Palestinians start preparations to commemorate the “Nakba”

May 02, 2007

Woman crying after displacement, 1948

Ali Samnoudi – IMEMC

The National Committee for Commemorating the Nakba Day (cataclysm) along with several national and Islamic factions in the occupied territories, the Refugees’ Affairs Department, the Palestinian Coalition for the Right of Return, the Popular campaign Against The Wall, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief, and the Network of non-governmental Organization started their preparations for commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Nakba, next week.

During its Monday meeting at the Executive Office for Refugees, with the participation of various organizations, the committee determined the agenda for commemorating the Nakba day in every Palestinian area, and the central activity in the northern West Bank city of Ramallah.

Omar Assaf, media coordinator for the Committee presented the steps that have been conducted in order to guarantee the participation of all public and governmental institution and all sectors in the Palestinian society.

He also presented the prepared letters and statements that would be submitted to the various media agencies, and to address the local media agencies in order to organize seminars on the case of the refugee.

The committee will also present a document on the Nakba to the Palestinian Ministry of Education to include it as part of its educational curriculum so the students could mark the event.

Assaf also stated that the expanded meeting will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m with the Refugees institutions, Non-governmental and National institution and various organizations. The meeting will be held at the Commerce Chamber in Ramallah.

Jamal Jom’a, Secretary of the Popular Committee Against the Annexation Wall said that united efforts of all committees and national institutions are needed to commemorate the Nakba, while taking into consideration that the Palestinian are approaching June 5, which marks the fortieth year since Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Dr. Wasel Abu Saif, spokesperson of the National and Islamic factions said that the commemoration of the Nakba day will stand up to the challenges that the refugees are facing.

Wajeeh Atallah, coordinator of the Palestinian Coalition for the Right of Return, stated that the activities will be carried out in every Palestinian area in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in the refugee camps in Diaspora.

Mohammad Oleyyan, from the Department for Refuges Affairs, said that the activities will also include special programs regarding the Palestinian refugees in Iraq and the repeated attacks they are subjected to.

Ismail Farrag, representative of the Popular Committee in the Refugee Camps, stated that the program needs a financial balance which must be provided, especially as the plan includes visiting refugee camps in the occupied territories.

A financial committee was formed in order to be in charge of the expensive and other related issued during the commemoration day.

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By the end of the 1948 war, hundreds of entire villages had not only been depopulated but obliterated, their houses blown up or bulldozed. While many of the sites are difficult of access, to this day the observant traveler of Israeli roads and highways can see traces of their presence that would escape the notice of the casual passerby: a fenced-in area, often surmounting a gentle hill, of olive and other fruit trees left untended, of cactus hedges and domesticated plants run wild.

Now and then a few crumbled houses are left standing, a neglected mosque or church, collapsing walls along the ghost of a village lane, but in the vast majority of cases, all that remains is a scattering of stones and rubble across a forgotten landscape

Full information about the Nakba, and the totally wipes out and destroyed villages, please follow the link:


Related Link(s): http://www.alnakba.org