15 may 2013
Thousands Mark The Nakba In Bethlehem
Thousands of Palestinians marked, on Tuesday evening, the 65th anniversary of the Nakba, and participated in a huge procession organized by the Badil Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugees Rights, reaffirming the legitimate Palestinian Right of Return to their homeland, homes and towns.
The procession was held at the Manger Square in Bethlehem, while scout troops and more than 5000 Palestinians marched carrying Palestinian flags and signs affirming the legitimate Palestinian rights, topped by their right to return to their homeland.
Najwa Darwish, head of the Badil Center, stated in an opening speech, that the Palestinian Nakba, dispossession and exile are ongoing due to Israel’s illegal actions and violations, and the resulting displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their cities and villages in 1948 before Israel was created in the historic land of Palestine.
“The Nakba happened, and its wounds are still open, more than %70 of the Palestinian people are refugees, living in refugee camps here, and in exile around the world”, Darwish said, “Israel is still stealing Palestinian lands, building its apartheid wall and settlements, and is ethnically cleansing the Palestinians in every part of occupied Palestine.”
She added that “the refugees were optimistic about the so-called Arab Spring, thinking that Arab states will grant them basic rights, and now we see the attacks, violations, murder and abuse they are facing in Syria”.
She demanded the international community and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to ensure that the needed protection is granted to the refugees, all internally and externally displaced Palestinians, and to conduct legal actions that would oblige Israel to abide by International Law, and to end its violations.
Several officials, ministers and legislators, in addition to representatives of civil society institutions and government facilities, participated in the procession.
Furthermore, secretary-general of the Palestinian People Party (PPP), Bassam Salhi, delivered a speech on behalf of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and said that the Nakba day is not just an event the Palestinians mark, but an ongoing suffering and crimes caused by Israel in direct collaboration with the United States.
Salhi called for a comprehensive national unity among all factions, to ensure a united front that would counter the ongoing Israeli occupation and crimes.
On his part, member of the Fateh Revolutionary Council, Mohammad Abu Alia, stated that the Right of Return is a sacred right that can never be abandoned or dropped, and added that the Palestinian people will always remain steadfast.
“Today, we stand here to respond to what David Ben Gurion, a former Israeli Prime Minister, said many years ago, he said elders die and younger generations forget”, Abu Alia said, “but we came here to tell him that our elders and younger generations will never forget, will never abandon their rights, we are struggling for our Right of Return, guaranteed by resolution 194”.
Archbishop Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church said that thousands of Palestinians came here, to the Manger Square, Muslims and Christians, with one message and one struggle, “We are determined to achieve our rights, the Right of Return to our homeland, the land of our fathers and forefathers”.
“Today we affirm the sacred Right of Return, a right that is not less important to us than our right in Jerusalem”, he said, “the Nakba is ongoing, and will continue to happen as long as there is an occupation, as long as there are detainees held by Israel, as long as Jerusalem is surrounded and occupied”.
The Badil Center organized this procession in cooperation with the Peace center, the national factions in the Bethlehem District, the Land Defense initiative, Refugee Center, Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative, Child Education Center, Alrowwad Cultural & Theater, Society, the Alternative Information Center, the Youth Action Center for Social Development, Shorouq Foundation, Ibdaa Cultural Center, the Youth Progressive Union, the Palestinian Medical Relief, the National Campaign Against the Wall, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief, the Arab Orthodox Scouts in Beit Jala, The Phoenix Center, the Popular Committees in Bethlehem, the Right of Return Committee in Bethlehem, Al-Am’ary Refugee Camp Women Center, and the Aqbat Jabr Refugee Camp Youth Center in Jericho.
The procession was held at the Manger Square in Bethlehem, while scout troops and more than 5000 Palestinians marched carrying Palestinian flags and signs affirming the legitimate Palestinian rights, topped by their right to return to their homeland.
Najwa Darwish, head of the Badil Center, stated in an opening speech, that the Palestinian Nakba, dispossession and exile are ongoing due to Israel’s illegal actions and violations, and the resulting displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their cities and villages in 1948 before Israel was created in the historic land of Palestine.
“The Nakba happened, and its wounds are still open, more than %70 of the Palestinian people are refugees, living in refugee camps here, and in exile around the world”, Darwish said, “Israel is still stealing Palestinian lands, building its apartheid wall and settlements, and is ethnically cleansing the Palestinians in every part of occupied Palestine.”
She added that “the refugees were optimistic about the so-called Arab Spring, thinking that Arab states will grant them basic rights, and now we see the attacks, violations, murder and abuse they are facing in Syria”.
She demanded the international community and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to ensure that the needed protection is granted to the refugees, all internally and externally displaced Palestinians, and to conduct legal actions that would oblige Israel to abide by International Law, and to end its violations.
Several officials, ministers and legislators, in addition to representatives of civil society institutions and government facilities, participated in the procession.
Furthermore, secretary-general of the Palestinian People Party (PPP), Bassam Salhi, delivered a speech on behalf of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and said that the Nakba day is not just an event the Palestinians mark, but an ongoing suffering and crimes caused by Israel in direct collaboration with the United States.
Salhi called for a comprehensive national unity among all factions, to ensure a united front that would counter the ongoing Israeli occupation and crimes.
On his part, member of the Fateh Revolutionary Council, Mohammad Abu Alia, stated that the Right of Return is a sacred right that can never be abandoned or dropped, and added that the Palestinian people will always remain steadfast.
“Today, we stand here to respond to what David Ben Gurion, a former Israeli Prime Minister, said many years ago, he said elders die and younger generations forget”, Abu Alia said, “but we came here to tell him that our elders and younger generations will never forget, will never abandon their rights, we are struggling for our Right of Return, guaranteed by resolution 194”.
Archbishop Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church said that thousands of Palestinians came here, to the Manger Square, Muslims and Christians, with one message and one struggle, “We are determined to achieve our rights, the Right of Return to our homeland, the land of our fathers and forefathers”.
