Thousands attend funeral March 16, 2023 for four Palestinians killed in Jenin by Israeli Defence Forces.

This year on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of Land Day, the Palestinian people are joined by those in the diaspora and the peoples of the world in demanding that the Israeli government be held to account for its violation of international humanitarian law and stop the genocide it is committing against the Palestinian people.

Land Day is held to commemorate the six Palestinian men and women who were killed by the Israeli military on March 30, 1976 while protesting the confiscation of 20,000 dunams (20 square kilometres) of land from families living in Sakhnin and Arrabba, Palestinian communities in northern Israel. Every year since then, Land Day has been marked by Palestinians inside Israel and in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, as well as around the world, including here in Canada, to denounce the ongoing theft of Palestinian lands and uphold the Right of Return for all those who have been dispossessed.

In Palestine rallies and marches are taking place, including in the towns where the six martyrs were killed 47 years ago, with people laying wreaths and paying respect at their graves.

The actions of the Zionists, aided and abetted by the United States, Canada, Britain and other countries which remain silent and appease Israel, are beyond the pale. They are clear violations of international law, the responsibilities of an occupying power and the human rights of the Palestinian people, carried out for purposes of committing genocide. How to hold them all to account concerns all the peoples and countries of the world.

In 2022, 231 Palestinians, including five women and 40 minors, were wantonly killed by the Israeli military, the largest number in 20 years. Most were killed for resisting the violation of their rights and theft of their lands and property and their daily humiliation by the occupier.

The Palestinian Land Research Centre (PLRC) informs that in 2022 alone, the Israeli military demolished 950 Palestinian homes and confiscated more than 113,000 dunams (113 square kilometres) of land to expand illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli forces also destroyed close to 20,000 olive trees to deprive farmers of their livelihood. Some 66 wells were destroyed. The PLRC reports that 114 new settlement plans were issued to build 2,200 new housing units for Jewish settlers on Palestinian lands.

Palestinian school children mark Land Day 2023 on March 29.

The increased violence and terror unleashed on the Palestinian people can take place because of the complicity of the countries which back Israel. These countries have done everything to whitewash Israeli crimes as “self-defence” and by criminalizing all support for the just Palestinian cause as anti-Semitic. The cause of the Palestinian people is just and principled and their resistance is heroic, courageous and unstoppable. All out to uphold their national right to be, their human right to be and the right of return by holding Israel to account!

Israel has confiscated more than 85 per cent of the lands once held by the Palestinian people. The expansion of illegal settlements on Palestinian land is accompanied by a growing number of violent attacks on the Palestinians which has resulted in the more than 100,000 Palestinian martyrs since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

On the occasion of Land Day 2023, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) salutes the Palestinian people and their courage, resourcefulness and steadfast resistance in defending their right to be, and calls on everyone to step up their efforts to stand with Palestine.

All Out to Condemn Israeli Crimes Against the Palestinian People!
Vigorously Oppose the Killings, the Settlements, the International Impunity!
Uphold the Right of Return!
Release All Political Prisoners!

Planting olive trees on land east of Gaza in preparation for Land Day 2023.