JOIN PALESTINIAN REFUGEES in their COMMEMORATION of Al-NAKBA (1948) and their DEMAND for the RIGHT OF RETURN and COMPENSATION!

BADIL Resource Center
8 May 2000
For Immediate Release 

PUBLIC INVITATION

On 15 May 2000, the Palestinian people in the homeland and the diaspora commemorate the 52nd anniversary of "Al-Nakba", the massive expulsion from Palestine by the Zionist forces. The day before, on 14 May 1948, the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel was declared on the Palestinian lands and properties.

Public Activities scheduled for May 10 - 15:

10 May: 
10:00: PUBLIC ASSEMBLY in Umm Zeinat/Mount Karmel;
15:30: Start of RETURN MARCH from Kabul to al-Damoun village/Galilee; a counter-event to the official Israeli celebration organized in Shafa 'Amr/Galilee on the occasion of the Israeli "Independence Day."

  • Sponsor: National Committee for the Rights of Internally Displaced in Israel in cooperation the Arab Monitoring Committee (national institutions, political parties, Palestinian members of Knesset, heads of municipalities/local councils)
  • Contact: Suleiman Fahmawi, tel. 050-267679; 06-6325929; 06-6323294

12 - 13 May: 
CHILDREN'S RETURN FESTIVAL  in Jelazoun Camp/Ramallah, West Bank: theater and dance performances, drawing, oral history accounts at the Youth Activity Center/Jelazoun Camp (Friday, 12-5: 15:00; Saturday 13-5: 8:00 - 14:00);

  • Sponsors: local committee (Jelazoun camp institutions and BADIL) 
  • Contact: BADIL, Tahseen Alayan, tel. 2954646 (al-Haq)

13 May: 
WOMEN'S RETURN MARCH - 'Aida, 'Azza, and Deheishe Camp/West Bank; 10:00: march from the UNRWA Girls' School to the offices of the UNRWA Camp Director; 12:00: public meeting with representatives of the PLO Department for Refugee Affairs; 

  • Sponsors: Women Centers (contact: tel. 059-649983).

13 May: 
Public Closing Ceremony of Educational Return Program conducted in Balata Camp Schools/Nablus, West Bank.

13 - 15 May: 
REGIONAL RETURN MARCHES in the Gaza Strip with the participation of camp organizations, national institutions, political parties:
13 May: Return March/Jabalya Camp (17:00 from the office of the Popular Service Committee to the Martyrs' Monument);
14 - 15 May: Return Marches in other Gaza refugee camps (Rafah, Nusseirat, etc.);

  • Sponsors: Popular Service Committees in cooperation with Union of Youth Activity Centers, national institutions and camp organizations
  • Contact: Service Committees' Office/Gaza, tel. 07-2836551 (9:30 - 14:00)

13 - 16 May: 
REFUGEE PHOTO EXHIBITION at "Markaz Baladna/Ramallah (the exhibition will then move to Yafa Cultural Center/Balata and Al-Najah University/Nablus);

  • Sponsors: Tamer, Yafa Cultural Center/Balata Camp, BADIL
  • Contact: Yafa Cultural Center (Shaher Bedawi, tel. 09-2333553)

14 May: 
BADIL Friends RETURN STUDY TOUR to the villages of origin of Palestinian refugees;

  • Contact: BADIL, tel. 02-2747346

14 May: 
WOMEN'S RETURN MARCH - central West Bank camps:

  • Sponsors: Women Centers; (contact: Rifa't Abu Rish, tel. 059-204870)

14 May: 
REGIONAL RETURN RALLY - Northern West-Bank:
The rally will start in three camps of the northern West Bank (Askar 1, Askar 2, Al-'Ain) and unite at the main entrance of Balata camp at 12:00. Participants will sign a "Pledge of Honor" on the sanctity of the right of return and demand international protection of Palestinian refugees. The pledge and a letter will be submitted to PLO chairman/PA president Arafat, the European Union and government representatives. 

  • Sponsors: a follow-up committee composed of the Committee for the Defense of Refugee Rights and Yafa Cultural Center/Balata, Popular Service Committees, camp institutions and BADIL)
  • Contact: Yafa Cultural Center, tel. 09-2333553; Committee for the Defense of Refugee Rights, tel. 09-2385930

15 May: 
NATIONAL RETURN RALLY of the Palestinian community in Israel (17:00, Sports Hall/Umm al-Fahm);

  • Sponsor: National Committee for the Rights of the Internally Displaced in Israel in cooperation with the Arab Monitoring Committee (national institutions, political parties, Palestinian members of Knesset)
  • Contact: Suleiman Fahmawi, tel. 050-267679; 06-6325929; 06-6323294

Note: This list, compiled by BADIL Resource Center, is not comprehensive (it does not include all activities organized by local refugee camp organizations). For additional information, please contact the organizers or BADIL.

 

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