After more than 70 years of the Nakba, Gaza refugees have raised their voices through the Great March of Return. A day after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war, Ahmad Kabariti asked protesters what they were thinking about on this Nakba Day.
At least 58 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,700 wounded by Israeli forces on Monday as protest spread across Gaza in the bloodiest day in the strip since 2014. According to the Great March of Return organizers, around 50,000 protesters were gathered along the Gaza border as the new U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem. “I am waiting for those youth if they could pull down the fence, then I will cross with them into my father’s land,” said Ahmed Abu Reyaleh, a 65-year-old retired chemistry teacher, whose family was originally from the Bayt Jirja village (15.5 km northeast of Gaza). “We have not been created to be under occupation for our whole life, so it’s time to say enough.”
On Friday, Israeli snipers killed a Palestinian and wounded 170 protesters in Gaza in the final Friday protest before the culmination of the March of Return on Nakba Day, May 15th. “People here are tired of life and futile peace negotiations for 25 years with a state does not want peace and denies right of the other people to exist,” Etaf Wadi, 56, told Mondoweiss. “The United States has used 43 vetoes against the Palestinians, but we have the right to freedom, and the superpowers will not give it to us so that we will take our right by our own hands.”
A video taken on May 4, 2018 east of the town of Khuza’a in the southern Gaza Strip shows an interaction between Israeli troops and protesters taking part in the Great March of Return. An Israeli officer threatens to shoot protesters for as little as waving a stick.
At least 70 Palestinians were injured by Israeli live fire Friday, the lowest casualty toll since the protests began at the Gaza fence five weeks ago. Medics also treated 1,073 people, for tear gas inhalation, the Gaza health ministry said, but it was the first day no Palestinian was killed by Israeli sniper fire.
Israel killed four more Palestinian demonstrators on the fifth Friday of Gaza protests, April 27. The fourth victim, Azzam Hillal, 15, died of his wounds on Saturday after being shot in the head. The demonstrations were marked by enormous kites with flaming coals on their tails, destined for fields in Israel.
For the fourth week yesterday, on a peaceful and unilateral battlefield, thousands of angry young Palestinian men went close to the border fence separating Gaza and Israel to protest, facing dozens of Israeli soldiers who lay positioned behind sandy hills. Four Palestinians were killed by live ammunition, and another 152 injured.
For the third consecutive Friday, Deema Abu Sharekh preferred to spend her school weekend participating…
Ahmad Kabariti reports from the second week of protests in Gaza’s Great March of Return. Israeli troops killed 10 more Palestinians but the people Kabariti spoke to were united in their goal to return to the lands their familes were displaced from during the Nakba. “I do not care about pain,” Mohammed Abu Eida tells Kabariti. “I sit here to tell them that I will go back to Jaffa with my family.”
Mohammed Abu Amr’s last creation on the beach in Gaza was a sand sculpture that said, “I will return.” A day later he was killed along with 16 other Palestinians demonstrating on the 42nd anniversary of Land Day. He had been planning to carve a 100-meter map of Palestine along with a huge key on the beach to coincide with upcoming anniversary of the Nakba, and his friends have completed his mission. “This sandy map was Mohammed’s uncompleted dream,” artist Osama Sbeata tells Mondoweiss.