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Demonstration in Ramallah, West Bank, on the anniversary of Palestinians fleeing their homes in 1948.
1 / 2Photo: Nasser Nasser/AP/TT
Palestinians gathered by the thousands in the West Bank on Wednesday to commemorate the day 76 years ago when a large part of the Palestinian population was forced to leave their homes in connection with the establishment of the state of Israel.
The day is called nakba – disaster – and is marked annually. But the memory of the day when many Palestinians had to flee took on an enhanced meaning because of the situation in Gaza.
Palestinian flags were carried by those who took part in the march, as were keys symbolizing the homes they had been forced to leave. According to some estimates, 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes or were displaced in 1948 – estimates vary. Many became internally displaced, while others sought refuge in Jordan or Lebanon.
– Our nakba – catastrophe – 2023 is the worst so far, said Mohammad al-Farra, whose family fled the fighting between the Israeli military and terror-labeled Hamas in the city of Khan Yunis.
– It is much worse than the disaster in 1948, he continued.
According to the UN agency Unrwa’s calculations, 80 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million inhabitants have fled their homes as a result of the war that broke out after the Islamist extremist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year.
Demonstrations were held in Ramallah, but also in Nablus and Hebron and additional locations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
– It is worse for them in Gaza than for us. But we all experience al-nakba a second time, Manal Sarhan told AFP in Ramallah.
The memory of the disaster was marked in demonstrations in the region, as well as in several large cities in Europe. An extensive demonstration was carried out in, among other places, the German capital Berlin.