Palestine unveils plans for next week’s ‘Nakba’ rallies

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian organizers have announced the activities planned for next Tuesday’s rallies, which will coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948 -- an event Arabs refer to as “The Nakba” or “The Catastrophe”.

The activities -- which will take place in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in Arab villages inside Israel -- will include seminars, marches and protests, according to Mohamed Alyan, coordinator of the National Committee for the Commemoration of the Nakba.

Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, Alyan said the planned activities were meant to send the message that “the Palestinian people will continue their struggle and will not abandon their right to an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Next week’s activities, he added, were also intended to “express our rejection of the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital”.

Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump sparked an international outcry when he unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and vowed to relocate Washington's embassy to the flashpoint city -- a move scheduled for next Monday (May 14).

According to Alyan, May 15 will also be a day of “confrontation” with the Israeli army “in all border areas”.

Tension has mounted on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel since March 30, when Palestinians began holding open-ended demonstrations to demand the “right of return” to their homes in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948.

Since the rallies began some six weeks ago, at least 47 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed and hundreds more -- possibly thousands -- injured.