Summary
March 30, 1976: the means by which, in Said’s account, the Palestinians inside Israel welcomed the Palestine Liberation Organization in much the same way as the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians did in the municipal elections of 1976, true to their history of struggle.
Details
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The West Bank and Gaza Palestinians, in the municipal elections of 1976 and after almost a decade of harsh Israeli rule, came out with strong support of the PLO as their representative; the Palestinians inside Israel welcomed the PLO in much the same way, their means being the Day of the Land (Yom al-Ard) on March 30, 1976 (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.190 / printed p.169).
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Since then there have been literally dozens of Palestinian manifestations, declarations and demonstrations of support for the PLO (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.190 / printed p.169).
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In Manna’s Epilogue, “Land Day” in 1976 is the next occasion, after the 1958 Arab Front, on which the communists organised a broad Arab front and challenged the authorities’ policy; the children of the 1970s had learned from their fathers’ generation and developed struggle tools that made them an important stream of the Palestinian national movement (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.297). Manna also records the fruition sequence: Tawfiq Zayyad became mayor of Nazareth in 1975 and Land Day was celebrated the following year (Nakba and Survival, PDF p.118).
Related pages
The Question of Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization, Nakba and Survival, Arab Front