68 years since the Nakba; Palestine commemorates the painful anniversary

AhlulBayt News Agency - Palestinians started on Sunday the commemoration activities of the 68th anniversary of Nakba in the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the 1948 occupied territories, and in the diaspora.

Today marks the anniversary of the displacement of the Palestinian people from their original towns and villages in historical Palestine, where the Jews settled in Palestine since then, and set up their usurper entity, through dozens of massacres that claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians over the years of conflict.

Sirens were sounded for 68 seconds on 12 pm. on Sunday, in various Palestinian cities, to usher in the activities of the 68th anniversary of Nakba

"March of Return" in Nablus

Hundreds of Palestinians in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank participated on Sunday in the March of Return, to commemorate the Sixty-eighth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

The march began from Faisal Street headed by the Return Ship, a symbolic ship pulled by a horse, boarded by Palestinian children in the Palestinian traditional dress, to show their attachment to the right of return to their ancestral homeland.

Participants in the march raised the Palestinian flag, symbolic keys of their original houses they left forcibly and the names of Palestinian towns and villages from which their grandfathers were forcibly expelled in 1948. They also chanted slogans expressing their attachment to the right of return and refusal of resettlement.

The march ended with a rally in Shuhada (Martyrs) Square, organized by the Supreme National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba Day. The festival included a number of events, including chanting the oath of return, refusal of resettlement and alternative projects.

In a speech of the National Committee and factions and institutions, Jihad Ramadan said that the Nakba will remain a blot on the conscience of humanity. He said that the massacres that happened during the Nakba exceeded the Nazi war crimes. The Israeli entity and the criminal Zionist gangs should be held responsible of every drop of blood spilled since the Nakba, he elaborated.

Ramadan stressed that the right of return and compensation according to international Resolution no. 194 is not a favor from anyone, but it is a right that will never be expired.

He warned of UNRWA policies aimed at ending its services to millions of refugees to evade its legal, political, and moral obligations, saying that this violates the rights of the Palestinian people and targets the Palestinian cause.

A massive march in Gaza

All the national and Islamic forces in Gaza participated on Sunday in a mass march to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, stressing the right of return, which cannot be forsaken.

The march kicked off from the Unknown Soldier Square in downtown Gaza, to the United Nations office, calling on the world to provide justice for the Palestinian people and give them their rights guaranteed by all international norms and laws.

In his speech in which he represented the national factions, head of the Department of Refugee Affairs in the PLO and member of the Central Committee of Fatah, Zakaria al-Agha, confirmed that the right of return is an important constant of the Palestinian people's constants, "a constant that all Palestinian factions, without exception, agree on and that cannot be waived".

Agha pointed that the broad participation of all spectrums of the Palestinian people in the commemoration of the Nakba confirms that the Palestinian people are steadfast and strongly attached to their land, despite the continuing occupation schemes against them and their cause.

He added, "The Zionist occupation is wrong if it thinks that when adults who lived the Nakba die, the young will forget the Palestinian cause".

He went on to say, "All of Palestine is for the Palestinian people, and they will never accept any substitute for their homeland," stressing that the Palestinian people will remain steadfast and resisting occupation until they get their land and all their rights back.

The Fatah leader stressed that the Palestinian unity is the basis of the nation's unity in the face of the Israeli intransigence and the growing settlement activity. "It is the only way to meet the challenges and keep our legitimate goals of return and self-determination", he said.

Agha called for the immediate implementation of the reconciliation agreement to form a national unity government that includes all national forces and factions, calling on them to shoulder their responsibilities to work to restore cohesion to the Palestinian people and end the division.

"Train of Return" in Bethlehem

The national and Islamic factions in the city of Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, also announced the kick off the commemoration activities of the sixty-eighth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

"Nakba Train", which was made by Palestinian activists in cooperation with the global network of refugees and displaced persons, is scheduled to take off in a mass rally from the Doheisheh refugee camp, south of the city, to the Aida and Ezza refugee camps, north of the city.

The marchers will gather in the downtown area before proceeding to the flashpoint with the Israeli occupation on the southern entrance of Jerusalem.




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