“Today we affirm the sacred Right of Return, a right that is not less important to us than our right in Jerusalem”, he said, “the Nakba is ongoing, and will continue to happen as long as there is an occupation, as long as there are detainees held by Israel, as long as Jerusalem is surrounded and occupied”.
The Badil Center organized this procession in cooperation with the Peace center, the national factions in the Bethlehem District, the Land Defense initiative, Refugee Center, Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative, Child Education Center, Alrowwad Cultural & Theater, Society, the Alternative Information Center, the Youth Action Center for Social Development, Shorouq Foundation, Ibdaa Cultural Center, the Youth Progressive Union, the Palestinian Medical Relief, the National Campaign Against the Wall, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief, the Arab Orthodox Scouts in Beit Jala, The Phoenix Center, the Popular Committees in Bethlehem, the Right of Return Committee in Bethlehem, Al-Am’ary Refugee Camp Women Center, and the Aqbat Jabr Refugee Camp Youth Center in Jericho.
65th Commemoration: Ongoing Nakba and Secondary Forcible Displacement
Of the 11.4 million Palestinians worldwide, 66% are forcible displaced, (refugees and internally displaced people) and over half live in the Shatat (forced exile). Instead of an event relegated to history, the Nakba continues into its 65th year – the central source for the annual increase of these displacement statistics.
In the past year, for example, Israeli colonization, occupation and apartheid have targeted the indigenous presence of Palestinians, particularly in Jerusalem, Area C of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip Buffer Zone and the Naqab.
On 6 May 2013, Israel approved the Prawer Plan, which threatens to forcibly displace up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab. On the same day, Israel issued 11 home demolition orders in Deir Nidham village near Ramallah, which, if carried out, will make 40 Palestinians homeless.
On large and small scales, the displacement of the ongoing Nakba repeats the original crime and tragedy producing Palestinian refugees and Internally Displaced Persons annually.
Ongoing forcible displacement targets Palestinians residing on both sides of the Green Line: in the 1967 occupied territory and on the Israeli side of the “1949 Armistice Line”, as well as those living in enforced exile. Nevertheless, the Palestinian people remain steadfast in their struggle to end the systematic violations of their human rights, political and national rights, and to practice their right of return.
In 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194. This resolution set a framework for providing Palestinian refugees with special protection and called for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes from which Israeli forces displaced them, the restitution of their properties and compensation for the costs and injury done to them, rehabilitation and other entitlements of reparations.
In 1967, the UN Security Council issued resolution 237 demanding that Israel allow the return of those displaced by the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula.
The international community, however, did not employ existing mechanisms to compel Israel’s compliance with international law and standards in a failure to implement either Resolution 194 or 237.
Within this context, the escalation of the confrontation in Syria exposes Palestinian refugees living in exile there to the reality of secondary forcible displacement in addition to imminent and extreme danger to their lives and well being. Currently, conditions for the Palestinian refugee community in Syria include:
400,000 of the total 500,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria are in urgent need of assistance. Moreover, Palestinians displaced from Iraq and now residing in Syria still do not have their statuses determined and, as a result, lack the minimal levels of protection to which they are entitled;
Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria to Jordan have both been detained at the border and denied entry, or simply exist in limbo, facing the perpetual threat of deportation.
The Jordanian Interior Minister has explicitly stated that Jordan will not deal with Palestinians who come from Syria as refugees, “[they] will only treat them as guests;”
Palestinians granted entry into Lebanon are settled into already overcrowded refugee camps. Lebanese authorities invoked discriminatory laws differentiating between Syrian and Palestinian refugees, favoring the former and thus exacerbating hardship endured by the Palestinian refugee population;
In Egypt, no Palestinian refugee is issued a residency permit. They are simply denied refugee rights by a bureaucracy that either does not recognize them or lacks the flexibility to do so.
The lack of adequate protection is the most glaring feature of the condition of Palestinian refugees. Therefore, we, the undersigned organizations and networks, mark the 65th year of the ongoing Nakba by calling on the international community and the Palestine Liberation Organization to:
Ensure effective protection of Palestinian refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and those at risk of forced displacement by realizing the responsibility of UNCCP, UNRWA, UN Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and UNHCR to search for and implement durable solutions in accordance to UNGA resolution 194 and UNSC resolution 237;
Promote initiatives that hold Israel accountable to international law including calls for criminal investigation and prosecution, reparations for Palestinian victims and rights-based durable solutions for displaced persons;
Improve response mechanisms in the occupied Palestinian territory, in Israel-proper and for those Palestinians living in forced exile through short-term emergency aid within the framework of filling medium and long-term protection gaps, a central requirement of which, is preventing institutionalized forced displacement;
Afford assistance to all Palestinian refugee communities living in forced exile and in particular to those currently fleeing Syria;
Call upon Arab States, the Arab League and Palestinian political parties and organizations to take effective measures to protect Palestinian human rights and to actively promote the Palestinian refugees’ rights to return to their homes and places of origin.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Defense for Children International (DCI) / Palestine Section
Addameer - Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
Al Mezan Center For Human Rights
Alternative Information Center (AIC)
Gaza Strip Refugee Committees
Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights
Aidoun – Syria
Housing and Land Rights Network Habitat International Coalition
Association of Tunisienne et Tunisiens in Switzerland
Arab- Group Tamkeen Switzerland
Right of Return Organization Geneva
In the past year, for example, Israeli colonization, occupation and apartheid have targeted the indigenous presence of Palestinians, particularly in Jerusalem, Area C of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip Buffer Zone and the Naqab.
On 6 May 2013, Israel approved the Prawer Plan, which threatens to forcibly displace up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab. On the same day, Israel issued 11 home demolition orders in Deir Nidham village near Ramallah, which, if carried out, will make 40 Palestinians homeless.
On large and small scales, the displacement of the ongoing Nakba repeats the original crime and tragedy producing Palestinian refugees and Internally Displaced Persons annually.
Ongoing forcible displacement targets Palestinians residing on both sides of the Green Line: in the 1967 occupied territory and on the Israeli side of the “1949 Armistice Line”, as well as those living in enforced exile. Nevertheless, the Palestinian people remain steadfast in their struggle to end the systematic violations of their human rights, political and national rights, and to practice their right of return.
In 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194. This resolution set a framework for providing Palestinian refugees with special protection and called for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes from which Israeli forces displaced them, the restitution of their properties and compensation for the costs and injury done to them, rehabilitation and other entitlements of reparations.
In 1967, the UN Security Council issued resolution 237 demanding that Israel allow the return of those displaced by the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula.
The international community, however, did not employ existing mechanisms to compel Israel’s compliance with international law and standards in a failure to implement either Resolution 194 or 237.
Within this context, the escalation of the confrontation in Syria exposes Palestinian refugees living in exile there to the reality of secondary forcible displacement in addition to imminent and extreme danger to their lives and well being. Currently, conditions for the Palestinian refugee community in Syria include:
400,000 of the total 500,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria are in urgent need of assistance. Moreover, Palestinians displaced from Iraq and now residing in Syria still do not have their statuses determined and, as a result, lack the minimal levels of protection to which they are entitled;
Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria to Jordan have both been detained at the border and denied entry, or simply exist in limbo, facing the perpetual threat of deportation.
The Jordanian Interior Minister has explicitly stated that Jordan will not deal with Palestinians who come from Syria as refugees, “[they] will only treat them as guests;”
Palestinians granted entry into Lebanon are settled into already overcrowded refugee camps. Lebanese authorities invoked discriminatory laws differentiating between Syrian and Palestinian refugees, favoring the former and thus exacerbating hardship endured by the Palestinian refugee population;
In Egypt, no Palestinian refugee is issued a residency permit. They are simply denied refugee rights by a bureaucracy that either does not recognize them or lacks the flexibility to do so.
The lack of adequate protection is the most glaring feature of the condition of Palestinian refugees. Therefore, we, the undersigned organizations and networks, mark the 65th year of the ongoing Nakba by calling on the international community and the Palestine Liberation Organization to:
Ensure effective protection of Palestinian refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and those at risk of forced displacement by realizing the responsibility of UNCCP, UNRWA, UN Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and UNHCR to search for and implement durable solutions in accordance to UNGA resolution 194 and UNSC resolution 237;
Promote initiatives that hold Israel accountable to international law including calls for criminal investigation and prosecution, reparations for Palestinian victims and rights-based durable solutions for displaced persons;
Improve response mechanisms in the occupied Palestinian territory, in Israel-proper and for those Palestinians living in forced exile through short-term emergency aid within the framework of filling medium and long-term protection gaps, a central requirement of which, is preventing institutionalized forced displacement;
Afford assistance to all Palestinian refugee communities living in forced exile and in particular to those currently fleeing Syria;
Call upon Arab States, the Arab League and Palestinian political parties and organizations to take effective measures to protect Palestinian human rights and to actively promote the Palestinian refugees’ rights to return to their homes and places of origin.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI)
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
Defense for Children International (DCI) / Palestine Section
Addameer - Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
Al Mezan Center For Human Rights
Alternative Information Center (AIC)
Gaza Strip Refugee Committees
Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights
Aidoun – Syria
Housing and Land Rights Network Habitat International Coalition
Association of Tunisienne et Tunisiens in Switzerland
Arab- Group Tamkeen Switzerland
Right of Return Organization Geneva
Right Of Return Coalition calls For Unity, Rejects Arab Initiative
The International Palestinian Right of Return Coalition issued a press release marking the 65th anniversary of the Nakba of 1948, and called on all Palestinian factions to achieve unity and to remain steadfast without abandoning the legitimate Palestinian rights, topped by the Right of Return of the refugees to their homeland, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The coalition, that includes twenty institutions and rights groups, said “as the Palestinians mark the Nakba day, when Israeli armed forces displaced hundreds of villages and towns displacing an attire population before Israeli was established in the historic land of Palestine in 1948, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank must denounce any attempt to void the Right of Return.”
It added that the leadership must denounce the Arab League for suggesting land swap with Israel, and for sending a delegation to Washington to discuss the issue, and stated that the internationally guaranteed Palestinian rights of Return and independence are nonnegotiable.
The coalition stated that the Arab League and its Arab Peace Initiative must quit granting Israel free concessions, must withdraw their initiative, and focus their efforts on supporting the resistance and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people facing the ongoing Israeli occupation and aggression.
It further called on all Palestinian factions to reject all attempts that aim at forcing the Palestinians to abandon their rights, especially their rights in the historic land of Palestine, and their rights to return to their homeland, to their cities, villages and towns that were destroyed and depopulated by the Israeli forces.
“Arab leaders must understand that without the Right of Return, without justice, there will never be peace in the region”, the Coalition said, “The refugees cause is an essential cause that cannot be compromised or abandoned”.
The coalition further called for the protection of the Palestinian refugees wherever they are, especially in Syria amidst the ongoing clashes in the country, and to refrain from using the refugees in Syria as a tool in the ongoing war in the country.
---- ---- ---- ----
“Palestinian refugees are the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine, the majority of whom were dispossessed, were forced to run away or were expelled when the state of Israel was created in 1948.
This dispossession and expulsion has continued since with the second largest such event in Palestine taking place during the 1967 war, which Israel launched on its Arab neighbors and which resulted in the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
“Palestinian refugees generally fall into three main groups: Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948, internally displaced Palestinians who remained within the areas that became the state of Israel, and Palestinian refugees displaced in 1967 from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For the past 58 years, Israel has continued to deny Palestinian refugees their right to return to their ancestral towns, villages and homes.”Related Link(s): http://www.al-awda.org/faq-refugees.html
The coalition, that includes twenty institutions and rights groups, said “as the Palestinians mark the Nakba day, when Israeli armed forces displaced hundreds of villages and towns displacing an attire population before Israeli was established in the historic land of Palestine in 1948, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank must denounce any attempt to void the Right of Return.”
