Thousands of Palestinians gathered Wednesday at Yasser Arafat Square in Ramallah and other West Bank and Gaza cities to commemorate 65 years since they were forced to leave their homes and land in historic Palestine, which was named “Nakba Day.”
The Nakba, catastrophe, refers to the day the Jewish gangs waged a war against the indigenous Palestinians on May 15, 1948, immediately after Britain declared an end to its mandate and occupation of Palestine.
The war ended shortly after with the Jewish gangs occupying most of Palestine and forcing more than half of its population to leave their homes and become refugees in their own country or in neighbouring Arab states.
Since then, the Palestinians mark May 15 of every year as Nakba Day and this year’s celebrations were held under the banner: “The Return is a Right and a Will of the People.”
Rallies were planned in several West Bank and Gaza cities.
In the West Bank, the central event was held in Ramallah. Palestinians gathered at Yasser Arafat grave at the presidential headquarters from where a march led by the military band and scouts started toward Yasser Arafat Square in the city centre.
Refugees carried cardboards of the names of their villages and cities which they were forced out from in 1948. They also carried mock keys for their homes.
At exactly 12 noon, people stood in silence for 65 seconds marking the 65 years since the Nakba.
More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- were pushed into exile or driven out of their homes in the conflict surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.
Around 160,000 Palestinians, who remained in Israel after 1948, now number around 1.36 million people, or 20 percent of the country's population.
Toa Maoni Yako:
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