Palestinians mark the Land's Day with more border protests

Palestinians marked the 43rd anniversary of Land's Day on March 30 with mass marches and massive public events. On this day in 1976, Arab masses took to the streets in 48 lands to protest vigorously after Israeli authorities seized the territories of a number of Arab villages to allocate them to building more settlements. The day became a national day marked by the Palestinians every year.

Most of the Palestinian cities were involved in mass strikes while schools and universities were closed. On Saturday, thousands of Palestinians flocked to Gaza's border with Israel to participate in massive demonstrations as part of "The million man march of land and return," which was called for by Palestinian factions to celebrate the 43rd Land's Day as of March 30 of each year, which also coincided with the first anniversary of the launch of the ongoing border protests along the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinian youths burned tires and stepped beyond the border fence to cross the border, where the Israeli army opened fire and threw tear gas grenades at them, which led to the killing of four, three of whom were 17 years old, and injuring more than three hundred demonstrators, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Thousands of Palestinians flock to Gaza's border with Israel to participate in the 43rd anniversary of Land's Day, March 30, 2019. /CGTN Photo

Maher Mizhir, member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Central Committee, told CGTN that the border protests will not stop until their objectives are realized.

"The message of the Palestinian masses that they came today to reiterate their right in living in dignity and freedom like other peoples of the region without a siege and without the big prison that enclaves the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation, by the extent it deals with the peaceful protesters and to what extent it commits itself to the Egypt-brokered understandings, will dictate the future pathway forward in the coming days," said Mizhir.

Coinciding with the first year of launching border demonstrations, the relationship between Israel and Palestinian factions reached a sensitive point, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to pass the current Israeli election period quietly while the Palestinian factions push to make some gains in return for calm during the Land Day.

Maher Mizhir, member of PFLP Central Committee, March 30, 2019. /CGTN Photo

Hamas chief in Gaza Yahia Alsinwar, who visited border protest zones in Gaza and participated in it in a clear threat signal from there saying that "Israel today is before a new test, we approach a new year of these popular marches, the way the Palestinian resistance deals with the occupation in regard to the popular marches in the year to come will never be the same as the year that passed."

Since Palestinians began marching along the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel on March 30 last year, the Israeli army killed more than 250 demonstrators. Protesters demanded ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip 12 years ago, which led to the destruction of the economy of the coastal strip and deprived two million residents of many basic commodities.

(CGTN)