It added that the leadership must denounce the Arab League for suggesting land swap with Israel, and for sending a delegation to Washington to discuss the issue, and stated that the internationally guaranteed Palestinian rights of Return and independence are nonnegotiable.
The coalition stated that the Arab League and its Arab Peace Initiative must quit granting Israel free concessions, must withdraw their initiative, and focus their efforts on supporting the resistance and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people facing the ongoing Israeli occupation and aggression.
It further called on all Palestinian factions to reject all attempts that aim at forcing the Palestinians to abandon their rights, especially their rights in the historic land of Palestine, and their rights to return to their homeland, to their cities, villages and towns that were destroyed and depopulated by the Israeli forces.
“Arab leaders must understand that without the Right of Return, without justice, there will never be peace in the region”, the Coalition said, “The refugees cause is an essential cause that cannot be compromised or abandoned”.
The coalition further called for the protection of the Palestinian refugees wherever they are, especially in Syria amidst the ongoing clashes in the country, and to refrain from using the refugees in Syria as a tool in the ongoing war in the country.
---- ---- ---- ----
“Palestinian refugees are the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine, the majority of whom were dispossessed, were forced to run away or were expelled when the state of Israel was created in 1948.
This dispossession and expulsion has continued since with the second largest such event in Palestine taking place during the 1967 war, which Israel launched on its Arab neighbors and which resulted in the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
“Palestinian refugees generally fall into three main groups: Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948, internally displaced Palestinians who remained within the areas that became the state of Israel, and Palestinian refugees displaced in 1967 from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For the past 58 years, Israel has continued to deny Palestinian refugees their right to return to their ancestral towns, villages and homes.”Related Link(s): http://www.al-awda.org/faq-refugees.html
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Israel arrests 25 Palestinian protesters on Nakba Day
A Palestinian woman is taken away by Israeli security forces in clashes in East al-Quds on May 15, 2013.
Israeli forces have arrested 25 Palestinian protesters during clashes in and around East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The Palestinians were detained during a demonstration held on Wednesday to mark the 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day. Israeli security forces used tear gas, stun grenades, and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators, who were marking the anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948, which they call the Nakba (the catastrophe). |
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also took to the streets to voice their anger against the Israeli occupation of their land.
Similar demonstrations were held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Nablus, and al-Khalil (Hebron), and some other countries around the world.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, on which Israeli soldiers also wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.
Similar demonstrations were held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Nablus, and al-Khalil (Hebron), and some other countries around the world.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, on which Israeli soldiers also wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.
The Nakba revisited
By Khalid Amayreh
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the violent usurpation and occupation of Palestine by Zionist Jewish invaders coming from around the world. The seizure of Palestine can be considered as one of the greatest acts of theft in the history of mankind. Israel itself therefore is a gigantic war crime and a crime against humanity.
Thanks to the infamous Balfour declaration of 1917, Palestine, an Arab country since the seventh century, was given by another country (Britain) to a third people (the Jews) without even consulting the native people of the country.
According to the British Philosopher Bertrand Russell:" The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was ‘given’ by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state."
In fact, it can be safely argued that the West, particularly Britain, committed the original sin by envisaging, planning and implanting Israel in the heart of the Arab world in order to protect its colonial and imperialistic interests.
In 1905, Britain's Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman invited the Western Imperial powers for conference which continued until 1907.
The conference of the thieves recommended the establishment of " a state on the lands of Palestine, to serve as an advanced base for the covetous colonialists, and protect their interests, implement their plans and schemes and ensure the outflow of natural resources from the region, as well as the import of their goods and products into the markets of the region."
The American Jewish writer Noam Chomsky described this evilness committed by these European powers, especially Britain:
"When a man brings a snake and puts it in the bed of a child and it stings the child, the man is responsible for the child’s death, not the snake,”.
The person who brings the snake into the child’s bed is the real criminal, not the snake. This person cannot claim innocence and say 'I did not know that the snake is so poisonous!'"
The famous British historian Arnold Toynbee, in his book "A Study of History" said that "while the direct responsibility for the calamity that overtook the Palestinian Arabs in A.D. 1948 was on the heads of the Zionist Jews who seized a lebensraum for themselves in Palestine by force of arms in that year, a heavy load of indirect, yet irrefutable, responsibility was on the heads of the people of the United Kingdom.
But the "snake" (Israel) has acquired a life of its own, and it no longer depends on its erstwhile western benefactors for its survival and continuity."
None the less, there is no guarantee, historical, moral or religious that the "snake" will have an extended life, e.g. live longer than a century.
In the final analysis, Israel is an immoral and illegal being that will have to go. Yes, Israel is a regional superpower, has a prosperous economy, is technologically advanced and tightly controls the government, Congress and media of the United States .
But nations don't live by modern fighter jets and nuclear bombs alone. The Soviet Union had a plenty of these.
In order to have a sustained existence nations must possess a moral justification. Justice, not military might, is what guarantees the longevity and continuity of states.
In 1948, Zionist leaders such as Ben Gurion thought that that the Palestinian people would go into oblivion, slowly but surely. Indeed, just as the genocidal invaders from Eastern Europe and elsewhere bulldozed and obliterated more than 500 Palestinian villages, Zionist elders thought that old Palestinians will die and young Palestinians will forget!
But to the Zionists' chagrin, the Palestinian cause is still as vivid and relevant in the minds and hearts of the Palestinian people today as it was in 1948.
Thousands of Palestinians still retain the keys to their homes from which they were expelled at gunpoint when Israel was created 65 years ago. The trust is bequeathed by the older to younger generations.
Today, even the least patriotic Palestinians who would rather reach "a peace deal" with Israel by hook or by crook wouldn't even dare suggest that they would sell out the right of return even in return for a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
To be sure, Palestinians and Muslims in general have no problem living with Jews. Jews lived side by side with Arabs and Muslims for close to 1400 years. Jews had never revolted against their Muslim rulers or demanded a state of their own.
