Palestinian people commemorate 73rd Anniversary of Nakba amid escalating Israeli aggression on Gaza

Today marks the 73rd  Anniversary of Nakba, the usurpation of Palestine and the displacement of its people. This anniversary comes as the Israeli occupation’s crimes and aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza escalate, leading to the martyrdom and wounding of many Palestinians and  forcing many others to leave their houses. The occasion also comes as the Israeli war of displacement, ethnic cleansing and Judaization in occupied Al-Quds city continues unabated.

However, the Palestinians face the occupation’s crimes with unmatched steadfastness and determination to restore their usurped lands and rights. They reiterate their adherence to the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homeland, from which they were unjustly displaced, in accordance with the UN resolution No. 194 for 1948 which has remained ink on paper in the light of the western support and protection, particularly by the United States, for the Israeli occupation. 

73 years have passed and the Palestinian people are still suffering from Israeli crimes and facing conspiracies that aim at undermining the Palestinian cause. Most notable of these conspiracies have been the declaration of former US President Donald Trump of Al-Quds as the capital city of the Israeli occupation entity in 2017, relocating the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Al-Quds in 2018 and backing the occupation’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank in implementation of the so-called “Deal of the Century” which is rejected by the Palestinians and the entire world.

 The Higher Committee for commemorating the Nakba Day announced launching several popular activities including national, Arab and international campaigns that reiterate adherence to the Palestinian refugees’ right to repatriate to their original villages and cities in Palestine from which they were displaced in 1948 by the Zionist gangs.

Ahmad Abu Hawli, Head of the Committee, told SANA that these activities will send the world dozens of messages relating to the rights of the Palestinian refugees to repatriation as provided in UN resolution No. 194. The activities will call on the United Nations to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and halt the occupation’s crimes of ethnic cleansing and displacement in occupied Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque, he added.

Abu Hawli pointed out that these activities aim at enhancing the world’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause, to remind the international community of the Nakba Day and to stress adherence to Al-Quds as the eternal capital of the state of Palestine.

On his part, Mahmoud Khalaf, Coordinator of the Refugees Department in the Palestinian National Forces, clarified that the Palestinian people recall 73 years of pain and suffering amid the complete silence of the international community who should support the Palestinian people’s rights and act immediately to stop the Israeli occupation’s crimes towards the Palestinians in Gaza, crimes that claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians and caused massive destruction of infrastructure.

He reiterated that resistance is the only way to restore the usurped Palestinian rights and lands.

Tal’at Al-Safadi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian People’s Party, said that displacing the population of 531 Palestinian villages and cities by the Zionist gangs in 1948 and committing 70 massacres with the help of Britain and colonialist powers has been a horrible crime that extends to the present day during which the occupation shells residential neighborhoods and kills children and women in Gaza Strip under deadly silence of the international community.

He affirmed the sacred right of 6.5 million Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland whatever time it may take.

Hamda Mustafa