Thousands of Palestinians marked the anniversary, waving flags and shouting slogans [AFP]
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the Gaza Strip to mark the 61st anniversary of the "Nakba", or "catastrophe", which describes the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of refugees following the creation of Israel.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp, thousands of people waved Palestinian flags and Hamas banners, while others held placards with the names of villages destroyed by Israeli forces during the 1948 war.
"We will return to Jaffa and to all our lands," some of the crowd shouted, while others proclaimed: "We will not recognise Israel".
Supporters gathered after Friday prayers, with several hundred people later walking to within 2km of the the Israeli border.
Ahmad Bahar, a senior Hamas official, told the crowd that the Palestinian people "will never give up the right of return" to their homes and land in Israel.
The Gaza demonstrations on Friday came a day after similar ceremonies were held in cities across the West Bank, a sign of the continuing divisions between the two main Palestinian factions.
Palestinian split Palestinian child pays price of Israel's siegeMore videos... Hamas, which seized power in Gaza more than two years ago, reportedly prevented the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from holding Nakba events in the territory on Thursday. The two factions have been in dispute since June 2007, when Hamas forced PLO supporters out of Gaza.
On Thursday, demonstrators marched through cities across the West Bank, holding Palestinian flags and images of Arab villages razed by Israeli forces.
In Ramallah, demonstrators waved banners reading, "The right of return is sacred," and "Return, Jerusalem And Self-Determination: Our Struggle Will Continue" as they gathered at the tomb of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader.
About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes during the creation of the Israeli state six decades ago.
Palestinians demand the right for the 4.6 million descendants of those who fled in 1948 to return to their lands that are now inside Israel.
And verily for everything that a slave loses there is a substitute, but the one who loses Allah will never find anything to replace Him.” [Related by Ibn al-Qayyim in ad-Dâ' wad-Dawâ Fasl 49]
OUCH, everytime this subject is raised or I read about it, everytime I hear something about it, it's like something hurts so deep, and I feel helpless..
There are brothers and sisters going through torment, look at us, a mere flu makes us lay in bed all day, these brotehrs and sisters don't even ahve beds, and thier kids and killed infront of them on a daily basis, when someone even meets our kids with a frown we cease to meet them, how do they survive from day to day with nothin in their hands and nothing to lose...
In an ideal world, a true muslim leader would call for us to unite and take responsibility of leading us the right way, all the brotehrs would take up arms and all the sisters would help nourish and give shelter to the opressed, eventuallyw e will win back the homes of our muslim brothers and sisters..
Instead we all sit infront of our TVs and radios and internet and read about it and some evn hurt for a while and then they disperse and persue life as normal, as if they never came across the subject, I dont even know how many of us pray fpr them...
Not just them the afghanis, the pakistanis, the other muslim brotehrs and sisters who are suffering in differnt ways through the hands of kuffar day after day after day..
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
When you create an account, we remember exactly what you've read, so you always come right back where you left off. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and share your thoughts. Sign Up
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Bookmarks