West Bank cordoned, Occupied Jerusalem closed military zone on Nakba day

[ 15/05/2011 - 10:41 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) imposed a military cordon around the West Bank for 24 hours and turned occupied Jerusalem into a closed military zone at the behest of war minister Ehud Barak.

The Hebrew radio said the cordon on the West Bank is part of the preparations made by the Israeli security apparatuses to prevent the Palestinians from commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe).

It added that about 10, 000 policemen and border guards were deployed in the places that could see confrontations during the anniversary.

Police inspector Yohanan Danino threatened to detain everyone taking part in events and marches on the nakba day.

In Jerusalem, the IOF turned the holy city into a big military barracks and isolated it from the outside world as choppers and a surveillance balloon were seen in the morning flying over the city watching the movement of Palestinian citizens.

An Israeli force from the intelligence, the police and border guards stormed last night the old city of Jerusalem and kidnapped a number of children and young men from their homes on allegation of their participation in clashes with soldiers especially near the Aqsa Mosque.

Local sources reported that the clashes with the IOF are still ongoing in many districts of the holy city and turned more violent after the killing of a Palestinian child from Silwan area.

Israel kills protesters on catastrophe day

Press TV, Sun May 15, 2011 2:47PM

 Israeli troops have launched attacks on many rallies held across the Middle East in protest at the establishment of the Israeli regime 63 years ago, killing dozens of people.

On Sunday, the demonstrators gathered in different cities across the Middle East to remember the May 15, 1948 occupation of Palestine, known as the Nakba Day or 'day of the catastrophe.'

The manufactured existence, enabled by large-scale offensives, forced more than 800,000 of 1.4 million Palestinians out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab nations as well as many other countries in the world.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military killed two protesters, including a Palestinian teenager, and injuring at least 65 others, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Israeli Apache helicopters and F-16 fighter planes flew over the demonstrators, whereas troops fired tank shells near marching protesters.

Troops reportedly open fire on Gazans marching on Erez border crossing the coastal strip's northern border with Israel.

A journalist suffered critical injury from Israeli fire in the northern city of Beit Hanoun.

Two Palestinians died and scores were wounded by Tel Aviv fire in the occupied West Bank. The protesters there were calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and aggression as well as the release of all Palestinian prisoners -- who number around 9,000.

A report said one person had been killed and 150 hurt in the Qalandiya village near the city of Ramallah in central West Bank. The military also mowed down five protesters in south Lebanon, injuring another 30.

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas' Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh urged Palestinians to carry on with their resistance against the Tel Aviv regime. He also expressed hope that Palestinians would one day return to their homes and homeland.

"The Palestinian people know what their path is. They know the path to liberation and to resolving the conflict with the occupation, which can only be done under the banner of Islam. The struggle for freedom cannot happen unless this requirement mentioned in the [Holy] Qur'an is achieved," he said.

In Syria's Golan Heights, at least 12 protesters were killed and 30 wounded by Israeli military fire. In Lebanon, Israeli troops killed at least 5 people, injuring another.

HN/PKH/MMN

Israeli military kills 12 in Syria

Sun May 15, 2011 11:50AM

On Sunday, Syrian and Lebanese demonstrators approached the mountainous region, marking the 63rd anniversary of the May 15, 1948 occupation of Palestine by Israel, known as the Nakba Day or 'day of the catastrophe.'

The Israeli military also injured 30 others, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The war-propelled creation forced more than 800,000 of the 1.4 million Palestinians out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab nations as well as many other countries in the world.

Also on Sunday, the troops gunned down several people elsewhere in the Middle East, where people were likewise voicing solidarity with the Palestinians.

HN/PKH/MMN

Palestinians vow to continue resistance

Sun May 15, 2011 1:55PM

 Ahead of the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of Palestine, members of different Palestinian groups say they will continue their struggles to achieve liberation from Israel.

“The Palestinian people will continue their struggle and resistance until their entire homeland is liberated, and they achieve their right to return,” Maher al-Taher, a member of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine, told Press TV.

“On the 63rd anniversary of the Day of Nakba (catastrophe) when the Zionist movement committed one of the ugliest crimes, we have a message to the world that the Palestinian people, who lived for thousands of years on their motherland, will not give up even a small part of their lands,” he added.

Khalid Abdul Majeed, secretary general of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, said the occasion is commemorated amid “big developments and changes in the region.”

He also pointed to the “conspiracy on the Palestinian cause through the American-Israeli vision to restrict the Palestinian people and their rights.”

“On this anniversary, we remember the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages in addition to deporting hundreds of thousands [of Palestinians] from their own lands. The Palestinian refugees stress their right to return,” said Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas Political Bureau.

The anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 is known as the Day of Nakba.

HSN/HGH/MMN

Nakba: 63 years of incessant brutality

Sun May 15, 2011 2:21PM by Kourosh Ziabari

Almost one year after the Israel Defense Forces raided the flotilla heading toward the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turkish peace activists aboard the MV Mavi Marmara ship, the Palestinian people will mark the 63rd anniversary of the disgraceful birth of the Israeli regime, known in the Arab world as Nakba.

Nakba, also known as day of the catastrophe, is a date on which more than 725,000 of the indigenous and original inhabitants of Palestine were expelled from their homeland during the 1947 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, in an act to pave the ground for the establishment of the Israeli regime.

According to Palestinian-American historian and political analyst Rashid Khalidi, some 50 percent of the original inhabitants of the Palestine were forced to leave their home in 1948; Nur-eldeen Masalha, however, puts the percentage at 80.

The downfall of the Palestinian leadership and the fear of possible recurrence of a calamity such as the Deir Yassin massacre in which 107 Palestinian villagers were savagely killed by the soldiers of the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary organizations contributed to the acceleration of the Palestinians' departure from their homeland.

Upon its establishment one day prior to the expiration of the British Mandate of Palestine, the Zionist regime passed a series of laws including the 'Absentees Property Law' which rendered illegitimate and unlawful return of the Palestinians to their villages and perpetuated their expulsion from their homeland. That's why a dozen of historians and Middle East experts have interpreted Israel's action and its occupation of the Palestinian territories as indefinite, continued ethnic cleansing.

Now, 63 years have passed since the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the Palestinian children, women and men are being killed and murdered on a daily basis, their lands are stolen and their properties are confiscated. Despite the brutality of the Israeli regime, the world including the dispassionate and neutral Arab states of the Persian Gulf, watch the agony and suffering of the Palestinian nation with apathy and indifference.

In a recent article, Khalid Amayreh, the Palestinian writer and journalist who resides in the occupied East Al-Quds has likened the 63-year-old brutality of the Israeli regime to the atrocities of the Nazi regime, describing the killing of the Palestinian citizens as a "slow-motion genocide."

"Sixty-three years ago the Zionists demolished 438 Palestinian villages and poisoned or destroyed wells to ensure that their rightful owners would not return. Today, Zionists keep on behaving more or less along the same traditions, demolishing homes, destroying farms, and narrowing people's horizons, all with the goal of making them emigrate," wrote Khalid Amayreh.

"Israel celebrates freedom while more than nine million Palestinians are treated like slaves or children of a lesser God, some languishing in refugee camps, also for 63 years, or subjected to horrible conditions such as mass detention, collective starvation, daily persecution, with no freedom and very little hope for a better tomorrow," he added.

Now, the Palestinian people along with the independent nations of the world are getting prepared to commemorate the 63rd Nakba. Several demonstrations are slated to be held around the world to bring into spotlight the oppression of the people of Palestine; a nation which has unjustifiably been subject to all forms of collective punishment and deprived of the most essential and basic forms of human rights.

According to Palestine News Network, Nakba demonstrations are expected to take place all over the West Bank, Al-Quds, Gaza and the countries across the world.

Fearing the possible massive gatherings of the Palestinian citizens in the occupied territories, the Israeli forces have adopted tough security measures ahead of the Nakba Day protests and arrested several Palestinians.

The Palestine News Network reported yesterday that Israeli troops "attacked a number of protests organized in several parts of east Al-Quds commemorating the 63 anniversary of the Nakba" on Friday. "Milad Ayiash, 16, was injured during Friday clashes, according to doctors at Makased hospital. The boy was shot in his abdomen and died on Saturday morning when two operations by doctors failed to save his life," the report added.

Now, the artificial state of Israel is celebrating the 63rd year of its establishment jovially while the besieged people of Gaza Strip are starving and suffering painfully, having no access to the outside world. The Palestinian residents of the occupied territories are also continuously subject to the most dreadful forms of torture and persecution.

Documents recently released by the CIA suggest that Israel cannot survive for more than 20 years. One should sit back and wait to see whether the regime which has occupied the homeland of a subjugated nation and suppressed them with the most horrendous apparatus can commemorate the 83rd year of its dishonorable life or not.

KZ/PKH