ASHRAFF.A.SAMAD
COLOMBO: The 75th Anniversary of Nakba -the catastrophe Continues without Justice for Palestinians meeting – organized by Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine – Events was held at Mount Lavniya Beach on Monday, May 15
Presided over by Palestine Ambassador in Sri Lanka Dr. Zuhair Hamdallah Zaid, former M.P for JVP Bimal Rathnayake , Former Minister Imtiaz Barkeer Markar (M.P) Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine Secretary Fowzer Farook and ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, , Russia, Egypt, Iran, and Bangladesh were present .
Palestine Ambassador Dr. Zuhair Hamdallah Zaid addressed the gathering – “ As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of Nakba the Catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinian people, the fact that the Palestinians are still suffering without justice being meted out to them during all these years is a serious indictment on the international community.
The Palestinian suffering has long history that precedes Nakba, It dates back to the horrendous Balfour Declaration in Britain issued in 1917 and the 1947 United Nations Resolution 181 which approved the unfair division of historical Palestine giving 45 percent of the land to the Palestinians who constituted 70 percent of the population and 55 percent of the land to the Jews. who were 30 percent of the population A substantial number of these Jews were recent migrants from Europe.
“ But what was see today is only the existence of Israel and no Palestinian state. Much of the territory remarked by the UN resolution is under occupation by Israel which is continuing its land grabbing and settlement building activities in occupied Palestine.
957,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their original homes. estimated. 531 Palestinian villages were completely destroyed by the Israeli authorities after the forced displacement of the Palestinian from them in 1948.
Zionist militias committed 51 documented massacres’ against Palestinian civilians during the Nakba . Dozens of other massacres were committed after that. 15.000 martyrs were victims of the Zionist massacres
35 % of the Palestinians live in 58 refugee camps in their homeland”.
