Derry branch of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign to mark 76th anniversary of Nakba
The Derry branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) has called on the people of Derry to join them in a march of remembrance and solidarity to marking the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba at the weekend.
‘Nakba’, translated from Arabic means ‘catastrophe’, and relates to the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 during the Palestinian war.
At the end of the war, according to the United Nations, there was a ‘permanent displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population’.
Currently, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), ‘more than 5 million Palestine refugees are scattered throughout the Middle East’.
"Today, Palestinians continue to be dispossessed and displaced by Israeli settlements, evictions, land confiscation and home demolitions,” the UN states.
Derry IPSC spokesperson Catherine Hutton encouraged people to support the march.
“Today the world watches in horror as two million Palestinians are displaced by force from their homes in Gaza.
"To create the apartheid state of Israel over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their land.
“Over the next 76 years there has not been a time when Palestinians have not faced brutal repression and displacement.
“The greatest injustice in the world today is the plight of the Palestinians.
“In Derry we know about injustice. We know about solidarity. So again we ask people to take to the streets for Palestine,” said Ms. Hutton.
The march will leave Guildhall Square in Derry city centre at 1pm on Saturday, May 18.