On the Commemoration of Eternal Land Day, March 30th, we assert with utmost strength and resolve: Stop the Genocide Against Palestinians!
On this March 30th, Land Day for Palestine, we issue an unequivocal demand for the immediate cessation of the Israeli-led genocide against the Palestinian people. As we mark the 48th anniversary of Eternal Land Day, we stand in solemn remembrance amid the ongoing, brutal campaign of annihilation carried out by Israeli occupation forces. This genocidal onslaught is predominantly ravaging the Gaza Strip, mercilessly striking civilians, homes, hospitals, schools, places of worship, and the very heart of Palestinian sustenance agricultural lands and fisheries. Every facet of life, every source of income, and the fundamental pillars of social infrastructure are under direct attack. Today, as we commemorate this pivotal moment in Palestinian resistance, we also confront a relentless assault on the existence of the Palestinian people. Over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the 7th of October 2023. More than 78,000 people have been injured. The women and children are the most affected, representing about two-thirds of the killed and injured people.
The entire population of Gaza teeters on the brink of starvation due to Israel’s cruel blockade, severely restricting access to food, water, electricity, and fuel, and stifling the entry of humanitarian aid. Despite worldwide protests and the interim rulings of the International Court of Justice calling for an end to this massacre and allowing free entry humanitarian aid, Israel has instead escalated its blatant genocidal warfare. Various UN organizations and experts have recently raised alarm over the rapidly deteriorating food situation in the Gaza Strip. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), both North Gaza and Gaza Governorates are classified as IPC Phase 5 (Famine) with substantial evidence, with approximately 70% (around 210,000 people) of the population facing IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe)
The Gaza blockade since 2008 by the Israeli settler state points to its unrestrained arrogance and impunity which has led to the killing of tens of thousands of children, women, elderly, and men employing indiscriminate bombing throughout Gaza, utilizing banned international weapons such as phosphorus, and employing other tools of war, extending across both land and air. All this has happened in full view of the international community, with the complicity, of the rich western countries led by the US which continue to pay lip service to the peace initiative while providing the Israeli occupation with bombs and weapons to kill more and more Palestinians.
We strongly condemn the continuous support of the U.S. administration for the Israeli occupation by supplying it with all types of weapons and support, thereby facilitating the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. We view the U.S. as complicit in this genocide, bearing responsibility for protecting the Israeli colonization efforts that persist in killing, destruction, and committing heinous crimes against humanity. Furthermore, the U.S.’s actions in shielding Israel from accountability and punishment with each crime committed underscore its role in sustaining this injustice. Since its inception in 1976, Land Day has stood as a powerful symbol of the Palestinian resistance against colonial expansion and oppression. Originating from the first confrontation in 1976 and fueled by the ongoing struggles since 1948, and escalating after 1967, Israel’s appropriation of millions of dunums of Palestinian land starkly illustrates its ambitions to expand settlements, in direct contravention of international law and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. The ongoing displacement and dispossession experienced by Palestinians not only erode their sovereignty and rights to return but also threaten their aspirations for food sovereignty and social justice within their own land. With over 2,380,000 dunums seized since 1967, aiming to swell the number of Jewish settlers to one million by 2030 in the West Bank and Area C, Israel’s unabated settlement expansion and the illegal annexation of land post-Oslo Accords underscore a blatant disregard for Palestinian self-determination. Today, the aggressive depopulation of Northern Gaza, forcing over a million people into the cramped confines of Rafah, exemplifies the dire consequences of such policies, undermining the Palestinian dream of reclaiming their historic territories and establishing a sovereign state.
As we commemorate Land Day, we remind the whole world of the suffering of the people of Palestine under the occupation and now of the ongoing unprecedented genocide against the Palestinians.
We call upon the peoples and countries of the world to show real and active solidarity with the Palestinian people. Denounce the crimes against humanity perpetrated against them. We therefore call on all people to actively demand the immediate lifting of the brutal blockade and ending the ongoing genocide. The blockade is strategically intended to inflict harm on more Palestinians by starving and impoverishing them, destroying their economy, and fragmenting their social and political structure. Therefore, one of the most effective ways to show solidarity and support for the Palestinian people is through economic boycott, refusing to purchase products, including agricultural ones, from the occupying power.
On March 30th, let us stand united with Palestinians in their fight for land rights and the establishment of an independent state. For 75 years, the world has witnessed the brutal suppression of Palestinians by Israeli forces. La Via Campesina, alongside our esteemed member Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), urgently appeals to the United Nations and everyone dedicated to peace and justice to strongly denounce and reject the continuous acts of genocide by Israel, its use of starvation as a weapon, and to call for the immediate cessation of forced evictions, destruction of homes, and the construction of illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. We affirm that Palestinian rights are indeed human rights.
On April 13th, we will intensify our global mobilization against this genocide and campaign to #StopGazaStarvation. As we face a crisis where an entire community is on the brink of starvation, we urge people worldwide to engage in a GLOBAL DAY OF FASTING in a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza. We encourage the donation of funds, typically allocated for food, to our emergency anti-starvation fund led by UAWC or to other organizations actively combating Israel’s strategic use of starvation as genocide and providing direct food aid to the people of Gaza.
Furthermore, on April 16th, we are hosting a public webinar focused on Palestine’s Right to Food and Self-determination to further illuminate these critical issues and mobilize support for the Palestinian cause.
On the framework of the International Day of Peasant Struggles #17April, our solidarity with Palestine will be realized through these initiatives and various actions, such as olive exchanges, olive tree plantations, and other acts of solidarity carried out by the peasant organizations comprising our movement. We invite you to send us information about your actions to the following address: communications@viacampesina.org
In Solidarity, We Rise, For Justice, For Palestine, For Humanity”
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Immediate Action Required: an “International Conference of Governments to Protect Palestinians and Support their Self-Determination
