Muslim World News On-line
Date of Publication: May 2000
INDONESIAN MUSLIMS FOR GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE
Bismillaahirrahmaanirrahiim.
Assalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarokaatuh
* PALESTINIANS in ISRAEL BOYCOTT ISRAELI INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS
* STATEMENT by the NATIONAL COMMITTEE for the DEFENSE of INTERNALLY
DISPLACED PALESTINIANS in Israel
For the first time since 1948, the Palestinian community in Israel has
issued a united call for a public boycott of the celebrations of Israel*s
"Independence Day " (14 May 2000). The boycott is led by the National
Committee for the Defense of the Internally Displaced Palestinians in
Israel in cooperation with the Arab Monitoring Committee composed of
Palestinian mayors and members of Knesset, political parties, and national
institutions. A celebration staged by the Israeli authorities in the
Palestinian town of Shafa*amr on May 7, was met by a Palestinian counter
demonstration which led to violent confrontations with the police and
resulted in 20 Palestinian injuries and 30 arrests.
At the end of 1947, Mandatory Palestine was the home of some 1,280,000
Palestinian Arabs who owned 93% of the land. The violent confrontations
between Zionist forces and local Palestinian militia following the collapse
of the UN-sponsored "Petition Plan" (November 1947), and the consequent
Israeli-Arab war in 1948 led to the forceful eviction of at least 800,000
Palestinian Arabs. While the large majority of them were eventually pushed
across the borders of the new Israeli state, tens of thousands remained as
internally displaced refugees inside the territory that became Israel. They
were part of the some 150,000 Palestinians who had remained in Israel after
the Palestinian NAKBA (tragedy).
By 1999, only 3% of the land has remained under Palestinian ownership. The
number of internally displaced Palestinians living within the borders of
the Israeli state is estimated to be 250,000 (approximately 20% of the
total Palestinian population), most of them living in the Galilee, the
central triangle, the mixed cities in the center, and in the Naqab.
Internally displaced Palestinians, forced out of their original homes and
villages in 1948, found shelter in neighboring Palestinian towns and
villages or in makeshift refugee camps not far from their homes. In 1950,
internally displaced Palestinians were defined as "present absentees" under
the Israeli Absentees* Property Law. Areas of high Palestinian population
concentration were placed under Israeli military rule, freedom of movement,
expression, organization, and use of property were subject to tight
restrictions. Although internally displaced Palestinians were eventually
accorded Israeli citizenship under the 1952 Israeli Nationality Law, they
have been prevented to return to their homes and lands.
THEIR INDPENDENCE DAY - THE DAY OF OUR TRAGEGY
Statement by the National Committee for the Defense of the Internally
Displaced in Israel, May 2000.
Dear Palestinian People,
When David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of Israel, announced the
independence of the Jewish State and promised peace for the people of the
region, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcefully evicted -
massacres and planned eviction - by armed gangs headed by the Haganah, the
predecessor of the "Israeli Defense Army". Between night and dawn,
two-thirds of our people became refugees without shelter but for the sky
over the refugee camps. The Zionist gangs did not suffice with the eviction
of almost one million Palestinians, but also totally destroyed 530 Arab
villages and cities. They confiscated our lands and properties by means of
unjust laws and considered our people as "absentees", although they are
still present and alive.
Fifty-two years later, our people still suffer from the harsh conditions in
the refugee camps, as well as the restrictive policies and the iron hand
implemented the Arab regimes without exception and climaxing in massacres
from "Black September" (Jordan, 1970), Tel az-Z*atar (Lebanon, 1976), until
Sabra and Shatila (Lebanon, 1982). Our people continue to look to
Palestine, hoping to return. They reject all alternatives of compensation
and resettlement.
We the internally displaced Palestinians suffer a double pain. We have
remained near our destroyed villages and towns. With pain we listen to the
silent prayers of our mosques and the silent call of our church bells -
silenced since our eviction and transformed into stables for the settlers*
cattle and sites of prostitution and drug abuse. They desecrate the
cemeteries of our ancestors who, for 52 years, have not stopped appealing
to our conscience and the conscience of humanity.
Yes, they took our land by massacres and by the eviction of two thirds of
our Palestinian people. They destroyed our villages, confiscated our lands,
and consider us absentees. They instigate the Arab regimes to implement the
most abominable massacres, even inside the refugee camps. They who
practice the policy of ethnic cleansing against us, who are considered
citizens in the "oasis of democracy in the Middle East", are celebrating -
in conjunction with their allies and spies - their "independence day", the
day of our Nakba (tragedy).
Based on our beliefs and our sense of belonging to the Palestinian people,
on our commitment to return, and our rejection of all alternatives of
compensation and resettlement, we call upon our Palestinian people in
Israel, the internally displaced, to participate in the activities
organized by the National Committee for the Defense of the Internally
Displaced Palestinians in Israel:
1. Visits of the destroyed villages organized by the Local Committees of
the Internally Displaced on the morning of Wednesday, 10 May 2000,
especially the visit to Umm al-Zeinat village (10:00 a.m.)
2. "Return March" organized by the National Committee for the Defense of
Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel on Wednesday, 10 May 2000
(15:30). The March will lead from Kaboul village to the destroyed
village of Damoun; participants will carry signs with the names of our
destroyed villages.
3. Public Rally for the commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the
Palestinian Nakba organized by the National Committee for the Defense of
Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel with the participation of
all political parties on Monday 15 May 2000 (at 5:00 p.m. in the Sports
Hall/Umm al Fahm, near the secondary school).
We call upon all our people to boycott all celebrations of the independence
of Israel, official and non-official, and to participate in the national
activities which reaffirm our belonging to our People and our Land!
Shafa*amr, 10 May 2000,
The National Committee for the Defense of Internally Displaced
Palestinians in Israel,
Spokesperson, tel. 050-267679
Wassalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarokaatuh
(DI-12/05/00)
Source : IAP-NET
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