The Palestinian people will not forget their identity and the Palestinian refugees regardless of how much time passes, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in a special speech marking Nakba Day.
“We will fight all the plots aimed at dismissing our nation and the Palestinian refugee issue from the Middle East,” Abbas, who is currently visiting Japan, said.
At 12:00 p.m. (4 a.m. EDT) a siren was heard throughout the Palestinian Authority in commemoration of the 57th Nakba (catastrophe in Arabic) Day, which marks Israel's independence and the exodus of refugees from Palestine in 1948.
During his speech Abbas stressed the importance of the refugee issue.
“Peace must be based on the U.N. resolution that ensures the establishment of a Palestinian state and a just solution to the refugee problem, as was determined by the Arab peace initiative as well,” he said.
Abbas also sent a blessing to the Palestinian shahids (martyrs) “who have irrigated our homeland with their pure blood” and to the “heroic Palestinians that are behind bars as a result of their struggle for Palestine’s independence.”
Palestinian organizations said Nakba Day activities this year are focusing on the "rejection of calls to relinquish the right of return."
According to Palestinian Authority data, the Palestinian population stands at some 10 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom reside in the territories; at the end of 2004, the number of Palestinian refugees reached some 5 million: 3 million in Jordan, 900,000 in Lebanon and Syria, with the rest dispersed in Arab and other countries around the world.