Gazans mark 61st anniversary of Israeli occupation:
"Palestinians in Gaza mark 61 years of Al-Nakba, 'catastrophe'"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Showing posts with label Right of Return. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Right of Return. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Forbidden Land - Adalah
Forbidden Land - Adalah:
"In this new short documentary, Adalah joins Palestinian Arab families from Lajoun and Nazareth in their fight to regain Adalah joins Palestinian Arab families from Lajoun and Nazareth"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"In this new short documentary, Adalah joins Palestinian Arab families from Lajoun and Nazareth in their fight to regain Adalah joins Palestinian Arab families from Lajoun and Nazareth"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Friday, December 12, 2008
60th Anniversary of UN Resolution 194 for the Return of Palestinian Refugees
60th Anniversary of UN Resolution 194 for the Return of Palestinian Refugees:
"Afshin Rattansi interviews Palestinian academic, Ghada Karmi on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, guaranteeing the right of return and compensation to Palestinian refugees."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Afshin Rattansi interviews Palestinian academic, Ghada Karmi on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, guaranteeing the right of return and compensation to Palestinian refugees."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Abu Mazen: don’t mess with the right of return
Abu Mazen: don’t mess with the right of return:
"By Khalid Amayreh
In recent days, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas made two extremely worrying pronouncements with regard to the paramount issue of the Right of Return.
Last week, he told Al-Arabiya TV that he couldn’t demand that all Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homes and towns from which they were uprooted when Israel was created in Palestine more than sixty years ago.
This week, the PA President uttered even more daring remarks in an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, published Sunday, 14 September.
He suggested that Israel was justified in refusing to allow the repatriation of the refugees.
“We understand that if we demand of you that all the five million refugees be allowed to return to Israel, the State of Israel would be destroyed. But we must talk about compromise and see what numbers you can accept,” Abbas was quoted as saying.
He added: “We have to talk with Israel about the number of refugees who will return to Israel. I am criticized for not demanding the return of all the five million refugees, but I say that we will demand the return of a reasonable number of refugees to Israel."
Needless to say, the loose tone of Abbas’s words seems to reflect a certain propensity on his part to effectively sacrifice and trivialize the right of return, which more or less represents the heart and soul of the Palestinian problem.
Well, I have a few words of advice for Abbas and his aides: Don’t mess with the right of return. Don’t play with fire.!
It is true that you were elected President of the PA in 2005. However, this doesn’t give you the right to compromise on the core of Palestinian cause, the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and villages from which they were ethnically cleansed and subsequently dispersed to the four corners of the globe by organized Jewish terror.
Indeed, you yourself, Mr. Chairman, during your election campaign four years ago, stressed repeatedly that the only solution acceptable to the Palestinians with regard to the refugee plight would have to be based on UN resolution 194.
I am not asking you to emulate Saladin or Omar Ibn al Khattab This is obviously beyond your ability.
But the Palestinian masses do expect you to honour your undertaking and keep your word. This is certainly not beyond your ability.
Let me remind you Mr. Chairman of paragraph #11 of resolution- 194 in case you have forgotten it.
“It (the resolution) resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
Some of your friends and advisors may have advised you to “show flexibility” in this regard, and you may have harboured a certain tendency to view the right of return as somewhat anachronistic given the existing hard political realities.
However, it is equally valid to argue that any resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli strife excluding a genuine implementation of the right of return would be disingenuous, fragile and short-lasting.
I am not indulging in sooth-saying or far-fetched prognostication. Ask the refugees themselves from Nahr al-Bared in Lebanon to al-Wihdat in Jordan to Jabalya in the Gaza Strip and al-Amaari near Ramallah, not far from your office. Ask them if they are willing to cede their right to return to their original homes and villages even in return for a Palestinian state or quasi-state, and they will communicate to you their true feelings. Don’t listen to the hangers-on around you whose main preoccupation is to make money and appear on TV screens every evening.
As a Palestinian, I was particularly disquieted by your remarks that “the return of five million Palestinians would lead to the destruction of Israel.”
