The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in London held a panel discussion to mark the Palestinian Land Day, or Yom al-Ard, observed every year to recall the events of March 30, 1976, when six unarmed Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured by Israeli forces during protests against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land.

The panel of speakers includes Bana Abu Zuluf, a PhD Researcher in International Law at NUIM, Ireland. Bana is a researcher and community activist with the Good Shepherd Collective. She played a crucial role in developing the Campaign to Defund Racism - designed to organize over 200 Palestinian organizations, villages and individuals from across historic Palestine - to stop the flow of charitable money to Israeli settler organizations.

The second speaker was Eman Abusiddu, a Palestinian-Brazilian journalist and writer. She is a member of the Syndicate of Brazilian Journalists (FENAJ) and writes extensively on Latin America issues.

On the panel was also Dr. Khouloud Al-Ajarma, a Palestinian refugee, anthropologist, and award winning photographer and film maker. She is a lecturer at the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Al-Ajarma has also worked in the fields of refugee studies, international migration, gender studies, visual culture, environmental justice, and knowledge production in the Arab region, Europe and Latin America.

The discussion highlighted Israel’s imperialistic project, including its colonial environmentalism in the occupied Palestinian territory and the control and destruction of resources.

The speakers agreed that the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip is a second Nakba as people are not able to go back to their land and retrieve their property. Gazans are also being deprived of access to their water resources.

The discussion further tackled the stereotypical myths about Palestine propagated by the British colonial power and present-day Israel, including the fact that it was a deserted wasteland, ignoring the rich cultural, socio-economic, historical, and agricultural heritage of the region.

It also stressed that Israel is creating an image for itself as a “benevolent hand” through seemingly positive environmental actions such as forestation and the establishment of national parks, which have, reality, been built on occupied and expropriated Palestinian Land.

The speakers condemned the silence of the international community over Israeli genocides, ethnic cleansing, and protracted displacement of the Palestinian people, and called for urgent action to stop Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and flagrant breaches of international law.

Over recent days, numerous cities and capitals across Europe have witnessed massive demonstrations on the anniversary of the Palestinian Land Day, denouncing the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, now in its 176th day.

Saturday marks the anniversary of Land Day, which dates back to 1976 when the Israeli occupation seized vast areas of Palestinian lands. Since then, Palestinians have commemorated this day on March 30th of each year through various activities.

This year's anniversary comes amid escalating Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and a surge in settler attacks in the West Bank.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, leaving tens of thousands of casualties, mostly children and women, and causing a humanitarian catastrophe and immense destruction of infrastructure and property.

Watch the seminar online here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kpai36YjU