Hawzah News Agency (Occupied Palestine) - On the eve of the Palestinian people’s catastrophe or Nakba anniversary, the Ramallah-based higher national committee for marking the Nakba, called on all Palestinian masses to commemorate the Nakba anniversary digitally and not on the ground.
“As we are marking such a historic significant moment of our Palestinian history, the entire world, including our Palestinian territories, is facing the threat of Coronavirus that has so far impacted lives of many world nations. Therefore, we would urge our people, everywhere, to mark the Nakba anniversary by digital means such as social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others”, a statement by the higher committee read.
Noteworthy, in previous years, Palestinians used to mark the Nakba by holding demonstrations, organizing exhibitions or concerts that all reflected on the Palestinian people’s plight.
The statement noted that the 72nd anniversary of the Nakba comes this year while the Israeli occupation, with the total support from the US, is going ahead with more restrictive measures against Palestinians in the internationally-recognized occupied East Jerusalem as well as the rest of the West Bank. These measures are definitely part of the recently-announced US plan for peace, known as the deal of the century.
The higher committee also called on the Arab nations to uphold their responsibilities towards the Palestinian people’s cause by defying Israel’s current plans to annex the Al-Aghwar area of the Jordan Valley and put the whole West Bank under full Israeli control.
It also called on the United Nations to help the Palestinian people realize the right of return to their historical Palestinian homeland, from which they were expelled by Israel, back in 1948.
Regarding assistance to the Palestinian people, the committee demanded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, (UNRWA), continue providing vital services for the more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the region. For this, it called on all donor countries to live up to their financial commitments to the UNRWA.
Back in May of 1948, Israeli paramilitary groups, attacked more than 450 Palestinian villages in historical Palestine, and engaged in a war with some Arab countries’ armies at the time.
The war led to the defeat of the Arab armies and the ensuing expulsion and mass displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinian residents to nearby Arab countries including Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Many of those Palestinians fled to the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Right after that war, Israel was created on more than 70 percent of the lands of historical Palestine.
Currently, there are more than 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in the near east, including those in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.