Palestinians observe day with great sorrow while Israelis celebrate independence of their state
Palestinians are frustrated and devoid of hope on this year’s Nakba Day, the day Israel celebrates its 71th anniversary.
Israelis mark their Independence Day on the Hebrew date that corresponded with May 14, 1948, the day the British Mandate over Palestine ended. This year, it means May 9.
Israeli independence is an event that Palestinians see as a catastrophe. In fact, the Arabic word nakba means just that, marking the day they see themselves as having been forcibly displaced from their towns and villages.
The Media Line took to the streets of the West Bank city of Ramallah and asked Palestinians how they viewed Israel’s independence. Some expressed anger and disappointment in the Palestinian leadership, as well as other Arab leaders.
“What Independence Day and for whom?” Ahmed, 28, asked The Media Line.
He stressed that Israel stole Palestinian land and steals more every year. To that end, though, he pointed to the Arab inability to deter Israel and protect the Palestinian people.
Hadeel, 23, stated that the Palestinians were trying to resist the Israeli occupation in different ways, although nothing ever changed on the ground.
“Every year, it hurts even more to see how our country isn’t ours anymore,” she explained.
Some, though, said they were too upset and disappointed to even comment.
“I don’t have an opinion anymore, what with everything that is happening,” a lady in her fifties said.
Ali, 56, said that Israel’s Independence Day heightened the memory of losing Palestine. Another Palestinian, in this thirties, said merely: “This is our Nakba Day. I don’t recognize Israel‘s right to celebrate its Independence Day.”
One Palestinian in his sixties made it clear that Israelis themselves were not at fault, although their leadership was.
“At the end of the day, they are humans just like us, but their government is something else,” he stated.
Muneer al-Zahub, head of the Fatah party’s media office, told The Media Line that for Israel, it’s a day to celebrate, but for the Palestinian people, the celebration rests on the bodies of martyrs.
“As long as the Israeli occupation exists, the Palestinians will be mad and frustrated,” Zahub said.
He added that the Palestinian side had compromised and accepted international resolutions, as well as the two-state solution.
“We agreed to establish a state on the borders [that existed prior to the war of] 1967,” he said, although the international decisions giving the Palestinian people their legitimate rights were being ignored by most of the countries around the world.
“Now, with the American [approach to ending] the conflict and the role of the United States, the Palestinian people are losing [even] more hope,” he stated, referring to the peace plan the Trump Administration says it will unveil in June, after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He told The Media Line that there had been no political progress, which deeply disappoints the Palestinians.
“We have an economic blockade while the political file is closed,” Zahub elaborated. “The Palestinian people are being blackmailed, [losing] their freedom and land.”
The Israeli government imposed a complete security cordon around the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the general period of Independence Day and Memorial Day, the day preceding it. The closure was imposed starting at midnight between May 6 and 7, and will be lifted on the evening of May 11. It means that even Palestinians with permits to enter Israel will be unable to do so except in exceptional circumstances.
A year ago, some 60 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the first of what would become weekly “March of Return” demonstrations.
The initial demonstrations coincided with the move of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after US President Donald Trump recognized the holy city as Israel’s capital. The timing coincided with Israel’s 70th Independence Day weekend.
The demonstrations took place in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and quickly devolved into chaos, mostly along the border between Israel and Gaza. Many of the injuries were related to the abundance of tear gas, while most of the deaths were from live ammunition the Israeli army used against protesters trying to breach the Israel-Gaza border fence.
Since then, most of the weekly demonstrations have been held along Israel’s border with the coastal enclave.