Well, Mr. Abbas. Has Israel’s survival as an exclusive Jewish state become a pressing Palestinian preoccupation?
As a Palestinian leader, your main preoccupation should be first and foremost to protect and effect the right of return for these tormented Palestinians who have been suffering the agony of homelessness for more than sixty years.
Yes, sixty years of homelessness, pain and dispersion should be enough for these miserable people who had inherited misery and suffering generation after generation after generation.
Hence, ending this most obscene and sinister scandal would not be an act of charity to the Palestinians. It would rather be a belated application of relevant UN resolutions which call for the repatriation and indemnification for these refugees.
The uprooting of these innocent victims of satanic Zionism, now numbering five million human beings, was a collective act of rape and ethnic cleansing with very few parallels in history. It will remain an enduring act of rape as long as the wrongs done to the victims are not rectified and corrected.
Indeed, the bulk of the Zionist establishment doesn’t even recognize the occurrence of these crimes, and whenever a conscientious Israeli academic speaks up against these wrongs, he or she is usually vilified and threatened by a society dominated by racism and hatred.
This is why the Right of Return, at least as far as Palestinians are concerned, shouldn’t be a subject of dispute and controversy just as the rightful owner’s right to recover his stolen property from a thief is not a subject of dispute and property.
As to Zionist arguments about the need for maintaining Israel as a Jewish state, it is obvious that such arguments constitute a brazen moral insult to every human being that values justice and honesty.
First, it is well known that the term “Jewish character of Israel” is nothing short of a euphemism for the continuation of Israel’s racist policies against non-Jews. Apartheid and racism can’t be legitimate even if practitioners are Jewish. Jewish racism is no less virulent than German racism.
Second, it should be axiomatic to all that the conscience of the world is under no more legal or moral obligation to maintain Zionism in Palestine than it was to maintain apartheid in South Africa.
More to the point, one is always prompted to ask the following question with regard to this issue: Does Israel’s alleged right to religious and ethnic purity override the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and country?
Finally, it is clear that denying the Palestinian refugees their inalienable right to return to Palestine/Israel is beyond the pale of simple rectitude.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, states in its Article #13 that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
To reiterate, the right of return is the heart and soul of the Palestinian problem. It is actually more paramount than the issue of Palestinian statehood and even Jerusalem, despite the latter’s immense national and religious importance.
Hence, it should be amply clear that any agreement or understanding between Israel and the PA ignoring or overlooking this central issue of the right of return will be treated as null and void by the Palestinian people.
This is not only a message to the PLO leadership. It is also a message to the insolent Israeli state which might be tempted to think that the current weakness of the Palestinian position vis-à-vis Israel would prompt the Palestinians to retreat from their national constants.
defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRC are tax-deductible. To donate, please go to http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the instructions.
The Video Quilt Project - Al Awda
"A project by the Al-Awda Media Center to gather and stitch together the voices of Palestinians and their supporters for the Right of Return."
"By Khalid Amayreh
In recent days, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas made two extremely worrying pronouncements with regard to the paramount issue of the Right of Return.
Last week, he told Al-Arabiya TV that he couldn’t demand that all Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homes and towns from which they were uprooted when Israel was created in Palestine more than sixty years ago.
This week, the PA President uttered even more daring remarks in an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, published Sunday, 14 September.
He suggested that Israel was justified in refusing to allow the repatriation of the refugees.
“We understand that if we demand of you that all the five million refugees be allowed to return to Israel, the State of Israel would be destroyed. But we must talk about compromise and see what numbers you can accept,” Abbas was quoted as saying.
He added: “We have to talk with Israel about the number of refugees who will return to Israel. I am criticized for not demanding the return of all the five million refugees, but I say that we will demand the return of a reasonable number of refugees to Israel."
Needless to say, the loose tone of Abbas’s words seems to reflect a certain propensity on his part to effectively sacrifice and trivialize the right of return, which more or less represents the heart and soul of the Palestinian problem.
