Israeli Air Raids Strike Ain Al-Hilweh Camp as Palestinian Refugees Mark Nakba Anniversary

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon marked the Nakba’s continuing grip on their lives as Israeli air raids targeted Lebanese territory and Palestinians in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon recalled flight stories that began in 1948.

“The pains of the Nakba and its memories accompany Palestinians in their wanderings and migrations, and in their distant and near exiles, as the Nakba and its bitterness remain present in the collective memory and part of their daily reality as if it happened only a few days ago, not about 78 years ago”

Al-Jazeera Net

Elders in the camps insisted on passing down to grandchildren the names of original villages and towns and the keys they carried as a symbol of unwavering faith in return, while refugee Zakia Hasneen, aged 79, recounted being displaced from Haifa and walking toward the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.

Al-Jazeera Net

Hasneen said she was told the absence would last only two days, but that it became “a lifetime spent in the alleys of the camps,” and she stressed that the idea of return remained the main driving force of her life despite eight decades passing.

The nearly 91-year-old Hajjah Bahiyah Saleh recalled displacement that began from the Palestinian town of Sblan and led to several stops in Lebanon, describing years as harsh and frightening as they ran at night along rough roads fleeing “the Zionist massacres committed against their villages.”

In Ramallah, Palestinians commemorated the Nakba’s 75th anniversary on Monday, May 15, gathering several thousand protesters who displayed Palestinian flags or black banners bearing the inscription 'return' in Arabic and English, along with the image of an old key.

Le Point reported that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 forced 760,000 Palestinians to flee their homes as the first Arab-Israeli war began, and it said Israel categorically rejects the 'right of return' demanded by those still alive and their descendants.

France 24

France 24 described the commemorations as a week in which Palestinians denounced new attempts to drive them from their lands, with black remembrance flags and Palestinian flags fluttering at crossroads as Israel made clear its intention to conquer Gaza and conducted military operations in the occupied West Bank.

In the same commemorations, France 24 quoted Malak Radwan saying, 'The Nakba is not simply a displacement,' and it quoted Lina Abou Kouweik insisting, 'Every day, we must talk about our country, tell what our ancestors did, and exactly what happened to them.'

The Nakba anniversary came as Israel continued a wide attack on Lebanon, leaving thousands of deaths and injuries and displacing more than a million people, a development that the sources said increased suffering for Palestinian refugees already living with displacement and economic hardship.

“Israel: fearing that history may repeat itself, the Palestinians commemorate the 'Nakba'”

France 24

جريدة القدس said Israeli forces were waging a wide attack on Lebanon and that the escalation increased the suffering of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who found themselves “once again under bombardment and renewed displacement,” while it also described Israel continuing to occupy Palestinian territories and parts of Syrian territories.

France Palestine Solidarité reported that Israel intensified its war against Lebanon on March 2 after Hezbollah attacked Israel for the first time in more than a year, and it said Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, warned that those displaced by fighting in Lebanon “will not go home” until the north of Israel itself is secure.

The same source said Israeli attacks and evacuation orders have displaced more than 800,000 people in Lebanon since March 2 and named Palestinian refugee camps affected in the city of Tyre including Rashidieh, Burj al-Shemali, and al-Buss, as well as Beirut camps Burj al-Barajneh and Chatila.