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Palestinians Remember the Nakba
8 - 15 May: “No Alternative but Return”
· Mass demonstrations planned across Palestine for 15 May to commemorate sixty years of exile and dispossession.
· Cultural and sporting events, talks and testimonials, mass demonstrations in the cities, towns and refugee camps from 8 – 15 May.
· Solidarity actions across the globe to demand the restoration of Palestinian rights.
15 May is Nakba Day, commemorating the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians expelled from their country in 1948.
“After 6 decades of forced displacement, dispossession, suffering and bloody aggression against the Palestinian people the Nakba continues. A new and even more tragic and threatening chapter has now started: the apartheid regime that the occupation state tries to force upon our people and through which it aims to expel those Palestinians still steadfast on our land to annihilate our struggle.”
- The National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba
Information on the Nakba and the week’s events
Nakba Commemoration –
8 May, 2008
Events in Palestine
Events internationally
Full program of the Week
Nakba on the ground
On this day, 1948
Nakba Today
Background Resources
There will be a daily update from BADIL and the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign on behalf of the National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba.
For more information on the programme contact: Wajih Atallah, Union of Youth Activities Centers in the Refugee Camps, tel.: 0599-255584, mail: uyac@uyac.org
Organisers
The
week’s
events
coordinated
by
the
National
Committee
to
Commemorate
the
Nakba.
The
National
Committee
represents
national
movements
and
networks,
including
the
Council
of
National
and
Islamic
forces,
the
Global
Palestine
Right-of-Return
Coalition,
the
Popular
Committees
and
youth
centers
of
the
refugee
camps
all
over
Palestine,
the
Anti-Apartheid
Wall
Campaign,
Badil
Center
for
Palestinian
Residency
and
Refugee
Rights,
Palestinian
NGO
Network
(PNGO),
the
Civic
Coalition
for
the
Defense
of
Palestinian
Rights
in
Jerusalem
and
the
PLO
Department
for
Refugee
Affairs
(DORA).
Nakba Commemoration - 8 May, 2008
8 May will be celebrated by Israel as its Independence Day according to the Hebrew Calendar. On this day, Palestinians around the world will say
“The day of their independence is the day of our Nakba (Catastrophe)”
Events
in
Palestine
·
Recommended
media
event:
March
of
Return.
Inside
1948
Palestine
(Israel),
Internally
displaced
Palestinians
to
March
from
Nazareth
to
Saffuriyya,
(one
of
the
531
towns
and
villages
depopulated
and
destroyed
during
the
Nakba)
calling
for
the
implementation
of
their
Right
of
Return.
Organized
by
the
Association
for
the
Defense
of
the
Rights
of
the
Internally
Displaced
(ADRID).Contact:
adrid@palnet.com;
fax.
+972-4-646-8241,
tel.
+972-4-600-1765
·
General
strike
across
the
country
from
12:00-13:00.
Demonstrations
and
protests
will
take
place
in
all
districts.
Contact:
Wajih
Atallah,
Union
of
Youth
Activities
Centers
in
the
Refugee
Camps,
tel.:
0599-255584,
mail:
uyac@uyac.org
Opening
of
Al-Awda
Camp,
Ramallah.
Hosting
a
number
of
cultural
events
including:
performances
of
dabka,
readings
of
different
types
of
poetry,
and
the
opening
a
gallery
that
will
focus
on
Palestinian
heritage
and
refugees.
Contact:
Jamal
Juma’,
The
Anti-Apartheid
Wall
Campaign,
tel.:
0599
119166,
mail:
press@stopthewall.org
·
Nakba-60
Open
Studio.
Live
11-hour
broadcast
(fro
m12pm-11pm)
of
the
Return
March,
Awda
Camp,
and
interviews
from
Gaza,
Jerusalem,
Nazareth,
Ramallah,
Beirut,
Damascus,
Amman
and
Cairo;
as
well
as
announcement
of
the
Boycott,
Divestment
Sanction
(BDS)
National
Committee.
The
Nakba-60
Open
Studio
will
be
broadcast
on
the
Palestine
Space
Channel,
and
most
local
Palestinian
stations;
parts
of
it
will
also
be
carried
by
other
Arab
satelite
stations.
Organized
by
Badil
in &
the
Ma'an
News
Network.
Contact
camp@badil.org
Events
internationally
·
London,
UK:
Ila
Haifa:
an
adaptation
of
Ghassan
Kanafani’s
Returning
to
Haifa
by
the
Palestine
Solidarity
Campaign
(PSC)
and
al-Zaytouna
Dabka
Group.
Visit:
www.palestinecampaign.org.
l
‘Ain
al-Hilweh
refugee
camp
in
Lebanon,
Right
of
Return
Amateur
Documentary
Film
Festival
will
be
held.
·
Toronto,
Canada.
Nakba-60
Press
Conference,
Nakba
survivors
recount
their
experiences.
Speakers
include
Palestinian
refugees
and
community
supporters.
Organised
by
Palestine
House,
info@palestinehouse.com.
·
Vienna,
Austria,
Jewish
Voice
for
Just
Peace
in
the
Middle
East
(Austria)
commemorates
the
Nakba,
the
forced
displacement
of
the
Palestinians
by
the
Haganah,
1948
-
6:30
p.m.
at
the
Afro-Asiatisches
Institut,
Tuerkenstr.
