Sunset over Al-Janiya in the Occupied West Bank June 18, 2023 The Xavierite
March 30 is referred to as Land Day, or “Yawm Al-Ard” in Arabic. Land Day is not necessarily a holiday for Palestinians, but rather a memorial day to commemorate the first Land Day on March 30, 1976, in which six Palestinians were killed while protesting against Israeli land theft and occupation, and hundreds more were injured.
Every Land Day since then has been filled with protests to oppose Israel stealing more Palestinian land and to make it clear that Palestinians, wherever they are, will continue to protest Israeli occupation until liberation.
As indigenous people, Palestinians care for their land as if it were their own mother; they plant and harvest the fruits and vegetables. Palestinians are known best for their olives and figs, in fact Palestine is mentioned in the Holy Quran as the land of “fig and olive.”
I remember when my family was preparing to visit Palestine last summer, I was worried that we wouldn’t make it in time to enjoy the figs, as they are only in season from late July until the early fall, and I was leaving in mid July.
Every fall I feel homesick and wish to be in the homeland for olive harvesting season. The olives are ripe enough to be pressed and juiced to make the rich olive oil, which we natives like to call “liquid gold.”
The Palestinian economy thrives off olive season, and buying Palestinian olive oil and Palestinian exports in general help support the farmers in Occupied Palestine.
This past olive season, however, was not an enjoyable experience for the Palestinian farmers, or the Palestinians who live in villages near settlements. Some Palestinians were unable to reach their olive trees, as Israeli Occupation Forces banned them from entering the planting areas of their villages. Other Palestinians had their olive trees set on fire by Israeli settlers.
It is not uncommon practice for Israeli settlers to burn olive trees or terrorize the Palestinians who plant and harvest them. This past October, a Palestinian man was killed by settlers trying to harvest his olives.
Something I struggle to understand is how Israeli settlers will try to sell you this narrative that they are indigenous and native to Palestine, and then go destroying the land by burning olive trees and polluting the land with their bombs.
Israeli settlers will try to sell you the narrative that Palestine was an empty desert before they arrived and that they “made it bloom,” and Palestinians are barbarians who couldn’t possibly know how to take care of the land like they can.
I think it goes without saying that Palestine was clearly not an empty piece of land, or a desert at that, rather it was completely filled with indigenous Palestinians who tended and cared for the land for centuries since the Cannanites. In fact, Palestine is one of the only countries in the Levant that has a desert region, mountains, a coastal region, and valleys.
It’s quite clear who is indigenous and who is not, who is the colonized and the oppressed and who is not.
Land Day serves as a reminder that Palestinians will continue to fight for what is rightfully theirs, and that there will be no peace on stolen land, whether that is by peaceful protest or otherwise.
The Palestinian identity is intertwined with the land; we tend and care for it deeply, and we cry over it as if it were our own mother.
In his poem, “On This Earth,” Mahmoud Darwish said it best, “We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this earth, the Lady of Earth, mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called Palestine.”
I hope this is the last Land Day Palestinians have to spend in protest to Israeli Occupation, and I pray that next year Palestinians may dedicate Land Day to celebrate their freedom and honor those who lost their lives to this honorable cause.
Free Palestine.
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