Palestinians mark 66 years of exile: A catastrophe that continues

On this day 66 years ago, the greatest catastrophe of the Palestinian people began, which continues to this day, writes the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

The day marking the beginning of the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land by Zionist forces, which began on May 15, 1948, is called the Day of Catastrophe (Nakba). But it is still ongoing. Even 66 years later, before the eyes of the world public, Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian civilians and their children daily.

- For us, May 15 is the day of catastrophe, but Jews celebrate it concurrently as Israel's Independence Day - says Majed Maarouf, president of the Association "Palestinian Community" BiH and former ambassador of Palestine to BiH, for Patria.

He founded the association with several friends in Sarajevo a few days ago, and their goal, he says, is to help their people fight against the injustice that Israel has been inflicting on them for decades. Currently, several hundred Palestinians live in BiH for business or educational reasons, but none of them, says Maarouf, have forgotten their Palestine.

Palestinians will say that the Zionists, aided by Western powers who wanted to atone for the suffering of Jews in World War II, gained legal right to occupy Palestinian land and kill and displace its inhabitants, which they continue to do to this day.

In the late 1940s, 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from the territory of Palestine out of a total of 1,400,000, and Jewish immigrants from all over the world moved into their homes, properties, and businesses.

- Palestinians were driven out of their homes and expelled to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and a large number of them were expelled to Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria - to the Golan, Maarouf explains to NAP.

In 1918, Jews constituted only 8% of the total population in Palestine, and today, in the territory of historical Palestine, out of 11.8 million people living there, about six million are Jews, or about 51%. However, these 51% of Jews own as much as 85% of the land area.

During the Nakba, Israel occupied 774 villages and towns, and completely destroyed 531. In about 70 massacres against the Palestinian people committed by Israelis at the time, 70,000 Palestinians were killed.

- Regardless of the fact that Western powers continue to support Israel, the Palestinian people will never stop fighting for their national goal: the establishment of an independent state within the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of refugees in accordance with UN Resolution No. 194 - Maarouf states, writes Patria.