OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, May 15 (IslamOnline) - Every year, Palestinians in the occupied territories mark the memory of Al-Nakba, or the “Catastrophe”, the day of the establishment of the state of Israel on the land of Palestine, with a strike and with women clad in black. This year, women are still clad in black, but no strike has been called because life in the occupied territories is already paralyzed.

Fifty four years ago, the state of Israel was established on Palestinian land May 15, 1948, hours after the British mandate on Palestine was declared over May 14.

Ever since, the Palestinian people have suffered expulsion and persecution at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces.

Palestinians’ commemoration of the Nakba take various forms. National and Islamic movements call on people to come out in active demonstrations and educational zones also call for increasing awareness among the students on the sufferings of the Palestinian people.

In refugee camps and Palestinian cities, people call a strike demanding the right to return. In ordinary family gatherings, however, Palestinians remember the Nakba by talking about their past in the lands they used to own before they were expelled and forced to live in refugee camps in 1948.

The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, this year confirmed it will carry on with resistance against occupation, saying resistance was the only way to get rights back to its owners.

Sheikh Hassan Youssef, Hamas spokesman in the city of Ramallah, said that the movement has called for large demonstrations to go out Wednesday, May 15, to city centers and Palestinian districts to express their refusal of the occupation and to demand the return of every Palestinian to the land he was expelled from in 1948.

Speaking to IslamOnline, Sheikh Youssef said that Palestinian people are living in a war zone, where it is very difficult to move around.

He said that more than five million Palestinians were expelled from their homes and millions of Jews were brought in to replace them to form what is now known as the “state of Israel”.

“This is not easy,” Sheikh Youssef said. “We will never forget that or forget what atrocities the occupation forces commit every day against the Palestinian people.”

Ezzeldine al-Sharif, the mayor of Tulkarem, said that Palestinians remember the Nakba with grief and with bidding their martyrs farewell.

“There are several awareness sessions being held in Tulkarem to inform people about their history and village and several television stations have devoted their effort to deepen the memory in the hearts of the Palestinians,” he told IslamOnline.

Al-Sharif said that the Friday sermons May 17 will also focus on this painful memory and will emphasize how Palestinians face massacres every day.

Mohamad Saeed Abu-Ajamya, a refugee in Ramallah who works as a journalist, said that the British occupation left the land to two peoples and left them to fight over it.

He said that people will never forget their land or property. “I personally will never forget my land and property which I lost in the area of ‘Mighlis’ near Ramla village,” he said.

Dr. Naef Jarad, of the committee of defending Palestinian refugees in Tulkarem, said that this year’s activities to mark the occasion are different since many refugees have been massacred in and expelled from Jenin refugee camp and a large part of the events will be in solidarity with the atrocities that the camp went through.

Regarding celebrations on ground, Sulaiman Fahmawi, head of the committee, said that as the Israelis were celebrating the occasion of “Israel’s independence”, we organized an opposing carnival and student demonstrations falling for the right to return.

“We are also organizing a lecture in the University of Tel Aviv for Arab Students focusing on the ‘Nakba’ and what it means to remember it,” he said.

He added that they are organizing a march Wednesday that will include the city of Haifa and will pass through the old Arab areas. Civic organizations, political parties and Arab members of the Knesset will take part in the march.

Banners will be put up on graves, mosques and ancient places, highlighting that these areas are Palestinian.

“There are nearly 250 thousand Palestinians now outside their villages inside the Green Line,” said Fahmawi, adding that some of them are only a few meters away from their land and yet are not allowed into it.

In the city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) south of the West Bank, Mohammad Omran Al-Qawasma, director of the Education Zone, said that he asked the teachers to remind the students of “Al-Nakba” during the morning assembly and in class.