Jerusalem Wednesday May 15 2013, Palestinian medical sources reported that several Palestinians have been injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Bab Al-‘Amoud area in occupied East Jerusalem, after the army attacked Palestinian protesters marking the 65th Nakba anniversary. Israel sources reported that three soldiers have also been injured.Palestinian medics in Jerusalem said that dozens of Palestinians have been injured by rubber-coated metal bullets fired by the army, and due to the effects of teargas inhalation.
The Police also sprayed the protesters with waste-water mixed with chemicals, eyewitnesses have reported.
Furthermore, Mofeed Al-Haj, a lawyer working for the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that the army kidnapped 14 Palestinians in the city.
Al-Haj said that the army kidnapped the head of the PPS Nasser Qous, in addition to Yasser Qous, Kayed Ar-Rajaby, Ibrahim Al-Hindi, Jom’a Al-Rishiq, Ala’ Kharrouby, Sa’id Abu Al-Hawa, Nasser Ajaj, Ahmad Jaber, Amjad Abu Jom’a, Fadi Abu Lafy, Mahmoud Khalil Lafy, and resident Naim Barakat who was later moved to the Hadassah Israeli hospital after being violently kicked and beaten by the arresting officers.
The soldiers also kidnapped a reporter, identified as Tawfiq Abu Saliba, and released him later on.
The Nakba Day marks the Israeli occupation of the historic land of Palestine in 1948.
The word Nakba (catastrophe) refers to the massive destruction of more than 531 villages and towns, and that expulsion and displacement of more than 800.000 Palestinians out of their homeland, some to the West Bank and Gaza, while most to Arab countries and other countries around the world.
Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights has reported that “of the 11.4 million Palestinians worldwide, 66% are forcible displaced, (refugees and internally displaced people) and over half live in the Shatat (forced exile). Instead of an event relegated to history, the Nakba continues into its 65th year”.
In addition, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that the while statistical data shows that refugees constitute 42% of the entire Palestinian population, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that by mid-2013, 5.3 million Palestinians (45.7%) of the Palestinian population are refugees.
‘In 1948, 1.4 million Palestinians lived in 1,300 Palestinian towns and villages in historic Palestine. The Israelis controlled 774 towns and villages and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages during the Nakba. More than 800,000 of the population were driven out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab countries and other countries of the world’, the PCBS said.
