Salaam

Thousands of Palestinians have marched in West Bank towns ahead of the “Nakba Day” which marks the 63rd anniversary of evicting Palestinians from their homes by Israelis.

Marchers in Beit Lahm (Bethlehem) held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their optimism to return home. Meanwhile, in Gaza City, hundreds of children took part in a march while holding placards with the names of the villages and towns forcefully taken over by Israeli occuppiers in 1948.

Palestinians refer to May 15, 1948 as the “Nakba Day” or catastrophe. In that year, Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries. The soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later.

Meanwhile, organizers have urged mass street presence on Friday and Saturday and have said that “peaceful marches will be held to demand our natural right of return” to the Palestinian homeland. However, Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on Thursday that some Muslims would be denied entry to Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday when Palestinians begin mourning the fabrication of Israel, Ynetnews reported.

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Al-Quds (Jerusalem) district police spokesman Shmulik Ben Rubi said that access would be restricted to blue Israeli identity paper-holders, men aged over 45 and women.

Israel to limit access to al-Aqsa

Israel says it will restrict access to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound ahead of the 63rd anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army, also known as the Day of Nakba (Catastrophe). Shmulik Ben Rubi, an Israeli police spokesman, says only men over 45 and women holding Israeli-issued identity cards will be allowed to enter the mosque compound on Friday, AFP reported on Thursday.

He added that Israeli police will be deployed around the site in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to reinforce the restriction. The latest development comes as Palestinians have begun ceremonies marking the major grievance and aim to hold a series of other demonstrations in the run-up to the Day of Nakba on Sunday. The event marks the anniversary of a 1948 event, when Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

The soldiers wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million refugees dreaming of an eventual return to their homeland more than six decades later. Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians also plan to cross into the blockaded Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing on Sunday.

The Egyptians intend to hold a major protest rally against the years-long Israeli siege of Gaza as well. The Israeli regime laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after the democratically-elected Hamas lawmakers took over the administration of the enclave.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory. Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

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