3,
1090
Vienna.
Contact:
paula.abrams@chello.at
·
Giffnock,
Scotland,
Protest
Celebrations
of
Ethnic
Cleansing,
6:00
p.m.
at
main
entrance
to
Eastwood
Park,
Giffnock.
Contact:
campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk
Full
Action
Program
available
at
badil.org,
Palestine
action
listing
at
stopthewall.org
The
Palestinian
Nakba
on
the
ground
On
this
day
in
1948
The
1948
Palestine
Post
reported
that
a
Zionist
militia,
Haganah,
had
invaded
a
village
near
Wadi
Ara,
south
east
of
Haifa,
destroying
forty
homes.
In
Ramla
district,
in
the
geographical
centre
of
Palestine,
over
1,200
were
expelled
from
the
village
of
Qatra.
Zionist
militias
had
occupied
the
village
on
the
6th
May.
Throughout
early
May,
ethnic
cleansing
operations
continued,
concentrated
mainly
between
Jerusalem
and
Tel
Aviv
and
around
Galilee.
On
the
6th
the
village
of
Akir,
on
the
road
between
Jerusalem
and
Yafo
had
been
occupied.
Its
inhabitants
were
expelled.
By
1949,
Time
Magazine
was
reporting:
“Today
Akir
is a
community
of
300
Jewish
families
from
Bulgaria,
Poland,
Rumania
and
Yemen.
These
new
inhabitants
have
moved
in
to
stay.”
In
Galilee,
two
platoons
from
the
Palmach
had
entered
the
Galilean
village
of
‘Ayn
al-Zaytoun
on
May
1st
in
the
early
hours
of
the
morning
under
cover
of
mortar
fire.
Testimonies
given
in
1973
described
how
the
villagers
were
rounded
up,
the
men
were
taken
and
the
rest
were
humiliated
and
expelled,
shots
fired
over
their
heads.
The
men
were
later
released,
apart
from
37
who
were
selected
at
random.
Historians
have
suggested
that
they
were
probably
among
the
70
people
massacred
on
the
orders
of
Moshe
Kelman,
commander
of
the
Palmach.
The
villagers
made
several
attempts
to
return
over
the
next
few
days
but
were
driven
away
by
militiamen,
who
continued
to
occupy
the
town.
The
homes
burned
or
blown
up
by
sappers
on 2nd
3rd
May.
Nakba
Today:
Al-Wallajeh
On
21
October
1948,
nearly
all
the
homes
of
Wallajeh,
located
in
the
district
of
Jerusalem,
were
demolished
by
the
Israeli
army.
Most
of
the
residents
were
forced
to
flee
to
refugee
camps
in
the
West
Bank
and
Jordan,
where
they
number
12,500
today.
More
than
two-thirds
of
the
village
lands
were
annexed
to
Israel,
inaccessible
to
the
villagers
themselves.
Between
the
wars
of
1948
and
1967,
many
of
the
villagers
had
set
up
temporary
housing,
living
in
caves
or
makeshift
structures
until,
realising
that
it
may
take
a
long
time
before
they
would
be
allowed
to
return,
they
rebuilt
homes
on
the
village
lands
that
had
remained
in
the
West
Bank
under
Jordanian
rule.
Today
large
parts
of
those
lands
are
confiscated
for
colonization.
The
houses
on
the
remaining
3,000
or
so
dunums
of
Wallajeh
are
under
constant
threat
of
demolition;
50
homes
have
already
been
destroyed
by
Israeli
authorities,
and
86
cases
of
demolition
orders
are
currently
being
examined
by
the
Israeli
courts.
The
small
Palestinian
community
is
now
completely
encircled
by
Jewish
settlements
and
the
Wall,
enabling
the
Israeli
army
to
imprison
its
residents
simply
by
closing
down
the
one
remaining
access
road.
Read
more
about
this
story
of
the
ongoing
Nakba,
see:
http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/packet/press-brochure.pdf
Background
Resources:
l
For
resources
on
the
history
of
the
Nakba,
information
about
Palestinian
refugees,
and
their
right
of
return
under
international
law,
see
the
Nakba-60
Resources
Info-Packet
at:
http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/index.html
l
For
information
about
selected
cases
of
ongoing
diaplacement,
please
visit:
http://www.stopthewall.org/activistresources/1583.shtml
l
For
information,
resources
and
links
to
organizations
working
on
the
growing
campaign
for
Boycotts,
Divestment
and
Sanctions
on
Israel
until
it
dismantles
its
military
occupation's
colonial
apartheid
system
in
the
West
Bank,
Gaza
and
Golan
Heights;
ends
systematic
discrimination
against
its
Palestinian
citizens;
and
implements
the
Palestinian
refugees'
right
to
return
to
their
homes
and
properties,
please
visit:
http://www.bdsmovement.net
-----------------------------------------------------
For
more
infomation,
please
contact:
Palestinian
Grassroots
Anti-Apartheid
Wall
Campaign
Email:
global@stopthewall.org,
Tel.:
+972-2-297-1505
Badil
Centre
for
Palestinian
Refugee
&
Residency
Rights:
Email:
mediaenglish@badil.org,
Tel.:
+972-2-277-7086 |
