MAY 15
Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة Yawm an-Nakbah, meaning "day of the catastrophe") is an annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of the displacement and ethnic cleansing of nearly a million Palestinians that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
On this day, Palestinians go out and protest to demand the right of return, and the liberation of all Palestinian land from the occupation, to name just a couple of things. We won't forget, and we won't forgive.
(photo: www.annepaq.com)
keys to homes in palestine, many palestinians, within palestine and in the diaspora, have these, even if the home the key is meant to open is no longer there, or if they will never see it again; we hold on to these keys representing the right to return.
art by the brilliant brazillian cartoonist carlos latuff.
From the poem I Call On You by Palestinian poet Tawfiq Zayyad (translated by Asad Abu Khalil):
I call on you
I press your hands
I kiss the ground under your feet
and I say: I sacrifice myself for you
I give you as a gift
the light of my eyes
and the warmth of heart, I give you
My tragedy that I live
Is my share of your tragedies
I call on you
I press your hands
I kiss the ground under your feet
and I say: I sacrifice myself for you
I did not humiliate myself in my homeland
and I did not lower my shoulders
I stood facing my oppressors
orphaned, naked, and bare foot
I call on you
I press your hands
I kiss the ground under your feet
and I say: I sacrifice myself for you
I carried my blood on my palm
I never lowered my flags
and I cared for the green grass
over the graves of my ancestors
