Nakba Commemoration Held on National Mall

ELAINE PASQUINI

The Palestinian community held a rally on the National Mall on May 15, 2022 to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Nakba. (STAFF PHOTO E. PASQUINI)51111111111 Votes 5.00

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2022, pp. 58-59

Waging Peace

ON MAY 15, thousands of Palestinian supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in 1948 to enable the creation of the State of Israel.

At the rally, which occurred four days after the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper, many in the crowd carried posters displaying the image of the 51-year-old veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera. 

Sporting keffiyeh scarfs, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs reading “Stop the Occupation” and “Justice for Shireen,” protesters and several speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement denounced the continuing occupation and confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government. Palestinians at the rally also demanded their right to return to their ancestral homeland, a right Israel has continuously denied them since 1948.

Even though Abu Akleh was “killed by bullets paid for by American taxpayers, there is no outrage whatsoever from this country,” Rev. Graylan Hagler told the crowd. “As we talk about the resistance in Ukraine, let’s talk about war crimes in Israel…and apartheid.”

The rally was organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, American Muslims for Palestine, the U. S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Elaine Pasquini

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