Well, I have a few words of advice for Abbas and his aides: Don’t mess with the right of return. Don’t play with fire.!
It is true that you were elected President of the PA in 2005. However, this doesn’t give you the right to compromise on the core of Palestinian cause, the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and villages from which they were ethnically cleansed and subsequently dispersed to the four corners of the globe by organized Jewish terror.
Indeed, you yourself, Mr. Chairman, during your election campaign four years ago, stressed repeatedly that the only solution acceptable to the Palestinians with regard to the refugee plight would have to be based on UN resolution 194.
I am not asking you to emulate Saladin or Omar Ibn al Khattab This is obviously beyond your ability.
But the Palestinian masses do expect you to honour your undertaking and keep your word. This is certainly not beyond your ability.
Let me remind you Mr. Chairman of paragraph #11 of resolution- 194 in case you have forgotten it.
“It (the resolution) resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
Some of your friends and advisors may have advised you to “show flexibility” in this regard, and you may have harboured a certain tendency to view the right of return as somewhat anachronistic given the existing hard political realities.
However, it is equally valid to argue that any resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli strife excluding a genuine implementation of the right of return would be disingenuous, fragile and short-lasting.
I am not indulging in sooth-saying or far-fetched prognostication. Ask the refugees themselves from Nahr al-Bared in Lebanon to al-Wihdat in Jordan to Jabalya in the Gaza Strip and al-Amaari near Ramallah, not far from your office. Ask them if they are willing to cede their right to return to their original homes and villages even in return for a Palestinian state or quasi-state, and they will communicate to you their true feelings. Don’t listen to the hangers-on around you whose main preoccupation is to make money and appear on TV screens every evening.
As a Palestinian, I was particularly disquieted by your remarks that “the return of five million Palestinians would lead to the destruction of Israel.”
Well, Mr. Abbas. Has Israel’s survival as an exclusive Jewish state become a pressing Palestinian preoccupation?
As a Palestinian leader, your main preoccupation should be first and foremost to protect and effect the right of return for these tormented Palestinians who have been suffering the agony of homelessness for more than sixty years.
Yes, sixty years of homelessness, pain and dispersion should be enough for these miserable people who had inherited misery and suffering generation after generation after generation.
Hence, ending this most obscene and sinister scandal would not be an act of charity to the Palestinians. It would rather be a belated application of relevant UN resolutions which call for the repatriation and indemnification for these refugees.
The uprooting of these innocent victims of satanic Zionism, now numbering five million human beings, was a collective act of rape and ethnic cleansing with very few parallels in history. It will remain an enduring act of rape as long as the wrongs done to the victims are not rectified and corrected.
Indeed, the bulk of the Zionist establishment doesn’t even recognize the occurrence of these crimes, and whenever a conscientious Israeli academic speaks up against these wrongs, he or she is usually vilified and threatened by a society dominated by racism and hatred.
This is why the Right of Return, at least as far as Palestinians are concerned, shouldn’t be a subject of dispute and controversy just as the rightful owner’s right to recover his stolen property from a thief is not a subject of dispute and property.
As to Zionist arguments about the need for maintaining Israel as a Jewish state, it is obvious that such arguments constitute a brazen moral insult to every human being that values justice and honesty.
First, it is well known that the term “Jewish character of Israel” is nothing short of a euphemism for the continuation of Israel’s racist policies against non-Jews. Apartheid and racism can’t be legitimate even if practitioners are Jewish. Jewish racism is no less virulent than German racism.
Second, it should be axiomatic to all that the conscience of the world is under no more legal or moral obligation to maintain Zionism in Palestine than it was to maintain apartheid in South Africa.
More to the point, one is always prompted to ask the following question with regard to this issue: Does Israel’s alleged right to religious and ethnic purity override the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and country?
Finally, it is clear that denying the Palestinian refugees their inalienable right to return to Palestine/Israel is beyond the pale of simple rectitude.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, states in its Article #13 that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
To reiterate, the right of return is the heart and soul of the Palestinian problem. It is actually more paramount than the issue of Palestinian statehood and even Jerusalem, despite the latter’s immense national and religious importance.
