| The anniversary of Land Day takes place this year as the al-Aqsa Intifada
continues into its seventh month. The primary significance of this occasion is the
reaffirmation of the link between our people and the national soil as well as resistance
to all forms of settlement, uprooting, and displacement. The al-Aqsa Intifada
reaffirms this meaning more than at any time before, through the great sacrifices offered
until now and through national achievements represented in the unity of the people and the
land from the Galilee to the Triangle to the Naqab to the West Bank and Gaza Strip
reaching to the diaspora, both near and far.
The al-Aqsa Intifada has brought the
Arab-Zionist conflict to a head through which the American-Israeli alliance, opposed to
our people’s right to return and right to self-determination, is exposed.
In this context the Intifada has
unequivocally reaffirmed the following:
-
The Palestinian people are a factor that cannot be ignored
in finding a solution to the half-century conflict; Zionism has failed to erase our
national identity;
-
The Palestinian issue has become, more than at any time
before, a factor that determines regional stability, and cannot be ignored by the
international community and dominant powers. Regional stability is dependent on the
realization of our basic national aims to return, self-determination, and statehood with
full sovereignty with Jerusalem as the capital;
-
The Right of Return, in accordance with the international
law, is the core of our national aims. The Right of Return has become a core issue of the Intifada
because it was considered negotiable and subject for compromise due to Israel’s
adamant refusal to recognize the Right of Return from the signing of the Oslo agreements,
through the period of negotiations until Camp David II. Our people, by various popular,
political and official bodies continue to recognize the significance of Land Day as a
national symbol of the unity of the Land and the People.
Based on these affirmations, we
emphasize the following:
-
The right of displaced Palestinian and refugees to return to
their homes of origin is historic, sacred, and inalienable. This right repudiates all
plans for permanent displacement and resettlement. It is strongly linked to the right to
self-determination, which is considered a customary rule in the international law. It is
impossible for a people, the majority of them refugees, to practice this right without
closing the gap between demographic dispersal and demographic unity through the
implementation of the right of return both as an individual right and as a collective
right;
-
The demand for international protection of the Palestinian
people falling under Israeli occupation, including temporary protection as provided for
under international law. This demand has became a necessity in the wake of the election of
the government of the war criminal Ariel Sharon alongside similar criminals who, based on
racist attitudes, call for continued repression and the collective transfer of
Palestinians;
-
The essence of Land Day is represented by the continuation
of and increasing the Intifada through all forms of struggle legitimized by the
international law to confront the occupation, settlement, and racism.
Honor and Eternity to our Innocent
Martyrs
We Will Return
A’idoun group - Syria
A’idoun group - Lebanon
Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights - Palestine
The Committee for the Defense of the Palestinian Refugee Rights - Palestine
The Committee for the Defense of the Internally Displaced (inside the green line)
Popular Committees - Gaza Strip refugee camps
Popular Committees - West Bank refugee camps
Union of the Youth Activity Centers - Palestine
Follow-up Committee for Palestinian Refugee Affairs - South West Bank
Palestinian Prisoners Society - West Bank
Yafa Cultural Center - Balata camp
NGO Forum Working in Palestinian Refugee Communities – Lebanon
Higher Committee for the Defense of the Right of Return – Jordan
Arab NGO Network for Development - Lebanon
Right of Return Coalition - Europe |
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