March 30, 1976, is a painful reminder of Israeli injustice and oppression against the Palestinian people. Twenty-five years ago, Israeli forces confiscated a total of 5,500 acres of land from Palestinian villages in the Galilee, in northern Palestine. These areas had been classified by Israeli authorities as "closed military zones" and later fell subject to heavy illegal settlement expansion. The confiscation of land provoked heavy confrontations between Palestinian-Israeli citizens and Israeli military forces, and resulted in the killing of 6 Palestinians, the injury of 96, and the arrest of 300.

As we mark the 25th anniversary of Palestinian Land Day, Israeli terror against the Palestinian people continues unabated. Since the outbreak of the Intifada in late September 2000, more than 410 Palestinians have been killed in cold blood by Israeli forces, and the number of casualties has exceeded 12,000.

Israel’s illegal policies of land confiscation and settlement expansion continue; since 1967, Israel has confiscated almost 750,000 acres of land from the 1.5 million acres comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 clearly asserts that the "…occupying power cannot move segments of its own population to parts of the land it occupies," or make any demographic or territorial changes that are not in the interest of the occupied. Similarly, the Fourth Geneva Convention condemns Israel's settlement activities and calls for the ceasing of ‘all’ settlement expansion.

Palestinian Land Day is a day for remembrance, and a day for protest against Israel’s occupation.