Palestinians decry one-sided marking of 1948 Nakba
Source: AFP, 15-05-2008
By Ezzedine Said
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS): Palestinians expressed outrage on Wednesday as US President George W. Bush began a visit to 'Israel' on the eve of their commemoration of the Nakba ("catastrophe") that followed the birth of the Jewish (Zionist) state. Bush will address 'Israel's' Knesset on Thursday, the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba of the Jewish (Zionist) state's creation, the 1948 war and the expulsion or flight of more than 760,000 people.
The people who fled or were driven from their homes in 1948 have since given rise to a UN-registered refugee population of 4.5 million in camps across the Middle East, including more than 1 million in the besieged Gaza Strip.
"While we mark the Nakba, President Bush comes to join 'Israelis' in celebrating the creation of their state, forgetting that there is a Palestinian people that is still the victim of an injustice," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior official in president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
When Bush addresses 'Israel's' MPs to mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish (Zionist) state on Palestinian land, activists plan to darken the skies over Jerusalem (al-Quds) with 21,000 black balloons and hold a mass demonstration in the Occupied West Bank town of Ramallah.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas will hold a massive rally on Thursday at the Erez crossing with 'Israel' protesting the "New Nakba" - a crippling blockade imposed after the Islamist movement seized power in June.
Bush's speech to 'Israel's' Parliament in the occupied city of Jerusalem (al-Quds) is part of continuing celebrations of the Jewish state's anniversary.
'Israel's' three Arab political parties, drawing support from the 1.2 million descendants of the 160,000 Arabs who remained in the Jewish state after the 1948 war, said on Wednesday their 10 MPs would boycott the speech.
Bush is "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the region," said MP Jamal Zahalka of the National Democratic Assembly. "His speech ... shows complete indifference to the Nakba of the Palestinian people and its suffering, and betrays his total ideological bias toward 'Israel'."
Meanwhile in Gaza City on Wednesday, Hamas leader and deposed Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar declared that Palestinians were closer than ever before to reclaiming homes and lands lost 60 years ago.
"We affirm the right of return and that we are closer to return than ever before because the Zionist illusions have fallen," Zahar said at a Gaza City ceremony commemorating the Nakba.
"This entity ['Israel'] is a colonial project that exposes its true face without shame," he added, "and so we reaffirm, 'No to recognizing 'Israel', No to recognizing 'Israel'!'"
Hundreds of people attended the rally in Gaza, waving Palestinian flags and maps of British Mandate-era Palestine before 'Israel's' creation, and keys - both symbolic and real - to homes from Palestinian were forced during the war.
By Ezzedine Said
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS): Palestinians expressed outrage on Wednesday as US President George W. Bush began a visit to 'Israel' on the eve of their commemoration of the Nakba ("catastrophe") that followed the birth of the Jewish (Zionist) state. Bush will address 'Israel's' Knesset on Thursday, the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba of the Jewish (Zionist) state's creation, the 1948 war and the expulsion or flight of more than 760,000 people.
The people who fled or were driven from their homes in 1948 have since given rise to a UN-registered refugee population of 4.5 million in camps across the Middle East, including more than 1 million in the besieged Gaza Strip.
"While we mark the Nakba, President Bush comes to join 'Israelis' in celebrating the creation of their state, forgetting that there is a Palestinian people that is still the victim of an injustice," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior official in president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
When Bush addresses 'Israel's' MPs to mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish (Zionist) state on Palestinian land, activists plan to darken the skies over Jerusalem (al-Quds) with 21,000 black balloons and hold a mass demonstration in the Occupied West Bank town of Ramallah.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas will hold a massive rally on Thursday at the Erez crossing with 'Israel' protesting the "New Nakba" - a crippling blockade imposed after the Islamist movement seized power in June.
Bush's speech to 'Israel's' Parliament in the occupied city of Jerusalem (al-Quds) is part of continuing celebrations of the Jewish state's anniversary.
'Israel's' three Arab political parties, drawing support from the 1.2 million descendants of the 160,000 Arabs who remained in the Jewish state after the 1948 war, said on Wednesday their 10 MPs would boycott the speech.
Bush is "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the region," said MP Jamal Zahalka of the National Democratic Assembly. "His speech ... shows complete indifference to the Nakba of the Palestinian people and its suffering, and betrays his total ideological bias toward 'Israel'."
Meanwhile in Gaza City on Wednesday, Hamas leader and deposed Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar declared that Palestinians were closer than ever before to reclaiming homes and lands lost 60 years ago.
"We affirm the right of return and that we are closer to return than ever before because the Zionist illusions have fallen," Zahar said at a Gaza City ceremony commemorating the Nakba.
"This entity ['Israel'] is a colonial project that exposes its true face without shame," he added, "and so we reaffirm, 'No to recognizing 'Israel', No to recognizing 'Israel'!'"
Hundreds of people attended the rally in Gaza, waving Palestinian flags and maps of British Mandate-era Palestine before 'Israel's' creation, and keys - both symbolic and real - to homes from Palestinian were forced during the war.
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