While Israelis celebrated the 60th anniversary of their nation’s
birth with fireworks and barbecues, sirens wailed across the
Palestinian territories today in mourning.
It was a day of grief for Palestinians, who refer to the founding of Israel as the Catastrophe, or al-Nakba.
Thousands
took to the streets to commemorate those exiled or killed in the
conflict that followed the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled, their property
was expropriated and they have not been allowed to return.
Nearly 5 million Palestinians and their descendants still live in makeshift refugee camps across the neighbouring region.
President Mahmoud Abbas today spoke of the “pain and suffering” of the Palestinians.
“There
are two peoples living on this beloved land – one celebrates
independence and the other feels pain of the memory of its Nakba.
“We
mark this anniversary not for the sake of consoling ourselves but as a
reminder of the long and glorious struggle of the Palestinian people
whose wounds, pains and sufferings have not dissuaded them from rising
like a phoenix.”
To mark the anniversary, schools and
universities were closed for the day and people marched to Israeli
checkpoints. At noon, traffic came to a standstill and sirens sounded
across the territories to mark the start of a two-minute silence.
This
year marks a particularly dark period for Palestinians. Hopes of an
independent state appear dimmer than ever and fighting between
Palestinian political factions has left the territories crippled.
Hamas,
viewed as a terrorist organisation by the west, took full control of
the Gaza Strip by force from its rivals, Fatah, in June last year,
causing Israel to seal off the territory and its 1.4 million
inhabitants to all but humanitarian supplies.
Mass demonstrations
were held today in Gaza to protest against the blockade. Israel sent
military reinforcements to the border and warned that any Palestinians
who tried to break through the fence would be risking their lives.
In
the West Bank, about 20,000 people joined a rally in the town of
Ramallah, where the pro-western government of Abbas is based, waving
Palestinian flags. Thousands of black balloons, each denoting a day
since Israel was established, were released and schoolchildren walked
the streets in black T-shirts that read “1948” on the back and “Not for
Sale” on the front. Some carried old keys to the homes their
grandparents left behind in Israel 60 years ago.
However, the
continued tensions between Hamas and Fatah were also evident today. In
Gaza, Hamas police prevented marches by political rivals, including the
Fatah movement, according to reports by the Associated Press.
where the pro-western government of Mahmoud Abbas is based.