Tomorrow, on Monday, Palestinians, in collaboration with the United Nations, will commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Nakba, remembering the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced to leave their cities and villages coinciding with the establishment of Israel, becoming refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and several Arab countries.
Palestinians are organizing a festival in Ramallah, West Bank, which includes a popular march and the sounding of a siren for seventy-five seconds, representing the number of years since the Nakba. Participants in the march typically carry the names of the cities and villages where their ancestors lived. This year, for the first time, the commemoration will take place in the halls of the United Nations, following a decision by the General Assembly in November of last year.
Organizers of the commemorative events chose a slogan that encapsulates the events of the Nakba, highlighting the Palestinians' departure from their homes and their continued insistence on returning despite their prolonged patience, symbolized by the cactus plant in the poster featuring the UN flag and Resolution 194 concerning the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to deliver a speech at the UN headquarters in New York, where he arrived yesterday, and he will discuss the Palestinian narrative regarding the events of 1948.
According to the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the UN, Riyad Mansour, alongside the formal speeches from several attendees, there will be a special presentation about the Nakba. He added, in statements reported by the official Palestinian news agency, that the presentation aims "to create a rich experience regarding the Nakba of the Palestinian people through images, videos, testimonies, and two musical performances—one by Palestinian artist Sana Moussa, and the other by Naseem Al-Atrash, a Grammy-nominated cellist and composer, accompanied by the New York Arab Orchestra."
Mansour clarified that the artistic event will take place in a hall accommodating about two thousand people, and it is expected to be crowded with diplomats, UN staff, members of the Palestinian community, friends from around the world, and the President's presence.
Palestinians view the UN's decision to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Nakba as an acknowledgment, while Israel opposes it and has sent messages to various countries urging them to boycott the commemoration.
The number of Palestinian refugees is close to six million, spread across many countries, with some continuing to live in refugee camps while others have acquired the nationalities of the countries they inhabit. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates indicates that 70 percent of the Palestinian population worldwide are refugees, and Palestinians represent one in three refugees globally, with half of Palestinian refugees lacking citizenship.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), about one-third of nearly six million registered Palestinian refugees live in 58 camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The UN states that these camps are among the most densely populated urban environments in the world, as the buildings in the camps were constructed for temporary use, yet life has continued there for 75 years.
