Haniyeh: Land Day emphasises Palestinians’ commitment to homeland, right of return

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh said that Land Day is a landmark in the history of the Palestinian people that emphasizes the Palestinians’ commitment to their homeland and right of return.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on the 45th anniversary of Land Day, which is marked on March 30, Haniyeh pointed out that six Palestinian citizens were killed by Israeli occupation forces during protests against an Israeli decision to confiscate nearly 21,000 dunums of Palestinian land in the occupied Galilee, Triangle, and the Naqab desert.

“Land Day is an immortal day in the memory of the Palestinian people and was based on a direct confrontation between the people in the Palestinian land occupied in 1948 with the Israeli occupation, which attempted to take control and colonise a precious plot of our occupied Palestinian territory,” Haniyeh explained.

Every year, Haniyeh continued, the Palestinian people mark the Land Day as it has several symbolic gestures, foremost among them is being the essence of the freedom struggle against the Israeli occupation.

The Hamas chief explained that the Palestinian people have made enormous sacrifices to protect their land and face off Israeli annexation plans and illegal settlement activity.

“The right of return is sacred, and no one can waive or abolish it,” Haniyeh stressed.

“Therefore, I salute the Palestinian citizens of the Palestinian land occupied in 1948,” he continued.

Haniyeh concluded by saying that the Palestinian people would have their own political entity and establish their independent state on their homeland.