Clashes erupt as Palestinians mark Nakba Day

Clashes broke out near Ramallah on Tuesday as around a thousand Palestinians gathered to mark the “catastrophe” which befell them when Israel was founded in 1948. The clashes at Beitunia checkpoint near Ofer military prison began as people gathered for annual May 15 demonstrations to remember the “Nakba,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that accompanied Israel’s declaration of independence. As the crowds grew, youths hurled stones at Israeli troops who fired a barrage of tear gas, metal pellets and rubber bullets in a bid to break up the demonstration, an AFP correspondent said. Many could be seen with blood on their faces as they waved black flags and roared angry slogans. Clashes also broke out at Qalandiya checkpoint south of Ramallah, where youths hurled stones at Israeli troops, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them, AFP correspondents said. A source at Ramallah’s government hospital told AFP that 17 people had been injured, 15 at Beitunia and another two at Qalandia. But this year’s clashes were largely low-level, and stood in stark contrast with the Nakba Day events of 2011 when thousands tried to breach Israel’s northern frontiers, prompting troops to open fire, killing 10 people and injuring hundreds. Earlier, sirens wailed throughout Ramallah and people observed a minute’s silence before several hundred people gathered in Clock Square for a demonstration. Throughout the city, cars were decked out with black flags carrying a picture of a key and the word “return” in English and Arabic to remember homes they left or were forced from which are now inside Israel, an AFP correspondent said. “Al-Nakba is a sombre occasion that the international community must use to right the historical injustice that befell the Palestinian people,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said in a statement. “If Israel is truly interested in peace and a two-state solution, it should recognise the rights and the suffering of our people,” he said.
Further north, several thousand people gathered in Nablus city centre waving flags and calling for the right of return, with a similar number showing up in the southern city of Hebron.