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BADIL: In press statements
and a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
the National Committee for the Commemoration
of the 59th Anniversary of the
Palestinian Nakba explains: “On
15 May, Nakba Day, Palestinians renew their
commitment to struggle against Israel's
discriminatory, apartheid-like regime which
prevents our return to our homes and
properties, and continues to displace us. We
affirm that that there can be no peace
without our right to return.”
On 15 May, Palestinians from
all over the occupied West Bank and Israel
will gather in the town of Ramallah. Between
12:00 – 13:00, they will conduct a March of
Return from the “Camp of the Nakba” near the
PNA headquarters (Muqata'a) to the Manara
Square in the town center, site of the
closing rally. Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of
the PLO, will address the Palestinian nation
via TV and radio stations. A parallel rally
will be held in the city of Gaza (Square of
the Unknown Soldier, 11:00), and numerous
activities will be organized by Palestinians
in Arab host countries and beyond.
The 59th
anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) marks
the ethnic cleansing of major parts of
Palestine in 1948, perpetrated in order to
make room for the State of Israel. Millions
of Palestinian refugees have since lived in
exile, others are newly displaced as a
result of Israel's 40 years-old occupation
and colonization of the West Bank (including
Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, and the
construction of its Wall – all in violation
of international law.
Israel continues to deny the
Palestinian Nakba and refugees' right of
return. Israel's Jerusalem municipality
launches official celebrations of the 40th
anniversary of the “liberation and
unification of Jerusalem” on 15 May. This,
while a courageous minority of Jews in
Israel will conduct a concerted effort to
remind Israelis that, in many respects, the
Nakba is also the story of Jews who live in
Israel, and that acknowledgment of the
Palestinian right of return will not only be
a first step towards correcting the
historical injustice committed against the
Palestinian people, but will also usher in a
new beginning for Jews in the country.
The scope of public
involvement in the Nakba commemorations has
been growing annually. Today they involve
and unite Palestinians in Israel, the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and in
exile. The 2007 commemorations are
coordinated by the National Committee, which
includes the global Palestine
Right-of-Return Coalition, the Council of
National and Islamic Forces, the Palestinian
NGO Network (PNGO) and the Union of Arab
Community-based Organizations (Ittijah), the
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, the National
Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian
Rights in Jerusalem, and the PLO Department
for Refugee Affairs (DORA).
Press statements by the
National Committee, and its letter to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, remind of the
fact that
western states and the United Nations share
responsibility for the creation of the
Palestinian Nakba and the refugee question,
and are under the legal and moral obligation
to ensure that Palestinian refugees can
return to their homes and properties in
accordance with international law and UN
Resolution 194 (1948).
The Committee,
moreover, demands from the United Nations
and state members to abstain from statements
and actions which maintain the illegal
situation in Palestine, and to end the
sanctions imposed on the occupied people.
“Almost 60 years after our forced
displacement, we encourage you to put
pressure on the State of Israel, in order to
end its occupation, colonization and
apartheid-like regime over the Palestinian
land and people, and to work for the return
of the Palestinian refugees, so as to
finally create the conditions for justice,
peace and prosperity in our region.“
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For more information about a variety of
events organized in the framework of Nakba
at 59 in Palestine and the exile, see:
www.badil.org (in Arabic)
For information about activities of Israeli
groups and organizations, see for example:
www.NakbaInHebrew.org
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