For the first time, the United Nations commemorates in its corridors in New York City, on Monday, the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
On Monday, Palestinian officials launched activities to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, with a press conference in Ramallah, followed by a march and a central festival in the city center.
During the press conference, held next to the tomb of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian people are commemorating “the beginning of a tragedy that our people have been living for 75 years.”
Shtayyeh added, “The world not only marginalized the tragedy of the Palestinian people, but also provided all support for the establishment of Israel and adopting its narrative.”
He continued, “Israel was established on the ruins of 530 demolished Palestinian villages, and its gangs committed more than 50 massacres, claiming the lives of 15,000 unarmed martyrs.”
“Right of Return”
As for the member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Wasel Abu Youssef, he said that “100,000 Palestinians were martyred and one million Palestinians were arrested since the Nakba.”
He added, “Today, the Palestinian people assert that their sacred right of return will not be subject to statute of limitations.”
As for Ahmed Abu Holi, head of the Refugee Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization and a member of its executive committee, he said that the people “will not raise the white flag, and prove after 75 years that wars will not discourage them from their adherence to the right of return.”
Abu Houli announced the launch of the mass march in the center of Ramallah, with the participation of “citizens from the governorates, cities, villages and camps, to raise the flag of Palestine in one hand and the key of return in the other.”
In a speech during the festival after the press conference, Fatah deputy head Mahmoud Al-Aloul said, “The Palestinian people have been living in pain for 75 years.”
He added, “We commemorate the anniversary of the Nakba in order to correct it and to end its effects, and in order to thwart the saying that adults die and young people forget, and we re-shed light on the truth.”
He pointed out that the Central Committee of the Fatah movement decided in its meeting a few days ago that “national unity will be a priority in our research and follow-up and to revive all efforts for that.”
He continued, “We must not allow the occupation to single out a faction, city, or anything else.”
“The biggest massacre”
At the same level, the Palestinian Prime Minister considered, in his speech at the beginning of the weekly meeting of the government in the city of Ramallah, that the Palestinians had been subjected to “the largest massacre, the greatest injustice, and the largest robbery.”
Shtayyeh called for unifying the Palestinian forces to confront colonialism and settlement.
He said, “The United Nations has previously established a database of the property of Palestinian refugees, detailing the dispossession suffered by the Palestinian people, and documenting the property of every Palestinian person.”
He added, “The Nakba is a crime that spans 75 years, and our people are still paying the bill of aggression with their blood and living flesh.”
Shtayyeh also called on countries, governments, international bodies and courts to “stop excluding Israel from the enforcement of international and humanitarian law.”
The various governorates of the West Bank witnessed mass vigils, marches and events to commemorate the Nakba, at a time when official institutions suspended their employees’ working hours until midday to allow them to participate in these events.
At exactly one o’clock in Palestine (10:00 GMT), the warning sirens sounded for 75 seconds (the number of years of the Nakba), and the movement stopped throughout the sounding period of the sirens.
For the first time, the United Nations commemorates in its corridors in New York City, on Monday, the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The term “Nakba” is applied to the process of displacing the Palestinians from their lands in 1948 by “armed Zionist gangs”, which is the year that witnessed the founding of Israel, and the Palestinians commemorate the anniversary with various activities on May 15 of each year.
