<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br><br>
From PalestineCalendar.org...<br><br>
Today, March 30th, is Land Day in Palestine.<br>
<br>
In addition to the links already at PalestineCalendar.org's Land Day
entry, we bring you this press release from BADIL. However, we
would say that Land Day "symbolizes resistance to ongoing land
expropriation, unresolved claims to housing and property restitution
and..." <u>the 56-year occupation of the Palestinian homeland</u>,
not just "the 38-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip." <br>
<br>
Following the press release is a reminder of upcoming important dates,
including the Jenin Massacre, Palestine Child Day, and the Deir Yassin
Massacre.<br>
<br>
Best wishes from PalestineCalendar.org.<br>
<br>
<br>
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights<br>
Press release, 30 March 2005 (E/09/05)<br><br>
<u>Human Rights Can Help Solve Conflict over Land<br>
</u>Land Day 2005<br><br>
Israel is under an obligation to return the land, orchards, olive groves
and <br>
other immovable property seized from any natural or legal person for
purposes <br>
of construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The
<br>
International Court of Justice also says that states are responsible to
<br>
ensure Israel's compliance with international law.<br><br>
The UN draft principles on restitution for refugees and displaced persons
<br>
likewise affirms that all refugees and displaced persons have the right
to <br>
have restored to them housing and property of which they were deprived
during <br>
the course of displacement, or to be compensated for any property that
cannot <br>
be restored to them. <br><br>
The draft principles also say that states should take special measures to
<br>
protect secondary occupants from homelessness and other violations of the
<br>
right to adequate housing. This includes identification of alternative
<br>
housing and/or land for such occupants as means to facilitate the <br>
recovery/restitution of homes and properties of refugees and displaced
<br>
persons.<br><br>
"The Palestinians are hardly trying to break new ground," says
Scott Leckie, <br>
Executive Director of the Geneva-base Centre on Housing Rights Rights and
<br>
Evictions. "The right to return and the right to restitution of
property have <br>
a long legal history, and have been most recently actualized in such
places <br>
as Bosnia, Kosovo, Mozambique, South Africa, Tajikistan and throughout
<br>
eastern and central Europe."<br><br>
In 1998 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
concluded <br>
that Israel should give "high priority" to remedying the
"right of many <br>
Palestinians to return and possess their homes in Israel." The
Committee on <br>
Social, Economic and Cultural Rights has called upon Israel to review its
<br>
relationship with the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency (and the
<br>
Jewish National Fund), especially in relation to control of land "to
benefit <br>
Jews exclusively."<br><br>
"There can be no prospect of a workable peace agreement until the
return and <br>
property restitution question is property addressed," says Leckie.
"Indeed, <br>
this is a major lesson of all post-conflict situations throughout the
world: <br>
address restitution issues head on, and more likely than not peace will
hold. <br>
Ignore it, and the war that was so hard to stop in the first place will
be <br>
much more likely eventually to re-ignite."<br><br>
Land Day commemorates events of 29 years ago when Israeli security forces
shot <br>
and killed six Palestinians inside 1948 Palestine/Israel who were
protesting <br>
expropriation of Palestinian land to build new Jewish colonies and expand
<br>
existing Jewish cities. Now Land Day symbolizes resistance to
ongoing land <br>
expropriation, unresolved claims to housing and property restitution and
the <br>
38-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. <br><br>
In 1948, Palestinians owned more than 90 per cent of the land in historic
<br>
Mandate Palestine. Today, the indigenous Palestinian Arab
population owns <br>
and controls about 10 per cent of its homeland (within Israel and the
1967 <br>
occupied territories). At the same time, more than half of the
original <br>
Palestinian population has been displaced/expelled from
Palestine.<br><br>
-- <br>
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights<br>
PO Box 728, Bethlehem, Palestine<br>
Telefax: 00972-2-2747346<br>
<a href="about:blank">info@badil.org</a> -
<a href="http://www.badil.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.badil.org/<br>
</a></font><font face="arial" size=2>
_______________________________________________________________<br><br>
</font><font size=3>Upcoming Dates:<br>
April 3-12, 2002: Jenin Massacre<br>
April 5: Palestine Child Day<br>
April 9: Deir Yassin Massacre.<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>