Hence, it should be amply clear that any agreement or understanding between Israel and the PA ignoring or overlooking this central issue of the right of return will be treated as null and void by the Palestinian people.
This is not only a message to the PLO leadership. It is also a message to the insolent Israeli state which might be tempted to think that the current weakness of the Palestinian position vis-à-vis Israel would prompt the Palestinians to retreat from their national constants.
*********
ACTION ALERT
For Immediate Release
September 14, 2008
URGENT ACTION: DEFEND THE RIGHT TO RETURN!
According to several recent reports of an interview with the Ha'aretz newspaper (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020471.html), Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is quoted as indicating that he is willing to negotiate away the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands of origin. This outrageous statement, which has not been denied to date, comes on the heels of US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's latest visit and attempt to squeeze a 'peace agreement' from both the PA and 'Israel'.
ACTION REQUESTED
In keeping with the brief scenario outlined in the 6th issue of Until Return http://www.al-awda.org/until-return/danger.html, Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is calling on all its members, supporters, and all people of conscience to respond to the current increased
attempts to 'negotiate' away the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to their homes and lands of origin.
Please write to President Mahmoud Abbas c/o of the PLO Office in Washington, D.C. and The Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations.
TALKING POINTS
*President Mahmud Abbas' statement as reported in the Ha'aretz interview is at complete variance with the Palestinian people's inalienable, natural, legal, historical, individual and collective right to return to their homes and lands of origin, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Law and UN Resolutions 194 and 3236.
*According to international law, no agreement, negotiations or parties which purport to trade away the right to return or any other inalienable rights can have any legal basis and cannot bind or compel the Palestinian people to end the struggle for the fulfillment of their rights.
*Any attempt to abrogate the rights of Palestinian refugees would set a disastrous precedent in international human rights law. It would provide a clear signal that any invaders who expel civilians from their homes, steal their property, and prevent them from returning for long enough can expect to have their illegal territorial conquests blessed with international legitimacy.
*Implementation of the right to return as spelled out in UN resolutions is the core to a just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
* Mr. Mahmoud Abbas should resign as president of the PA and chairman of the PLO forthwith. His statement as reported in the Ha'aretz, and which he has not denied to date, is outrageous and disregards the rights of 7.2 million Palestinians living in forced exile.
Send Letters to:
*PA President Mahmoud Abbas
c/o PLO Office in Washington, D.C.
1320 18th Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
Email: Plomission1@aol.com
Email: Palmission@aol.com
Tel: (202) 974 6360
Fax: (202) 974 6278
Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations
115 East 65th Street
New York, NY 10021
Email: palestine@un.int
Tel: (212) 288-8500
Fax: (212) 517-2377
Please cc your correspondence to: alerts@al-awda.org
Executive Committee
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://www.al-awda.org
Tel: 760-918-9441
Fax: 360-933-3568
defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States of America. Under IRS guidelines, your donations to PRRC are tax-deductible. To donate, please go to http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the instructions.
The Video Quilt Project - Al Awda
"A project by the Al-Awda Media Center to gather and stitch together the voices of Palestinians and their supporters for the Right of Return."
Monday, July 7, 2008
Right of Return
Right of Return:
"Following the recognition of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish militias quickly defeated the Arab armies that stood in their way as thousands of Palestinians fled their villages, or were forcibly removed by the advancing Israelis. In some villages, the inhabitants were rounded up and executed, and as word of these massacres spread, many more began to leave in panic. Others simply left, believing that they would return to their homes when the fighting was over. For Israelis, 1948 was a triumph in their quest for a safe haven from centuries of persecution, culminating in the Holocaust. But for the Palestinians they displaced, this event is known as 'al Nakba', or the Catastrophe."