Indeed, the call for the return of Jews to Palestine did not come from Middle Eastern or Palestine Jews; it rather came from Western Jews.
When the Hungarian Jewish leader Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897, which was attended by 196 delegates. Only four of the 196 delegates were Jews from Palestine .
As Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, our problem is not with Jews who believe in "live and let live" but is rather with this diabolical, fanatical and genocidal Zionism which has drenched this part of the world with blood, hatred and inequity.
Israel claims to be Jewish and following ancient Jewish ideals of justice. But this is a hollow claim, bordering on wishful thinking.
The truth of the matter is that Israel represents the antithesis of the prophetic ideals of the ancient Israeli prophets. What happened to "Thou shall not murder, thou shall not steal, and thou shall not lie"?
Even Abraham, the purported common forefather of the ancient Israelites and northern Arabs wouldn't accept to obtain a burial place for his dead wife Sara free of charge in Hebron.
Today, one is really affronted by these fanatical Jewish settlers who terrorize and savage peaceable Palestinian villagers, poison and kill their livestock, burn down their fields and orchards.
And when the unprotected helpless Palestinians seek redress at Israeli courts, they are told by the Jewish judges that the settlers have a point because "your homes and land once belonged to the settlers' ancestors some three thousand years ago."!!!
Such a state where inequity and oppression are rampant can't and will not live long, even if it possessed all the modern warplanes in the world.
They killed the two-state solution
Israel has already decapitated the two state solution. The intensive expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem , has really left no room for a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
The U.S., EU and the helpless Palestinian Authority (PA) pretend that there is still a chance for reviving the two-state solution strategy. But we who live here in the West Bank know better. We just can't betray our eyes.
We also know rather well two other facts that further enforce our conviction that the chances for establishing a true Palestinian state have vanished rather irreversibly. The first fact is that the Israeli society is moving steadily toward Talmudic Jewish fascism, which makes it extremely unlikely that Israel would agree anytime in the predictable future to give up the spoils of the 1967 war, which would imply the inevitable dismantlement of hundreds of Jewish colonies built on the occupied Palestinian territory.
The second fact is that the United States, Israel's guardian-ally, is utterly unable, even if willing, to exert any meaningful pressure on Israel, which would force or convince the Jewish state to end its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The reason for this is the tight Jewish stranglehold on the American decision-making process. Thus, the Israeli control of the White House, Congress and other American political institutions is too overwhelming to allow for any U.S. maneuver outside the Jewish dragnet.
The Demographic situation in Israel/Palestine
Apart from the historical rights and moral high-ground, the Palestinians also have a strategic advantage over Zionism, namely the demographic asset. According to the prominent Israeli demographer Della Pergula, there are already more non-Jews than Jews between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean.
"We have already reached the demographic critical mass, the establishment of a Palestinian state now is therefore more of an urgent Israeli need than a Palestinian need" But the possibility for establishing a viable Palestinian state no longer exists in light of the phenomenal expansion of Jewish settlements mentioned earlier. More to the point, the concept of a bi-national state is a kind of anathema for most Israelis as it would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Hence, the problem.
There are millions of Israelis who would think or probably are already thinking of unthinkable scenarios such as expelling large number of Palestinians. But expulsion can't really be carried out without some sort of a genocide. None the less, the Palestinians have thoroughly learned and imbibed the lessons of 1948 and would never ever leave their country. They would rather die in their own homes, towns and villages rather than give Zionists the joy of watching them repeat the Nakba scenario.
The Israeli Zionists have already committed huge and numerous crimes against the Palestinian people. Needless to say, committing still more crimes would be suicidal and fraught with grave consequences for Israel and Jews.
In the final analysis, the repetition of what happened in 1948 could speed up the process of Israel's demise and extinction.
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the violent usurpation and occupation of Palestine by Zionist Jewish invaders coming from around the world. The seizure of Palestine can be considered as one of the greatest acts of theft in the history of mankind. Israel itself therefore is a gigantic war crime and a crime against humanity.
Thanks to the infamous Balfour declaration of 1917, Palestine, an Arab country since the seventh century, was given by another country (Britain) to a third people (the Jews) without even consulting the native people of the country.
According to the British Philosopher Bertrand Russell:" The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was ‘given’ by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state."
In fact, it can be safely argued that the West, particularly Britain, committed the original sin by envisaging, planning and implanting Israel in the heart of the Arab world in order to protect its colonial and imperialistic interests.
In 1905, Britain's Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman invited the Western Imperial powers for conference which continued until 1907.
The conference of the thieves recommended the establishment of " a state on the lands of Palestine, to serve as an advanced base for the covetous colonialists, and protect their interests, implement their plans and schemes and ensure the outflow of natural resources from the region, as well as the import of their goods and products into the markets of the region."
The American Jewish writer Noam Chomsky described this evilness committed by these European powers, especially Britain:
"When a man brings a snake and puts it in the bed of a child and it stings the child, the man is responsible for the child’s death, not the snake,”.
The person who brings the snake into the child’s bed is the real criminal, not the snake. This person cannot claim innocence and say 'I did not know that the snake is so poisonous!'"
The famous British historian Arnold Toynbee, in his book "A Study of History" said that "while the direct responsibility for the calamity that overtook the Palestinian Arabs in A.D. 1948 was on the heads of the Zionist Jews who seized a lebensraum for themselves in Palestine by force of arms in that year, a heavy load of indirect, yet irrefutable, responsibility was on the heads of the people of the United Kingdom.
But the "snake" (Israel) has acquired a life of its own, and it no longer depends on its erstwhile western benefactors for its survival and continuity."
None the less, there is no guarantee, historical, moral or religious that the "snake" will have an extended life, e.g. live longer than a century.
In the final analysis, Israel is an immoral and illegal being that will have to go. Yes, Israel is a regional superpower, has a prosperous economy, is technologically advanced and tightly controls the government, Congress and media of the United States .
