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Palestinians express outrage
15/05/2008 11:38 - (SA)
Ramallah, West Bank - Palestinians planned protests across the occupied territories on the 60th anniversary of the "catastrophe" of the birth of Israel on Thursday as the Jewish state's army went on high alert.
The commemoration of the Naqba, or "catastrophe" - the defeat of five invading Arab armies and the expulsion or flight of about 760 000 people - comes as US President George W Bush was to address Israel's parliament.
In the occupied West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem, activists plan to release 21 915 black balloons - one for each day since Israel's creation in 1948 - to darken the skies over Jerusalem after a massive protest to be held midday in Ramallah.
"Sixty years ago we were pushed into exodus and suffered an injustice. Today we call upon the world to give our people justice," Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, himself a 1948 refugee, said this week.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized power nearly a year ago the Islamist movement has called for a march to the Erez crossing with Israel to protest a "new Naqba" - a crippling months-old Israeli blockade.
Two-thirds of the 1.5 million people in impoverished Gaza are refugees, the vast majority of them living off food handouts from the United Nations.
"The Palestinian people will not be silent about this slow death and will take full responsibility for breaking the siege," Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhum said this week, adding that he expected "great numbers" of protestors.
Since the armed movement - which is pledged to Israel's destruction and has launched hundreds of crude, homemade rockets at southern Israel - took power in June, Israel has sealed Gaza off from all but vital humanitarian aid.
Complete indifference
Israeli forces have mobilised along the border to prevent any "provocative acts" and in the past have warned Hamas against marching on the border.
"The IDF (Israeli military) has concentrated large forces in those areas suspected of demonstrations," Major Avital Leibovich told AFP.
The army "is planning to take strong measures against any provocative acts of Hamas that may cause damage to the security of Israel", she said.
Bush is to address the Israeli parliament or Knesset in Jerusalem as part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the birth of the Jewish state.
The visit, which was also intended to encourage the Middle East peace process, has already been marred by violence, with a Gaza rocket slamming into an Israeli shopping mall hours after Bush's arrival, wounding 14 people.
Israeli Arab lawmakers will be boycotting the speech, and Palestinians have expressed outrage at the decision to hold the event on their Naqba Day.
Bush is "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the region", MP Jamal Zahalka, one of 10 parliamentarians from the three Arab parties who will boycott the speech, said on Wednesday.
"His speech... shows complete indifference to the Naqba of the Palestinian people and its suffering."
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