Al-Ard (, "The Land;" sometimes called "the Land movement") was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

political movement made up of

Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

. It was active between 1958 and some time in the 1970s. The movement was established by

Sabri Jiryis Sabri Jiryis (, , ; born in 1938), also known as Sabri Jaris, Sabri Geries or Sabri Jirais, is a Palestinian- Arab Israeli writer and lawyer, a graduate of the Hebrew University law faculty, and Palestinian activist. In 1966, the first edition of ...

, Habib Qahwaji, Salih Baransi, Mansur Qardawsh, and Muhammad Miari. It attracted international attention.McDowall, 1990, p. 150. Israeli geography scholar

Oren Yiftachel Oren Yiftachel (; born 1956) is an Israeli professor of political geography, political and legal geography, urban studies and urban planning at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba. He holds the Lynn and Lloyd Hurst Family Chair in Ur ...

characterized its activities as among "the most notable occasions expressing antigovernment resistance" by the Palestinian minority in Israel. The political movement's goal was, according to political historian David McDowall, "to achieve complete equality and social justice for all classes of people in Israel" and "to find a just solution for the Palestine problem as a whole, and as an indivisible unit." Following unsuccessful efforts to secure registration of the organization as an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

and secure it a publishing permit,Kimmerling and Migdal, 2003, p. 197.Smooha, 1978, p. 215. it was outlawed in 1964. Litigation related to Al-Ard reached the

Israeli Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

six times between 1959 and 1965. Two of these cases became important Israeli judicial precedents: ''Kardosh'', in which the group was prevented from publishing a newspaper, and ''Yeredor'', in which it was prevented from launching a Knesset campaign. In 1965 party activists and others sought to register a Knesset party list under the name "The Socialists' List." Israel's

Central Elections Committee The Israeli Central Elections Committee (, ''Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit'') is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committee is composed of Knesset members (and deleg ...

, seeing the list as substantively identical to Al-Ard, blocked it from running on the basis that "its initiators deny the territorial integrity of the State of Israel and its very existence." This decision was supported by Israel's Supreme Court in ''Yeredor''."Yeredor v. Chairman of the Central Elections Committee for the Sixth Knesset"
Versa: Opinions of the Supreme Court of Israel, A Project of Cardozo Law Al-Ard's disappearance as a movement was linked both to governmental and popular resistance, with the Israeli Communist Party denouncing the group and

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

communities inside of Israel concerned that Al-Ard might destroy them.Kaufman, 1987, p. 63.

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* * * * * Jiryis, Sabri (1976): ''The Arabs in Israel,'' 1st American edition (updated from the 1966 ed.) With a foreword by

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

. * Lustick, Ian (1980): ''Arabs in the Jewish State : Israel's control of a national minority''. Austin : University of Texas Press, (al-Ard: p.128, 249) * * * * * * {{refend Anti-Israeli sentiment in Israel Political organizations based in Israel Arab citizens of Israel 1958 establishments in Israel 1964 disestablishments in Israel

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