JERUSALEM (AA) - Hundreds of Arab Israelis on Friday marked Palestinian “Land Day” by holding rallies in Arab villages and towns across northern Israel.
Demonstrators marched from the village of Sakhnin to the town of Arrabeh near Jenin waving Palestinian flags and banners bearing anti-occupation slogans.
“We have a righteous cause; we will not back down before a regime that seeks to uproot us from our land,” Mohamed Barakeh, head of the Supreme Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, told Anadolu Agency.
“Land Day isn’t just a memorial anniversary, it’s an ongoing battle to safeguard our Arab identity, land and heritage,” Barakeh said.
“Today's demonstrations are yet another message that we will never abandon our land,” he added.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip marked the occasion by converging en masse on the strip’s eastern border with Israel, where at least six demonstrators have been killed by Israeli army gunfire.
“Land Day” commemorates the murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in 1976.
On March 30 of that year, Palestinians in the northern Galilee region demonstrated against Israel’s seizure of large tracts of Arab land, prompting Israeli troops to enter the region in force.
Demonstrations first erupted in the town of Deir Hanna, which had earlier been the target of severe oppression by Israeli police.
This was followed by further protests in Arrabeh, in which a Palestinian was killed -- and dozens more injured -- by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian's death triggered widespread demonstrations -- and violent clashes with Israeli troops -- in a number of other Arab communities, in which another six Palestinians lost their lives.