Land Day, observed by Palestinians across the world on March 30, is a holiday that pays homage to the protests that took place in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 1976.  Those demonstrations were in response to a plan by the Jewish State to seize large swaths of Palestinian land. Six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in the peaceful demonstrations across the country.

University of Michigan-Dearborn political science professor Dr. Ronald Stockton compared Land Day to the Boston Massacre, where British soldiers killed five unarmed colonists in 1970. The incident was a precursor to the American Revolution.

“It is a point of symbolic memory,” he said.

Stockton spoke at the event in Livonia, adding that Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories, the return or just compensation of Palestinian refugees, and the establishment Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital are the only way to peace. 

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano also spoke at the event, which was organized by the Palestinian Aid Society (PAS).  About 400 people attended the event, according to the organizers.

Ficano said he recognizes the importance of the holiday and stressing the contributions of immigrants to the county. Tlaib said she was proud of her Palestinian roots and recounted stories of her parents’ suffering under the occupation. She attributed her political defiance and struggle against economic injustice to growing up in a Palestinian home, where she personally witnessed real suffering.

Abd-Elsalam.

Mohammad Abd-Elsalam, the organizer of the event and one of the cofounders of PAS, said local events for the Palestinian cause help “expose” Americans to the suffering of Palestinians.

PAS was established as a national non-profit organization in 1978, but after two decades of collecting donations and funding projects for the Palestinian people, the group’s activities started to wind down in 1998, according to Abd-Elsalam.

Abd-Elsalam said Palestinian activism in the United States took a hit after the 1993 Oslo Agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel. The agreement, which promised Palestinians a state in Gaza and the West Bank, divided Palestinian activists and left many of them frustrated, Abd-Elsalam said.

“The Oslo Agreement was the mercy bullet for Palestinian activism in the United States. We had popular organized advocacy groups, and most people who worked for the Palestinian national struggle directed their efforts to Palestine. Most people were convinced that a Palestinian state would be established and we would return home. We thought of our presence here as temporary,” explained Abd-ElSalam.” But Oslo divided the community between those who believed it was the end of the conflict, and those who believed that the agreement did not live up to the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

He said after many opponents of the agreement joined the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in 1996, most activists were left with a feeling of “exasperation,” which shattered many Palestinian organizations in the diaspora. 

He added that although the agreement did not end the conflict, Palestinian activism abroad became mostly led by personal initiatives, not organizations.

“Now there is no Palestinian leadership here,” Abd-ElSalam stated. “Even during the 2008 attack on Gaza, it was Lebanese organizations that spearheaded the protests against the war.”

PAS faded away but still sponsored charitable programs, including one to donate Palestinian-made backpacks to students in the West Bank.

Abd-Elsalam said he plans to revive and reorganize PAS after the event in Livonia. The donations from the event were sent to PAS of Gaza.

He said Sunday’s celebration of Land Day helped “the organization reconnect with the masses.”

“It also helped Palestinians connect with their elected officials,” he said. “We have to reach out to other communities. We cannot be isolated. We are an inseparable part of American society.”

Another event, The Palestine Land Day commemoration, will take place in Dearborn on Sunday, April 6, at 5 p.m. Dr. Salman Abu Sitta,  a Palestinian historian who writes about Palestinian refugees and the right of return, will speak. Also, Palestinians from the West Bank will recount stories of their suffering at Israeli checkpoints.

Palestinian activist Dr. Daad Katato, who is one of the organizers of the Land Day commemoration in Dearborn, said celebrating the occasion serves as a reminder that Palestinians will not forget their land.

“Even our children remember Palestine. We are remembering our martyrs and immortalizing our land. It is something that will always stay with us. Palestine is not history,” she said.

Katato said Palestine is a cause for all Arabs regardless of their political leanings, but community members do not attend gatherings for Palestine in large numbers.

“Some people are not interested in going to events for Palestine,” she said. “They don’t want to pay the price of the ticket although it barely covers the cost of the event. I don’t know why. But we hope many people would come Sunday and show their support. I want to see everyone sharing our pain as one heart, not just Palestinians, the entire community.”

Abd-Eldalam said it was “regrettable” that Palestinians were having two events for Land Day in Michigan instead of one joined commemoration, stressing the importance of unity for the Palestinian cause.