State of Palestine: Ramallah march marks Al Nakba ahead of ‘catastrophe’ commemorations

Thousands poured on to the streets of Ramallah, Wednesday, to take part in rallies marking the upcoming Nakba Day on May 15, the date where millions commemorate the displacement of Palestinians following the Declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and keys symbolising the houses Palestinians fled in 1948, with hundreds of servicemen marching through the West Bank city. The annual demonstrations mark 67 years since the exile of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. The day is known in Arabic as Al Nakba, or 'the catastrophe' in English. The event is commemorated on May 15, the day 67 years ago which followed the expiration of the British Mandate and the mass exile of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians as Zionist forces moved to occupy territories outside the previously agreed partition agreement. Israeli forces took over 78 percent of Palestinian territory in the space of a few weeks. Previous Al Nakba Day celebrations have ended in violence, including in 2012 when dozens of Palestinians died during rallies in Gaza, Lebanon and the Golan Heights.