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GUEST: Haneen Zoabi, originally from Nazareth, member of the political bureau of the Arab National Al-Tajamu’ party, lecturer at Mar Elias College in Ibillin, Palestine

President Bush visited Israel this week to mark the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Jewish nation – an event that Palestinians name Al Nakba, or the Catastrophe. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said in a televised speech, “After 60 years since the ‘Nakba,’ the time has come for the Palestinian people to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.” Within hours of Bush’s arrival, a rocket fired from Gaza struck a mall in Ashkelon injuring dozens. The rocket attack was preceded by Israeli airstrikes that killed four people in the Gaza strip.

Sixty years ago, the formation of Israel resulted in more than 700,000 Palestinians or two-thirds of the Palestinian population being forced into exile by Israeli troops. More than 450 towns and villages were depopulated and then demolished to prevent the return of the refugees. Some journalists reflecting in the Palestinian press argue that the events of 1948 have never really ended. One writer in Al Ayyam said, “The situation today is a repeat of the 1948 al-Nakba, but with different participants. The same scene is repeated: land is confiscated while the settlement expansion increases as if in a race against time.

While most of the US press focused their coverage entirely on the Israeli celebrations, Palestinians organized many commemorations of Al Nakba. Palestinians in Lebanon marched peacefully along the Israel-Lebanon border in the North, making a human chain called the “March of Return.” The Palestinian Authority stopped work and traffic while the Hamas government suspended schools and universities to mark the occasion. Thousands of black balloons were flown over several West Bank cities and Jerusalem as a sign of grief over the creation of Israel and in protest of Bush’s visit.

Haneen Zoabi will be speaking at the Al-Awda Convention May 16-18, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 11767 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840. More information at www.al-awda.org or call 760-685-3243.