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Major Nakba Memorial Events in Palestine 14 -15 May 2003 (55 Years of the Palestinian Nakba)

BADIL Resource Center
12 May 2003
For Immediate Release

Public commemorations of the 55 anniversary of the massive Palestinian displacement and dispossession were launched on 7 May 2003, Israel’s independence day according to the Hebrew calendar. Thousands of marchers – Palestinians and some 200 Jewish Israelis – returned to the 1948 depopulated Palestinian village of Umm al-Zeinat on Mount Carmel in the annual Nakba memorial march organized by the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID). The marchers posted signs in historical village sites and joined in the call for the right of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced to return to their homes and properties.

On 14 May:

* CONFERENCE, ‘Historical and Accounts and Revival of Collective Memory,’ organized by the Committee for the Follow-up of Arab Education, the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID) and the Welfare Association, at the Theater and Cinema Hall in Nazaeth, 07:00 p.m. (For additional information contact the organizers).

On 15 May – Nakba Day:

* A ‘new Ben Gurion’ will read a NEW and MODIFIED VERSION of ISRAEL’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE in central Tel Aviv at 05:00 p.m, Zochrot invites the Israeli public join this historical ceremony. (For additional information contact: Eitan, 056-314229). Later that evening (08:30 p.m.), the public is invited to a discussion on, ‘1948: What was and what could have been,’ with Israeli Prof. Adi Ofir and Palestinian PNC member Hani ‘Issawy at the Rabita Club in Jaffa (73 Yefet St.).

* Popular NAKBA MEMORIALS and RIGHT OF RETURN RALLIES will be held in all districts of the 1967 occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip starting from 11:00 a.m. and ending with night-time torch marches in several locations: Bethlehem (from the Deheishe camp, 11:00), Gaza City (from all areas to the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza, 11:00); Ramallah (from the Ramallah Boys’ Secondary School to the Manara Square, 12:00); Hebron, Tulkarem and Nablus.

* Cultural activities commemorating the Palestinian Nakba and raising the demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees (exhibitions, workshops, TV- and radio debates, children and youth activities) organized by Palestinian community organizations will continue in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until 18 May 2003. (For additional details about these events, see BADIL press release E/22/03 or contact BADIL, 02-2747346).

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Among the 2003 Nakba memorial events organized in exile are: ‘Palestine: A Day of Remembering – Al Nakba,’ sponsored by the ADC-DC Area, Al-Awda-DC, AMJ, DAWN, NAAP, SUSTAIN on 15 May, noon to 09:00 p.m. at the Dupont Circle Washington DC, and a Rally on Trafalgar Square, London, on 17 May 2003.