But nations don't live by modern fighter jets and nuclear bombs alone. The Soviet Union had a plenty of these.
In order to have a sustained existence nations must possess a moral justification. Justice, not military might, is what guarantees the longevity and continuity of states.
In 1948, Zionist leaders such as Ben Gurion thought that that the Palestinian people would go into oblivion, slowly but surely. Indeed, just as the genocidal invaders from Eastern Europe and elsewhere bulldozed and obliterated more than 500 Palestinian villages, Zionist elders thought that old Palestinians will die and young Palestinians will forget!
But to the Zionists' chagrin, the Palestinian cause is still as vivid and relevant in the minds and hearts of the Palestinian people today as it was in 1948.
Thousands of Palestinians still retain the keys to their homes from which they were expelled at gunpoint when Israel was created 65 years ago. The trust is bequeathed by the older to younger generations.
Today, even the least patriotic Palestinians who would rather reach "a peace deal" with Israel by hook or by crook wouldn't even dare suggest that they would sell out the right of return even in return for a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
To be sure, Palestinians and Muslims in general have no problem living with Jews. Jews lived side by side with Arabs and Muslims for close to 1400 years. Jews had never revolted against their Muslim rulers or demanded a state of their own.
Indeed, the call for the return of Jews to Palestine did not come from Middle Eastern or Palestine Jews; it rather came from Western Jews.
When the Hungarian Jewish leader Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897, which was attended by 196 delegates. Only four of the 196 delegates were Jews from Palestine .
As Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, our problem is not with Jews who believe in "live and let live" but is rather with this diabolical, fanatical and genocidal Zionism which has drenched this part of the world with blood, hatred and inequity.
Israel claims to be Jewish and following ancient Jewish ideals of justice. But this is a hollow claim, bordering on wishful thinking.
The truth of the matter is that Israel represents the antithesis of the prophetic ideals of the ancient Israeli prophets. What happened to "Thou shall not murder, thou shall not steal, and thou shall not lie"?
Even Abraham, the purported common forefather of the ancient Israelites and northern Arabs wouldn't accept to obtain a burial place for his dead wife Sara free of charge in Hebron.
Today, one is really affronted by these fanatical Jewish settlers who terrorize and savage peaceable Palestinian villagers, poison and kill their livestock, burn down their fields and orchards.
And when the unprotected helpless Palestinians seek redress at Israeli courts, they are told by the Jewish judges that the settlers have a point because "your homes and land once belonged to the settlers' ancestors some three thousand years ago."!!!
Such a state where inequity and oppression are rampant can't and will not live long, even if it possessed all the modern warplanes in the world.
They killed the two-state solution
Israel has already decapitated the two state solution. The intensive expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem , has really left no room for a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
The U.S., EU and the helpless Palestinian Authority (PA) pretend that there is still a chance for reviving the two-state solution strategy. But we who live here in the West Bank know better. We just can't betray our eyes.
We also know rather well two other facts that further enforce our conviction that the chances for establishing a true Palestinian state have vanished rather irreversibly. The first fact is that the Israeli society is moving steadily toward Talmudic Jewish fascism, which makes it extremely unlikely that Israel would agree anytime in the predictable future to give up the spoils of the 1967 war, which would imply the inevitable dismantlement of hundreds of Jewish colonies built on the occupied Palestinian territory.
The second fact is that the United States, Israel's guardian-ally, is utterly unable, even if willing, to exert any meaningful pressure on Israel, which would force or convince the Jewish state to end its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The reason for this is the tight Jewish stranglehold on the American decision-making process. Thus, the Israeli control of the White House, Congress and other American political institutions is too overwhelming to allow for any U.S. maneuver outside the Jewish dragnet.
The Demographic situation in Israel/Palestine
Apart from the historical rights and moral high-ground, the Palestinians also have a strategic advantage over Zionism, namely the demographic asset. According to the prominent Israeli demographer Della Pergula, there are already more non-Jews than Jews between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean.
"We have already reached the demographic critical mass, the establishment of a Palestinian state now is therefore more of an urgent Israeli need than a Palestinian need" But the possibility for establishing a viable Palestinian state no longer exists in light of the phenomenal expansion of Jewish settlements mentioned earlier. More to the point, the concept of a bi-national state is a kind of anathema for most Israelis as it would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Hence, the problem.
There are millions of Israelis who would think or probably are already thinking of unthinkable scenarios such as expelling large number of Palestinians. But expulsion can't really be carried out without some sort of a genocide. None the less, the Palestinians have thoroughly learned and imbibed the lessons of 1948 and would never ever leave their country. They would rather die in their own homes, towns and villages rather than give Zionists the joy of watching them repeat the Nakba scenario.
The Israeli Zionists have already committed huge and numerous crimes against the Palestinian people. Needless to say, committing still more crimes would be suicidal and fraught with grave consequences for Israel and Jews.
In the final analysis, the repetition of what happened in 1948 could speed up the process of Israel's demise and extinction.
Palestinian child injured in the head in Beit Ummar confrontations
A Palestinian child was hit with a metal bullet in the head in violent confrontations between inhabitants of Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, and Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday.
Activist Yousef Abu Mariya told the PIC that inhabitants had organized a march to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba when IOF soldiers attacked them with teargas and gunfire.
He said that dozens were wounded with bullets or treated for gas inhalation that was used extensively by the soldiers to disperse the demonstration.
Abu Mariya said that the confrontations expanded into various suburbs and alleys in the village as dozens of IOF soldiers were deployed in the main street and near the cemetery and the military roadblock.
Activist Yousef Abu Mariya told the PIC that inhabitants had organized a march to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba when IOF soldiers attacked them with teargas and gunfire.
He said that dozens were wounded with bullets or treated for gas inhalation that was used extensively by the soldiers to disperse the demonstration.
Abu Mariya said that the confrontations expanded into various suburbs and alleys in the village as dozens of IOF soldiers were deployed in the main street and near the cemetery and the military roadblock.
