings. From here, we stress the importance of armed resistance at this current phase, as well as the change of the balance of power in the conflict against the Zionist enemy,” the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement added.

In parallel, Fatah Movement considered “this occasion is considered to all the Palestinians, in Palestine and place of exile, a clash of cultural conflict, a conflict between the owners and defenders of the land… and the culture of extermination, expansion, and renouncement of other peoples’ rights, which the Zionist occupation symbolizes…”

Fatah added in a statement that “Land day is like an alarm to Israel’s policies which target land and people in order to achieve the settlement dream and the establishment of a Jewish state.”

“For us, this day will always symbolize the culture of steadfastness and victory,” it added.