RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinians marked on Sunday, May 15 the blackest day in their history when their homeland was usurped to establish the state of Israel, with warnings that there would be no peace until they have their independent state and the plight of refugees is solved.

Fifty-seven years on from the establishment of Israel on the rubble of Palestine, an event known by Arabs and Muslims as Nakba (catastrophe), demonstrations were held across the occupied territories and neighboring countries, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Palestinians on foot and in cars stopped and observed two-minute silence at midday throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to help keep their cause vivid.

In Gaza City, several thousand Palestinians gathered in the city center with banners and placards demanding the right of return.

In Lebanon, some 2,000 Palestinian refugees in the country’s largest refugee camp of Ain Al-Helweh commemorated the loss of their homes and land.

Around 3,000 refugees further demonstrated in the northern camp of Beddawi, calling for their right to return to their homes.

There are around 370,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, according to an AFP count.

Some 800,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes after the Zionist Menachem Begin's Irgun group attacked Palestinian villages and cities on April 18, 1948.

On April 25, Irgun began bombarding civilian sectors of the Palestinian city of Jaffa - the largest city in Palestine at that time.

On May 14, the day before the creation of Israel on the bodies of the Palestinians, Jaffa completely surrendered to the much better-equipped Zionist gangs.

“Our wound is still bleeding 57 years later,” said Qurei.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said regional stability was dependent on a just solution to his people's cause.

“Peace, stability and security in the Middle East can only be achieved with a just solution to our cause, based on international resolutions, which stress our people's right to an independent state with Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) as its capital,” he said in comments broadcast to mark Nakba Day.

The Palestinian leader said peace was also dependent on “achieving a just and agreed solution to the refugees issue”.

Abbas is himself a refugee, having been born in the town of Safed in what is now northern Israel.

In another Nakba speech, Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei said “our wound is still bleeding 57 years later.”

“Al-Quds is under occupation, facing great danger, settlements are expanding daily, the separation wall is strangling our land and peace (hopes) are faltering,” Reuters quoted Qurei as telling the Palestinian parliament.

The main resistance movement Hamas stressed that the right of return was inalienable “and cannot be overturned by anyone.”

“Our people are committed to returning to their villages and no one outside can negate this right,” it said.

Millions of Palestinians were driven out of their homes in the 1948 and 1967 wars and constitute today up to eight million people, according to the Palestinian Statistics Agency.

In their third conference, hosted by Vienna on May 8, Palestinians in Europe reiterated commitment to their inalienable right of return.

US President George W. Bush angered and unnerved Palestinians a year ago when he said Israel could not be expected to allow the return of Palestinian refugees.

He also said he could not envision Israel having to leave the entire West Bank, raising Palestinian fears for the viability of their would-be state.

The first Palestinian atlas was launched in March to document for the generations to come territories usurped and occupied by Israeli troops.