For Palestinians, this day is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed Israel’s so-called establishment.
Israeli forces were on high alert on Sunday amid fears of violence as Palestinians marked the 74th anniversary of Nakba Day.
Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic, the day on which Palestinians mourn the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes during and after the war.
The Nakba refers to the systematic ethnic cleansing of one-third of the Palestinian population at the time by Zionist paramilitaries between 1947 – 1949 and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society.
About 750,000 Palestinians out of a population of 1.9 million were expelled from their towns and villages to make way for new Jewish immigrants.
Palestinians use suppressed anger on this day to express their hatred towards the occupiers that have stolen their land, and are proceeding with their ethnic cleansing. This year, however, the Palestinian Catastrophe Day could backfire on the Israelis, following the brutal killing of the veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
The tragic death of Abu Akleh sent a shockwave to the world. Scores of people poured onto streets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to protest the killing of the seasoned journalist and condemn the brutal atrocities of the Israeli regime.
Israelis attacking the mourners and the casket of Abu Akleh led to an outpouring of emotions all around the world.
On Sunday, pro-Palestine activists took part in a demonstration in Auckland, New Zealand, in commemorations of the 74th anniversary of the Nakba Day and in protest to Israel’s cold-blooded murder of the veteran journalist.
South African activists also held a vigil in support of Palestine, calling on the South African government to cut diplomatic ties with the apartheid regime of Israel.
In this regard, a British member of Parliament for Leicester East, Claudia Webbe, on Sunday called for ending arms sales to Israel, following a series of human rights violations committed by Israel against Palestinian people, the latest was Israel’s killing of Abu Akleh.
In Krakow, Poland, pro-Palestine activists took part in a vigil in commemorations of the 74th anniversary of the Nakba Day, and to condemn the brutal killing of Abu Akleh.
Islamic unity can surely bring the Israeli regime to its knees.
