LONDON: Palestinians in the Occupied Territories on Wednesday commemorated the 77th anniversary of the national catastrophe in 1948 known as the Nakba.
Air raid sirens sounded for 77 seconds in various Palestinian cities in the West Bank, marking the anniversary of the Nakba.
The commemoration took place amid ongoing Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, leading to forced displacements and accusations of genocide, with more than 52,000 Palestinians killed since late 2023, according to the Wafa news agency.
Israeli actions in the West Bank have resulted in the displacement of 40,000 people from the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps, an increase in settler attacks, home raids, and the banning of UNRWA, the agency responsible for providing relief to Palestinian refugees.
Wafa reported that thousands of Palestinians participated in a rally in Ramallah on Wednesday, carrying Palestinian flags, black banners, and door keys, symbols of the right of return.
Mahmoud Al-Aloul, deputy chairman of the Fatah Movement, said Palestinians mark the Nakba “under difficult circumstances.”
He said: “There is a more severe and painful catastrophe currently being experienced by our people in the Gaza Strip, where the occupation is claiming the lives of children and women, and is carrying out massacres, siege, and starvation.
“The massacres are extending to the West Bank governorates, and settlers are wreaking terror against citizens, their land, and Islamic and Christian holy sites, under the protection of the occupation forces,” he added. “This is in addition to the abuse of prisoners, which has resulted in the martyrdom of dozens of them in occupation prisons.”
During the Nakba in 1948 Jewish militias drove about 750,000 Palestinians from towns and villages, events that led to the establishment of modern-day Israel. Palestinian refugees were settled in UN-established camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. The majority of the families’ towns and villages are in Israeli territory.