"Following the recognition of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish militias quickly defeated the Arab armies that stood in their way as thousands of Palestinians fled their villages, or were forcibly removed by the advancing Israelis. In some villages, the inhabitants were rounded up and executed, and as word of these massacres spread, many more began to leave in panic. Others simply left, believing that they would return to their homes when the fighting was over. For Israelis, 1948 was a triumph in their quest for a safe haven from centuries of persecution, culminating in the Holocaust. But for the Palestinians they displaced, this event is known as 'al Nakba', or the Catastrophe."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Muhammad Jaradat & Eitan Bronstein: 1948 and the Right of Return
Muhammad Jaradat & Eitan Bronstein: 1948 and the Right of Return:
"Eitan Bronstein of the Jewish Israeli group, Zochrot, and Muhammad Jaradat of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugees' Rights, present 'Acknowledging the Past; Imagining the Future: Israelis and Palestinians on 1948 and the Right of Return.'"
"Eitan Bronstein of the Jewish Israeli group, Zochrot, and Muhammad Jaradat of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugees' Rights, present 'Acknowledging the Past; Imagining the Future: Israelis and Palestinians on 1948 and the Right of Return.'"
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The Continuing Catastrophe - 24 May 08 - (4 Parts)
The Continuing Catastrophe - 24 May 08 - Part 1:
"To conclude Al Jazeera's special coverage of the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel - an event known to Palestinians as 'al Nakba' (the catastrophe) - senior political analyst Marwan Bishara hosts a debate examining why the events of 1948 still have wide-ranging political ramifications today."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"To conclude Al Jazeera's special coverage of the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel - an event known to Palestinians as 'al Nakba' (the catastrophe) - senior political analyst Marwan Bishara hosts a debate examining why the events of 1948 still have wide-ranging political ramifications today."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, May 19, 2008
MIR: Al Jazeera on Israel's 60th Anniversary
MIR: Al Jazeera on Israel's 60th Anniversary:
"Al Jazeera's program, 'The Listening Post,' examines the media coverage during Israel's 60th anniversary. From Israeli media to Arab media and beyond, the world viewed Israel's anniversary from multiple lenses. But which networks focused on the Palestinian Nakba or Catastrophe? Richard Gizbert from 'The Listening Post' has these answers."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Al Jazeera's program, 'The Listening Post,' examines the media coverage during Israel's 60th anniversary. From Israeli media to Arab media and beyond, the world viewed Israel's anniversary from multiple lenses. But which networks focused on the Palestinian Nakba or Catastrophe? Richard Gizbert from 'The Listening Post' has these answers."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, May 12, 2008
60 years of displacement, 60th anniversary of Nakba
YouTube - 60 years of displacement, 60th anniversary of Nakba: "After 60 years of displacement, the Palestinian refugees are still denied the right of retune to their homes.
The impoverished Gaza strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians most of them refugees.
100's of 1000's of these people live in miserable conditions in 8 over-crowded refugee camps"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
The impoverished Gaza strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians most of them refugees.
100's of 1000's of these people live in miserable conditions in 8 over-crowded refugee camps"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, May 8, 2008
After 60 years of displacement,Palestinians hope return home
After 60 years of displacement,Palestinians hope return home:
"in the memory of 60 years of Palestinian Nakba, Palestinian refugees remain the world's largest refugee community and the Palestinian people are still dispossessed of their right to return home"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"in the memory of 60 years of Palestinian Nakba, Palestinian refugees remain the world's largest refugee community and the Palestinian people are still dispossessed of their right to return home"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Monday, July 30, 2007
"Al Nakba"--The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948
"Al Nakba"--The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948:
"The Palestinian Exile, also known as Al Nakba (Arabic for 'The Catastrophe'), refers to the ethnic cleansing of native Palestinian peoples ... all » during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
From December 1947 until November 1948, Zionist forces (namely the Irgun, Lehi, Haganah terrorist gangs) expelled approximately 750, 000 indigenous Palestinians--almost 2/3 of the population--from their homes.
Hundreds of Palestinians were also murdered for refusing to leave their homes. The most notable massacre is the Deir Yassin Massacre, in which an estimated 120 Palestinian civilians were brutally murdered by an Irgun-Lehi force. Other massacres include the ones at Sahila (70-80 killed), Lod (250 killed), and Abu Shusha (70 killed). About 40 other massacres were carried out by Zionist forces in just the summer of 1948.
