PA minister opposes land swap because "the entire land is Palestinian land"
“The [Popular] Front for the Liberation of Palestine called Land Day a symbol of the spirit of struggle and self-sacrifice demonstrated by our people and the Martyrs (Shahids) of Palestine through their devotion to the option of resistance to a cruel occupation that was planted in our land by force of arms…
[PA] Minister of Agriculture Walid Assaf called for the broadest possible popular participation in the 38th Land Day events. He said that this day represented a milestone in the Palestinian struggle against the occupation’s Judaization projects, which aim to steal additional tracts of Palestinian land for purposes of settlement expansion and [the construction of] the racist separation fence. The Popular Front expressed… its strong opposition to the land swap agreement achieved by the negotiations, because it contains ‘a recognition and admission of Israel’s right to the larger part of the land of Palestine. The entire land is Palestinian land, and the agreement to swap part of it with another part that has [remained] stolen [land] since 1948 amounts to the support and legitimization of a future Israeli policy, whose aim will be to expel our people from the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel).’”
Note: Land Day – an annual commemoration of the general strike and demonstrations organized by Israeli Arab residents of the Galilee on March 30, 1976 to protest the Israeli government's decision to expropriate land in the Galilee for security and settlement purposes, which it later implemented. Israeli Arabs and Palestinians consider it a national day.
[PA] Minister of Agriculture Walid Assaf called for the broadest possible popular participation in the 38th Land Day events. He said that this day represented a milestone in the Palestinian struggle against the occupation’s Judaization projects, which aim to steal additional tracts of Palestinian land for purposes of settlement expansion and [the construction of] the racist separation fence. The Popular Front expressed… its strong opposition to the land swap agreement achieved by the negotiations, because it contains ‘a recognition and admission of Israel’s right to the larger part of the land of Palestine. The entire land is Palestinian land, and the agreement to swap part of it with another part that has [remained] stolen [land] since 1948 amounts to the support and legitimization of a future Israeli policy, whose aim will be to expel our people from the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel).’”
Note: Land Day – an annual commemoration of the general strike and demonstrations organized by Israeli Arab residents of the Galilee on March 30, 1976 to protest the Israeli government's decision to expropriate land in the Galilee for security and settlement purposes, which it later implemented. Israeli Arabs and Palestinians consider it a national day.