Statement by the National Committee for the Defense of the Internally Displaced in Israel (May 2000)

When David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of Israel, announced the independence of the Jewish State and promised peace for the people of the region, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcefully evicted - massacres and planned eviction - by armed gangs headed by the Haganah, the predecessor of the "Israeli Defense Army". Between night and dawn, two-thirds of our people became refugees without shelter but for the sky over the refugee camps. The Zionist gangs did not suffice with the eviction of almost one million Palestinians, but also totally destroyed 530 Arab villages and cities. They confiscated our lands and properties by means of unjust laws and considered our people as "absentees", although they are still present and alive. 

Fifty-two years later, our people still suffer from the harsh conditions in the refugee camps, as well as the restrictive policies and the iron hand implemented the Arab regimes without exception and climaxing in massacres from "Black September" (Jordan, 1970), Tel az-Z’atar (Lebanon, 1976), until Sabra and Shatila (Lebanon, 1982). Our people continue to look to Palestine, hoping to return. They reject all alternatives of compensation and resettlement. 

We the internally displaced Palestinians suffer a double pain. We have remained near our destroyed villages and towns. With pain we listen to the silent prayers of our mosques and the silent call of our church bells - silenced since our eviction and  transformed into stables for the settlers' cattle and sites of prostitution  and drug abuse. They desecrate the cemeteries of our ancestors who, for 52 years, have not stopped appealing to our conscience and the conscience of humanity. 

Yes, they took our land by massacres and by the eviction of two thirds of our Palestinian people. They destroyed our villages, confiscated our lands, and consider us absentees. They instigate the Arab regimes to implement the most abominable massacres, even inside the refugee camps.  They who practice the policy of ethnic cleansing against us, who are considered citizens in the "oasis of democracy in the Middle East", are celebrating - in conjunction with their allies and spies - their "independence day", the day of our "Nakba" (tragedy). 

Based on our beliefs and our sense of belonging to the Palestinian people, on our commitment to return, and our rejection of  all alternatives of compensation and resettlement, we call upon our Palestinian people in Israel, the internally displaced, to participate in the activities organized by the National Committee for the Defense of the Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel: 

1. Visits of the destroyed villages organized by the Local Committees of the Internally Displaced on the morning of Wednesday, 10 May 2000, especially the visit to Umm al-Zeinat village (10:00 a.m.) 

2. "Return March" organized by the National Committee for the Defense of Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel on Wednesday, 10 May 2000 (15:30). The March will lead from Kaboul village to the destroyed village of Damoun; participants will carry signs with the names of our destroyed villages. 

3. Public Rally for the commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba organized by the National Committee for the Defense of Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel with the participation of all political parties on Monday 15 May 2000 (at 5:00 p.m. in the Sports Hall/Umm al Fahm, near the secondary school). 

We call upon all our people to boycott all celebrations of the independence of Israel, official and non-official, and to participate in the national activities which reaffirm our belonging to our People and our Land!  

Shafa'amr, 10 May 2000,  

The National Committee for the Defense of Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel 

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