Not only did Zionist forces conduct massacres of Palestinian civilians, rape occured as well. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, 'In Acre four soldiers raped a girl and murdered her and her father. In Jaffa, soldiers of the Kiryati Brigade raped one girl and tried to rape several more. At Hunin, which is in the Galilee, two girls were raped and then murdered. There were one or two cases of rape at Tantura, south of Haifa. There was one case of rape at Qula, in the center of the country. At the village of Abu Shusha, near Kibbutz Gezer [in the Ramle area] there were four female prisoners, one of whom was raped a number of times. And there were other cases. Usually more than one soldier was involved. Usually there were one or two Palestinian girls. In a large proportion of the cases the event ended with murder. Because neither the victims nor the rapists liked to report these events, we have to assume that the dozen cases of rape that were reported, which I found, are not the whole story. They are just the tip of the iceberg."
During Al Nakba, Palestinians were murdered, raped, and ethnically cleansed from their villages. According to Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, "In a matter of seven months, 531 villages were destroyed and 11 urban neighborhoods emptied."
Palestinians were forced into were forced out of Palestine and into neighboring countries (i.e. Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan), where they lived in refugee camps. Many were also sent to camps in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Most Palestinian towns were demolished and taken by the newly established Israeli government to make room for new Jewish immigrants. Old Palestinian infrastructures, as well as many ruins dating back from the Canaanites, Romans, Greeks, Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks were completely destroyed. This signified the end of historical Palestine and the birth of modern-day Israel.
Al Nakba marked the beginning of the Palestinian refugee crisis. Al Nakba destroyed a thriving and diverse Palestinian society and scattered them into diaspora. According to the UNRWA, the number of registered Palestinian refugees today is approximately 4.5 million. These refugees are dispersed throughout the world, many of which are still living in poverty-stricken refugee camps. Today, the situation keeps worsening and thousands die from malnutrition, contaminated water, or scarce medical supply.
Israel has since refused to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, and has refused to pay them compensation as required by UN Resolution 194, which was passed on December 11, 1948.
Historically, the Israeli government, Israeli schools, and Israeli historians have denied that Al Nakba has occured. However, The New Historians, a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians, have recently published information recognizing the Al Nakba tragedy and controversial views of matters concerning Israel, particularly events concerning its birth in 1948. Much of their material comes from recently declassified Israeli government papers. Leading scholars in this school include Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim, and Tom Segev. Many of their conclusions have been attacked by other scholars and Israeli historians, who continue deny Al Nakba even occurred."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"The Palestinian Exile, also known as Al Nakba (Arabic for 'The Catastrophe'), refers to the ethnic cleansing of native Palestinian peoples ... all » during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
From December 1947 until November 1948, Zionist forces (namely the Irgun, Lehi, Haganah terrorist gangs) expelled approximately 750, 000 indigenous Palestinians--almost 2/3 of the population--from their homes.
Hundreds of Palestinians were also murdered for refusing to leave their homes. The most notable massacre is the Deir Yassin Massacre, in which an estimated 120 Palestinian civilians were brutally murdered by an Irgun-Lehi force. Other massacres include the ones at Sahila (70-80 killed), Lod (250 killed), and Abu Shusha (70 killed). About 40 other massacres were carried out by Zionist forces in just the summer of 1948.
Not only did Zionist forces conduct massacres of Palestinian civilians, rape occured as well. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, 'In Acre four soldiers raped a girl and murdered her and her father. In Jaffa, soldiers of the Kiryati Brigade raped one girl and tried to rape several more. At Hunin, which is in the Galilee, two girls were raped and then murdered. There were one or two cases of rape at Tantura, south of Haifa. There was one case of rape at Qula, in the center of the country. At the village of Abu Shusha, near Kibbutz Gezer [in the Ramle area] there were four female prisoners, one of whom was raped a number of times. And there were other cases. Usually more than one soldier was involved. Usually there were one or two Palestinian girls. In a large proportion of the cases the event ended with murder. Because neither the victims nor the rapists liked to report these events, we have to assume that the dozen cases of rape that were reported, which I found, are not the whole story. They are just the tip of the iceberg."
