Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have now congregated in Sakhnin and are listening to politicians give speeches.
“In Sakhnin, in Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinian people have announced their attachment to its land, to its nation and its shared fate,” Jamal Zahalka, a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament and head of the Balad party, told MEE in Sakhnin.
The position of Palestinian citizens of Israel has again been under scrutiny ahead of 9 April’s parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of victimising the community to drum up support.
“Today martyrs fell in Gaza on Land Day. From here, we send our greetings to our people in Gaza,” Mohammed Baraka, head of the Arab Follow-Up Committee, which represents Palestinian citizens of Israel, told the crowd in Sakhnin.
He railed against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Israel’s control over the occupied Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
“It may take time but states of tyranny will fall and states of freedom will rise. Trump’s declaration granting the Golan to Israel, this declaration will fall because there is no right over our right.”