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Zionism driving force behind Nakba, occupation

Statements

This picture will appear on a giant screen in New York's Time Square from 7-7:30 p.m., Friday, May 16 as part of AMP-New Jersey's Nakba campaign.

Commemorate the Nakba by getting active for Palestine

flag(CHICAGO 05/14/2014) – Another year in Palestinian dispossession has come and gone. Today, we mark 66 years of Al Nakba, the catastrophe of death, destruction, and exile that resulted from the Jewish Zionist occupation of Palestine. 

Though the Nakba commemoration coincides with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, it is not a one-time event. Rather, the Nakba continues in current Israeli policies meant to collectively punish the Palestinian people, making their lives so unbearable they leave their homeland forever. 

Political Zionism is a racist ideology that has at its core the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. 

“The concept of ‘transferring’ European Jews to Palestine and ‘transferring’ the Palestinian people out is central to Zionism,” Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, said in 1944.

The late Ariel Sharon, a former Israeli prime minister, told Agence France Press in 1998 that, “… there is no Zionism, colonization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.” He furthered clarified to the London Times that Israel won’t put Palestinians on “trucks and drive them away,” but rather Israel will “induce people to leave” by making their lives difficult.

Difficult is an understatement. The Israeli military occupation controls every aspect of Palestinian life. 

 

Since 1967, Israeli Occupation Forces have demolished more than 27,000 Palestinian homes, while more than 500,000 Jews currently are colonizing the West Bank and Jerusalem, illegally appropriating increasingly more Palestinian land. Also since 1967, the Israeli military has detained more than 700,000 Palestinians – 20 percent of the population - according to the First International Conference on the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees held in Geneva in March 2011. More than 5,000 Palestinian political prisoners currently are being detained in prisons within Israel, a direct violation of international law. In addition, the siege on Gaza will render the area uninhabitable within the next six years, according to the United Nations. And the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank and Jerusalem have denied Palestinians’ freedom of movement. More than 7 million Palestinian refugees are prohibited from returning to their homeland, in contravention of international law. 

Life under occupation is precarious. Israeli Occupation Forces and Jewish settlers have killed more than 1,500 Palestinian children since 2000 and injured more than 6,000, according to media reports. More than 10,000 children have been arrested during that time period and currently more than 200 children are being held illegally in Israeli prisons. 

We cannot sit idly by while the Nakba continues.

The American Muslims for Palestine continues its efforts to raise awareness and educate the public about how their tax dollars support this illegal and unjust regime. 

AMP Nakba efforts include:

Reproducing its book, “The Nakba: Preserving our Narrative,” in a CD format included inside an information eco-wallet.

Republishing an updated “Palestine 101” brochure.

Leafletting in major cities to pass out tens of thousands Palestine 101 brochures.

Hosting Right of Return expert Dr. Salman Abu Sitta at events in New Jersey, Chicago and Minnesota.

New York City rally and leafleting by AMP-NJ and AMP-Bronx on May 16.

Annual outdoor Nakba commemoration and Palestine heritage celebration by AMP-Chicago on May 17.

Day-long symposium with two panel discussions and film screening by AMP-San Francisco Bay Area on May 24.

Take Action

AMP encourages you to become involved in the work being done in the United States to raise awareness about the occupation and the Israeli apartheid state. Take these few simple steps to become part of the solution: