The 50th anniversary of Earth Day – Dr. Abdul Rahim Mahmoud Jamous
Dr. Abdul Rahim Mahmoud Jamous
March 30, 1976, was not a passing event in the history of the Palestinian people. Rather, it represented a pivotal moment that redefined the relationship between the Palestinian person and his land, as the essence of identity and the field of conflict.
On that day, the Palestinians in the 1948 lands faced the policies of confiscation and Judaization with a comprehensive strike and a widespread popular uprising, in which six were martyred and dozens were wounded, turning into a milestone in the path of the national struggle.
The Land Day Intifada was the culmination of a long accumulation of Israeli policies aimed at confiscating and emptying land from its owners, especially in the Galilee, under titles such as “Developing the Galilee,” which at its core concealed a replacement settlement project seeking to change the demographic composition.
The decisions to confiscate thousands of dunams and declare closed military zones sparked a state of popular tension that led to a rare national unity within Palestinian society at home, manifested in the formation of unified public frameworks and a collective confrontation of the occupation policies.
The importance of Earth Day does not lie only in its historical event, but in its continuing connotations. He proved that land is not just property, but rather a title for existence, and that defending it is defending identity and rights.
It also consolidated the unity of the Palestinians within the Green Line, and linked their struggle to the general national context.
Today, on the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day, these connotations are renewed in a more complex and dangerous context.
Confiscation and settlement policies did not stop, but rather escalated at an unprecedented pace, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where settlement expansion is accelerating and annexation projects are deepening, in light of persistent attempts to impose final facts on the ground.
As for the Gaza Strip, the conflict has entered an unprecedented stage of violence, with the war continuing since October 7, 2023, and the accompanying comprehensive destruction and massive human losses, revealing a clear tendency to reshape the demographic and geographical reality of the Strip, in a broader context aimed at liquidating the Palestinian issue or forcibly redefining it.
On the other hand, the political process appears to be in a state of almost complete paralysis, more than three decades after its launch since the 1991 Madrid Conference, where the concepts of settlement were replaced by the imposition of facts, and international commitment to the rules of international law declined, which led to a complex crisis at the Palestinian, regional and international levels.
In this context, Earth Day returns to ask its central question: How can this historical symbolism be transformed into sustainable political action?
The answer begins first with rebuilding Palestinian national unity, as it is a basic condition for restoring collective action and activating the tools of popular and political resistance, under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Secondly, by activating the role of the Arab and Palestinian diaspora, and transforming it into a real lever of support for the steadfastness of the Palestinians, politically, economically and in the media, in a way that restores the issue’s national dimension.
Third, by breaking the monopoly of conflict management internationally, and pushing towards a multilateral international framework that restores respect for international law and international legitimacy resolutions, and puts an end to occupation policies.
Fourth, by building on international recognition of the State of Palestine, consolidating this recognition by strengthening state institutions, and striving to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
Earth Day, after fifty years, is no longer just a memorial, but rather a standard for measuring resilience, and a permanent reminder of the fact that the conflict, at its core, is a conflict over land and identity.
Today is similar to yesterday, and perhaps more cruel and complex, which makes drawing inspiration from the lessons of Earth Day a political and national necessity, not just a historical remembrance.
In the end, what remains constant is that the land that the Palestinians defended in 1976 is still at the heart of the battle today, and that the will to survive rooted in it is capable – despite all the transformations – of reproducing its tools and shaping its future.