Dozens wounded in clashes near Ofer jail
More than 40 Palestinians were wounded on Wednesday in violent confrontations that broke out in front of Ofer jail between Israeli occupation forces and Palestinian demonstrators.
Thousands of citizens gathered to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba then marched to Ofer jail, the PIC reporter said, adding that hundreds of young men burnt tires and closed the road leading to the jail.
He said that the young men ambushed an IOF patrol and threw firebombs on it, prompting the soldiers to open heavy fire in all directions.
Red Crescent sources said that more than 40 casualties were treated on the field for metal bullet wounds while two were taken to Ramallah hospitals.
They said that many demonstrators fainted due to the IOF extensive use of teargas.
Thousands of citizens gathered to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba then marched to Ofer jail, the PIC reporter said, adding that hundreds of young men burnt tires and closed the road leading to the jail.
He said that the young men ambushed an IOF patrol and threw firebombs on it, prompting the soldiers to open heavy fire in all directions.
Red Crescent sources said that more than 40 casualties were treated on the field for metal bullet wounds while two were taken to Ramallah hospitals.
They said that many demonstrators fainted due to the IOF extensive use of teargas.
Casualties suffered in Qalandia clashes
A number of Palestinian young men were injured on Wednesday in clashes with Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in the vicinity of Qalandiya roadblock and at the entrance to Ram town north of occupied Jerusalem.
Local sources said that the soldiers fired stun grenades, teargas, and rubber-coated bullets at the youths who threw stones and empty bottles at the soldiers.
They said that the youths torched tires on the main road in Qalandiya to impede advance of IOF armored vehicles. The soldiers closed the main road from Qalandiya to Ram at separate intervals during the clashes.
The demonstration was part of Palestinian rallies and marches organized to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba.
Local sources said that the soldiers fired stun grenades, teargas, and rubber-coated bullets at the youths who threw stones and empty bottles at the soldiers.
They said that the youths torched tires on the main road in Qalandiya to impede advance of IOF armored vehicles. The soldiers closed the main road from Qalandiya to Ram at separate intervals during the clashes.
The demonstration was part of Palestinian rallies and marches organized to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nakba.
Warnings of a new Nakba threatening Al-Aqsa Mosque
A senior Palestinian official called for protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque from a "new Nakba" threatening it due to the occupation practices that aim to impose Jewish control over it in preparation to demolish it and build the alleged temple on its ruins.
Yousef Edais, head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic courts in Palestine, called on the residents of Jerusalem and the 1948-occupied territories to intensify their presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to confront the repeated raids into its courtyards by the settlers and the extremist Jewish groups.
Edais said in a statement on Wednesday that Al-Aqsa Mosque has been witnessing daily raids by Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, warning of attempts to divide it as they did in the Ibrahimi Mosque.
He warned of a scheme made by settlers’ leaders and senior Jewish rabbis to divide Al-Aqsa; stressing that it is a purely Islamic endowment and that the Jews have no right in it.
Yousef Edais, head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic courts in Palestine, called on the residents of Jerusalem and the 1948-occupied territories to intensify their presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to confront the repeated raids into its courtyards by the settlers and the extremist Jewish groups.
Edais said in a statement on Wednesday that Al-Aqsa Mosque has been witnessing daily raids by Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, warning of attempts to divide it as they did in the Ibrahimi Mosque.
He warned of a scheme made by settlers’ leaders and senior Jewish rabbis to divide Al-Aqsa; stressing that it is a purely Islamic endowment and that the Jews have no right in it.
Report: Demolition of Palestinian homes is an ongoing Nakba
Tadhamun Foundation for Human Rights said that some forms of the Nakba (catastrophe) of the Palestinian people, which took place 65 years ago, have continued until today.
The researcher at the Foundation Ahmed Betawi said that the occupation has continued, since the Nakba, its policy of demolishing Palestinian structures and displacing the citizens from their places of residence, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Betawi revealed that the occupation authorities have demolished since the beginning of this year more than 120 Palestinian structures, mainly in the city of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
The human rights researcher called for providing the legal support for the Palestinian citizens, especially the Jerusalemites whose houses are threatened with demolition, in order to protect them.
The researcher at the Foundation Ahmed Betawi said that the occupation has continued, since the Nakba, its policy of demolishing Palestinian structures and displacing the citizens from their places of residence, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Betawi revealed that the occupation authorities have demolished since the beginning of this year more than 120 Palestinian structures, mainly in the city of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
The human rights researcher called for providing the legal support for the Palestinian citizens, especially the Jerusalemites whose houses are threatened with demolition, in order to protect them.
PCBS: Israel controls 85% of historical Palestine
Al-Bassa, north of Akka, ethnically cleansed in May 1948, massacre committed at the village's church
Jewish terrorist gangs seized 774 Palestinian villages and cities and committed 70 massacres that reaped the lives of 15,000 Palestinians in 1948 to create Israel, Palestinian official statistics revealed.
About 800 thousand Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homelands to the West Bank, Gaza, and the Diaspora in addition the expulsion of thousands from their homes and villages but they remained in 1948-occupied Palestine, a press release issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated.
The percentage of refugees reached 44.2% of the total population in 2012, while UNRWA has reported 5.3 million Palestinian refugees mid 2013 (45.7% of the Palestinian population), the press release noted.
The statistics revealed that 59% of the Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, while 17% in the West Bank, and 24% in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 29 % of the Palestinian refugees are currently in 58 camps, where there are 10 camps in Jordan, 9 camps in Syria, 12 camps in Lebanon, and 19 camps in the West Bank, in addition to 8 refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
During the Nakba, there were 1.37 million Palestinians while the number has multiplied 8.5 times to reach 11.4 million Palestinians worldwide in 2012.
The statistics pointed out that about 5.8 million Palestinians live in the Palestinian historical territories (from the river to the sea) in 2012, expecting that their number will reach 7.2 million by the end of 2020.
Gaza became after the Nakba one of the most densely populated regions in the world. The population density in the Gaza Strip is 11 times that of 1948-occupied Palestine.
