Land Day in Bil'in

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Today Palestinians commemorated Land Day, the anniversary of the murder of six nonviolent protesters, on strike against massive land confiscations, by Israeli troops in the Gallilee in 1976. Since then Land Day has been marked by protests reasserting Palestinian rights over their land. Thirty years on the expropriation of land in Gallilee and the Naqab continues while Gaza has been transformed into an open prison and the West Bank divided into a series of bantustans by the Apartheid wall and the the Israeli apartheid system of restrictions on movement. International activists joined demonstrations today against Israeli land seizures in Qaffin, Um Salumunah and Bil'in. I joined the Bil'in demonstration, around 200 people marched from the centre of the village to the annexation fence. At the fence the activists were met by jets from a water cannon intended to disperse the crowd. The crowd remained at the fence despite this and continued their demonstration. The IDF used sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets to drive back the demonstrators, two Palestinians suffered slight injuries. The demonstrations in Bil'in have been going on for over two years now and have been a constant reminder of the Palestinian determination to resist against the Israeli Apartheid system and seizure of their land. The people of Bil'in have shown how grassroots resistance can succeed in challenging Israeli marginalisation of the Palestinians on their land.