Activists around the world show solidarity with Palestinians on Nakba Day

Activists around the world have staged protests and events over the past few days in commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, the term used by Palestinians to describe the Zionists’ ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population in 1948 in order to establish the state of Israel on what they claimed was “a land without a people”.

Palestinians and their supporters staged Nakba Day rallies across historic Palestine, with Israeli occupation forces killing two unarmed Palestinian youths in Ramallah. Palestinian refugees also staged mass rallies across Lebanon, as well as in Jordan.

Following is only a small selection of some of the other protests staged around the world.

The group American Muslims for Palestine organised protests across the United States in coordination with a number of local solidarity organisations, along with a parallel social media campaign to raise awareness about the Nakba and Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine, including: a “Moment of Silence” rally in New York City featuring an electronic billboard about the Nakba in Times Square; passing out thousands of educational leaflets about Palestine in Chicago, as well as holding an outdoor Nakba event outside a local school with a parade, authentic Palestinian cuisine, a bazaar, folk dancing and songs; commemorating the Nakba with a road-side protest and rally in Milwaukee; co-sponsoring a Nakba rally in Minneapolis organised by the Twin Cites based Anti-War Committee; and finally, organising a Nakba event in the San Francisco Bay Area next weekend with a film screening on the Nakba, Palestinian food and a panel discussion.

The anti-Zionist Jewish group Naturei Karta staged a number of Nakba Day events, including a rally in Washington DC and another in Ottawa, Canada.

In the United Kingdom, a coalition of solidarity organisations staged a protest outside a meeting of the Jerusalem National Fund in London to commemorate the Nakba and protest against guest speaker Tzipi Livni, Israel’s current Justice Minister and the architect of the 2008-2009 assault on Gaza, who had to be granted temporary immunity by the British government so that she could visit the country without being at risk of arrest for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign also organised Nakba Day events in Bradford, where they screened films about the Nakba and served Palestinian food; in Oxford, where they staged a street demonstration; and in Sheffield, where they organised a lecture by a prominent Palestinian member of the Knesset and are holding a Nakba Day vigil on Saturday in front of town hall.

In Australia, Friends of Palestine Western Australia organised a Nakba Day protest march and a leafleting campaign in the city of Perth. And the Palestine Action Group Sydney also organised a march and a rally outside the city’s town hall.