During Al Nakba, Palestinians were murdered, raped, and ethnically cleansed from their villages. According to Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, "In a matter of seven months, 531 villages were destroyed and 11 urban neighborhoods emptied."
Palestinians were forced into were forced out of Palestine and into neighboring countries (i.e. Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan), where they lived in refugee camps. Many were also sent to camps in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Most Palestinian towns were demolished and taken by the newly established Israeli government to make room for new Jewish immigrants. Old Palestinian infrastructures, as well as many ruins dating back from the Canaanites, Romans, Greeks, Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks were completely destroyed. This signified the end of historical Palestine and the birth of modern-day Israel.
Al Nakba marked the beginning of the Palestinian refugee crisis. Al Nakba destroyed a thriving and diverse Palestinian society and scattered them into diaspora. According to the UNRWA, the number of registered Palestinian refugees today is approximately 4.5 million. These refugees are dispersed throughout the world, many of which are still living in poverty-stricken refugee camps. Today, the situation keeps worsening and thousands die from malnutrition, contaminated water, or scarce medical supply.
Israel has since refused to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, and has refused to pay them compensation as required by UN Resolution 194, which was passed on December 11, 1948.
Historically, the Israeli government, Israeli schools, and Israeli historians have denied that Al Nakba has occured. However, The New Historians, a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians, have recently published information recognizing the Al Nakba tragedy and controversial views of matters concerning Israel, particularly events concerning its birth in 1948. Much of their material comes from recently declassified Israeli government papers. Leading scholars in this school include Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim, and Tom Segev. Many of their conclusions have been attacked by other scholars and Israeli historians, who continue deny Al Nakba even occurred."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Thursday, November 2, 2006
Alive In Limbo
Alive In Limbo:
55:54 - Nov 2, 2004
Ray Mar Educational Films & Krumma Films
"Alive In Limbo brings to the forefront a pivotal element in the Arab-Israeli conflict: the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. It documents over 10 years, from childhood to adulthood, the lives, dreams and hopes of four Palestinian refugees of the Shatila Camp and of one Lebanese whose life has been affected by the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
55:54 - Nov 2, 2004
Ray Mar Educational Films & Krumma Films
"Alive In Limbo brings to the forefront a pivotal element in the Arab-Israeli conflict: the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. It documents over 10 years, from childhood to adulthood, the lives, dreams and hopes of four Palestinian refugees of the Shatila Camp and of one Lebanese whose life has been affected by the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon."
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Salman Abu Sitta: The Geography of Occupation
Salman Abu Sitta: The Geography of Occupation:
"Professor Salman H. Abu-Sitta of the London-based Palestine Land Society gives a personal account of how he became a refugee in Palestine in 1948. Using data from his research, Abu-Sitta shows how over 600 Palestinian villages were systematically depopulated by the advancing Israeli forces, leaving many others dismembered by an arbitrary cease-fire line. With maps and demographic statistics, Abu-Sitta shows that, in effect, Zoinist policies were an ethnic cleasing campaign that resulted in a massive transfer of native Palestinians to the countries bordering Israel, where thousands remain within 100 miles from their original communities. Producer: Ed Sweed"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
"Professor Salman H. Abu-Sitta of the London-based Palestine Land Society gives a personal account of how he became a refugee in Palestine in 1948. Using data from his research, Abu-Sitta shows how over 600 Palestinian villages were systematically depopulated by the advancing Israeli forces, leaving many others dismembered by an arbitrary cease-fire line. With maps and demographic statistics, Abu-Sitta shows that, in effect, Zoinist policies were an ethnic cleasing campaign that resulted in a massive transfer of native Palestinians to the countries bordering Israel, where thousands remain within 100 miles from their original communities. Producer: Ed Sweed"
Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog
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