Palestinians commemorate 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, "the disaster"
Audio 01:18
Israeli Arabs gather atop a mosque in the city of Lod on May 13, 2021, during clashes with Israeli far-right extremists.
AFP - AHMAD GHARABLI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Airstrikes by the Israeli army in Gaza, rocket fire by Hamas against the territory of the Hebrew state, clashes continue in the Middle East.
They have left more than 120 dead, mostly Palestinians.
And this Saturday the Palestinians commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, literally "
the catastrophe ".
In 1948 when the State of Israel was created, 700,000 Arabs were driven from their land and forcibly displaced.
So for the Palestinians this sad anniversary reopens the wounds of the past.
Report from Lod, a mixed Israeli town where Arab and Jewish families live together.
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With our special correspondent in Lod
,
Sami Boukhelifa
In the historic center of Lod, Youcef Mohamed, goes to the mosque.
He was only a child during the Nakba.
But he keeps a painful memory of this period.
“
One day, people came and colonized us by force,” he
says.
They wanted to dictate our conduct to us.
And we ended up accepting their laws.
And since then, Jews and Arabs have been able to live in peace.
But there is a group among the Jews called the Core of the Torah, they are supremacists who want this land to be exclusively Jewish.
They don't want an Arab presence.
"
► To read also:
Pro-Gaza demonstration on the Mosques esplanade
Israeli police helicopters fly over the city.
Lod is currently the scene of intercommunity clashes.
In 1948, Arab, Christian or Muslim families, who did not undergo the forced exodus, were locked in ghettos, tell the elders of the city.
Later, their members became Israeli citizens, like Ghassan Mneir: “
We are not equal with the Jews.
We have been mistreated for more than 70 years since the Nakba.
The government sees us as its enemies.
Here we have no rights.
We have always suffered discrimination.
"
In Lod, where a state of emergency has been declared because of intercommunal violence, Israeli Arabs intend to commemorate the Nakba.
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