Seminar Transcript: The 73rd Anniversary of Palestinian Nakba

Seminar Transcript: The 73rd Anniversary of Palestinian Nakba

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in London issued a written version of a webinar which was held to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, when thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes by Zionist gangs to make way for the creation of present-day Israel.

The booklet includes a verbatim transcription of the webinar “Nakba Ongoing… Refugees Call for Right of Return”, which saw the day on May 15, 2021.

The booklet is available in PDF format and is available for free download here.

The webinar was chaired by political activist in the UK Batoul Sbeita.

The first speaker—Richard Falk, a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and a former United Nations rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories occupied in 1967—sounded the alarm over the crimes of ethnic cleansing committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians since the Nakba days.

He said Israel aims to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians and prevent them from returning to their homeland.

Feminist Randa AlSanyoura, also an expert in international humanitarian law, said the Palestinians have been displaced from their homeland more than once since of the Nakba.

She referred to Israel’s eviction plan targeting Palestinian families in the occupied east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah as a stark reminder of the forcible dislocation of Palestinians in 1948.

She added that such crimes seek to establish more settler units for Israelis in violation of international law.

She also said that Israeli aggressions have forced Palestinian women and children in the blockaded Gaza Strip to seek shelter at UNRWA schools and premises.

The activist referred to what she described as a "thread of hope", in reference to the International Criminal Court's decision to investigate Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, expressing her hope that the day will come when the occupation leaders will be held to account.

Activist "Sawssen Mohammad" warned of Israeli plans to foster an environment of deprivation and homelessness against Palestinian children.

In her contribution she cited affidavits testifying to Israeli assaults on Palestinian children and violation of their rights.

She said as many as 500 Palestinian minors have been held in Israeli detention centers and scores of others have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Activist Jerry Carol underscored the latest surge in violence by Israeli forces, saying the international community should urgently step in and work on bringing Israeli crimes against the Palestinians to a halt.

Every year on May 15 Palestinians commemorate the day in which tens of thousands of civilians were forced out of their homes during the war that led to the creation of the self-proclaimed State of Israel in 1948.

This year, the Nakba Day came amid deadly Israeli airstrikes, Jewish mob attacks and other forms of violent tactics imposed by the Zionist forces.

On May 15, 1948, some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled into refugee camps that still exist in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Millions of Palestinians, including those displaced with the establishment of Israel, now found themselves having to live under military occupation, as well as further Israeli expansionism in their lands.

For many Palestinians, the Nakba is the first chapter in a process of land grab that began in 1948.

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