PCBS stated that there are 474 Israeli settlements, outposts and military bases in the West Bank by the end of 2011, while the Israeli settlers' numbers in West Bank has totaled 537 thousand settlers by end of 2011.
The press release indicated that the number of settlers in Jerusalem reaches nearly 268 thousand settlers and constitutes 49.8% of all West Bank settlers. Jews arrogated more than 85% of the total area of historical Palestinian.
The PCBS report came on the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
Jewish terrorist gangs seized 774 Palestinian villages and cities and committed 70 massacres that reaped the lives of 15,000 Palestinians in 1948 to create Israel, Palestinian official statistics revealed.
About 800 thousand Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homelands to the West Bank, Gaza, and the Diaspora in addition the expulsion of thousands from their homes and villages but they remained in 1948-occupied Palestine, a press release issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated.
The percentage of refugees reached 44.2% of the total population in 2012, while UNRWA has reported 5.3 million Palestinian refugees mid 2013 (45.7% of the Palestinian population), the press release noted.
The statistics revealed that 59% of the Palestinian refugees live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, while 17% in the West Bank, and 24% in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 29 % of the Palestinian refugees are currently in 58 camps, where there are 10 camps in Jordan, 9 camps in Syria, 12 camps in Lebanon, and 19 camps in the West Bank, in addition to 8 refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
During the Nakba, there were 1.37 million Palestinians while the number has multiplied 8.5 times to reach 11.4 million Palestinians worldwide in 2012.
The statistics pointed out that about 5.8 million Palestinians live in the Palestinian historical territories (from the river to the sea) in 2012, expecting that their number will reach 7.2 million by the end of 2020.
Gaza became after the Nakba one of the most densely populated regions in the world. The population density in the Gaza Strip is 11 times that of 1948-occupied Palestine.
PCBS stated that there are 474 Israeli settlements, outposts and military bases in the West Bank by the end of 2011, while the Israeli settlers' numbers in West Bank has totaled 537 thousand settlers by end of 2011.
The press release indicated that the number of settlers in Jerusalem reaches nearly 268 thousand settlers and constitutes 49.8% of all West Bank settlers. Jews arrogated more than 85% of the total area of historical Palestinian.
The PCBS report came on the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
Violent confrontations in Al-Khalil, child arrested
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) encircled Arroub refugee camp, south of Al-Khalil, on Wednesday and showered young men with teargas canisters and metal bullets.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the young men were demonstrating on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Nakba and threw stones and crude firebombs at the soldiers.
Groups of young men said that commemorating the Nakba should include marching to settlements and military positions and not dancing and singing inside Palestinian cities surrounded by settlements and IOF soldiers.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers arrested a Palestinian man and a child from Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Tuesday night.
Local sources said that the IOF arrested the schoolchild, Hakam Al-Alami, after the Israeli intelligence interrogated him at Gush Etzion detention center, north of Al-Khalil.
IOF soldiers rounded up eight university students and children in Beit Ummar over the past three days.
Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the young men were demonstrating on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Nakba and threw stones and crude firebombs at the soldiers.
Groups of young men said that commemorating the Nakba should include marching to settlements and military positions and not dancing and singing inside Palestinian cities surrounded by settlements and IOF soldiers.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers arrested a Palestinian man and a child from Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Tuesday night.
Local sources said that the IOF arrested the schoolchild, Hakam Al-Alami, after the Israeli intelligence interrogated him at Gush Etzion detention center, north of Al-Khalil.
IOF soldiers rounded up eight university students and children in Beit Ummar over the past three days.
Clashes break out in West Bank on Nakba Day
Palestinian women hold symbolic keys and chant "the right of return will not die," during a rally to mark the Nakba Day in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2013.
Clashes have erupted outside the Israeli-operated Ofer prison in northern West Bank after Israeli forces attacked Palestinians marking the 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day.
Similar clashes erupted near the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Wednesday, reports said.
Rallies commemorating the Nakba Day, which means the Day of Catastrophe, were also held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Nablus, and al-Khalil (Hebron).
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also took to the streets to voice their anger against the Israeli occupation of their land.
Similar demonstrations were held in some neighboring countries.
The Israeli regime has deployed additional troops to East al-Quds and security is tight at Qalandia checkpoint of north al-Quds.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis and the creation of Israel in 1948.
On May 15, 1948, Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.
Israeli soldiers also wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.
Clashes have erupted outside the Israeli-operated Ofer prison in northern West Bank after Israeli forces attacked Palestinians marking the 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day.
Similar clashes erupted near the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Wednesday, reports said.
Rallies commemorating the Nakba Day, which means the Day of Catastrophe, were also held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Nablus, and al-Khalil (Hebron).
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also took to the streets to voice their anger against the Israeli occupation of their land.
Similar demonstrations were held in some neighboring countries.
The Israeli regime has deployed additional troops to East al-Quds and security is tight at Qalandia checkpoint of north al-Quds.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis and the creation of Israel in 1948.
On May 15, 1948, Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.
Israeli soldiers also wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.
Palestinians hold Nakba Day rally in Ramallah
Palestinian demonstrators wave Palestinian flags during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 15, 2012, marking Nakba day
Thousands of Palestinians have taken part in a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day. The rally came on Wednesday, with reports saying that the security is tight across the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also took to the streets to voice their anger against the Israeli occupation of their land.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis and the creation of Israel in 1948.
Last year, dozens of Palestinians were killed in southern Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria's occupied Golan heights by Israeli forces during the Nakba Day protests.
Thousands of Palestinians have taken part in a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day. The rally came on Wednesday, with reports saying that the security is tight across the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also took to the streets to voice their anger against the Israeli occupation of their land.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinians who were trying to mark the day in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Every year on May 15, Palestinians all over the world hold demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba Day, which marks the anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis and the creation of Israel in 1948.
Last year, dozens of Palestinians were killed in southern Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria's occupied Golan heights by Israeli forces during the Nakba Day protests.
