Press release issued by the Islamic Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas regarding the 70^th anniversary of the Nakba.

70 years ago, the Palestinian people were subjected to one of the greatest humanitarian and political tragedies in history which was perpetrated by Zionist gangs. The mass forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land, homes, villages and cities and the systematic ethnic cleansing in a string of mass genocides of the people of Palestine took place to establish what is known today as the “State of Israel”.  

The Nakba continuous till this very day. For the last 70 years Palestinians inside and outside the Palestinians territories have been suffering from the tragic events of the Nakba and have been struggling to regain their fundamental rights ever since.

It has been said that the Palestinian “old will die and the young will forget”. However, this has been proven all too wrong by the new descending generation of those who experienced the Nakba first hand. The new young generation never forgot the horrors that their grandparents experienced during 1948 and they are still fresh in their memory. They have stood firm against any efforts that aimed to uproot the indigenous people of Palestine from their homeland. They have remained steadfast in the face of the pressures imposed on them by the Israeli Occupation and have foiled numerous schemes aimed at liquidating the just Palestinian cause. They have taught the world how to live a dignified life under an Occupation by adhering to the national principles. They have evoked the battle of David and Goliath to the minds of people by resisting a heavily armoured and fully equipped military occupation with stones. And now they are showing the world that freedom comes at a price by peacefully participating in the Great March of Return to demand their right of return and to break the siege on Gaza, yet their bare chests proved to be hostile to the Israeli Occupation, as more than 50 innocent Palestinian civilians were gunned down by Israeli snipers since 30/3/2018.  

In light of the above, the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" confirms the following:

1- We praise the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948 occupied territories and diaspora who have sacrificed thousands of martyrs, wounded, and prisoners for the sake of regaining their right of return to their homeland. We reiterate our inalienable right of return and self-determination.    

2- We call on the Palestinian people to participate in the Great March of Return across the borders of historical Palestine to affirm the Palestinian’s right to return and self-determination.

3- We call upon our people to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba by uniting and achieving a national reconciliation as agreed upon in the Beirut meeting in January 2007.  We call on all factions to unite on resistance, renounce division, disagreement, exclusiveness and exclusion.

4. We reject the continuation of the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. We call on the occupation authorities and all those responsible to lift the siege on Gaza and end the suffering of the Palestinian people.

5- We confirm our outright rejection of US President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century” and we will undertake all efforts required to confront and foil this scheme that aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause.  

6- We reject all agreements, initiatives and settlement projects aimed at eliminating the Palestinian cause or diminishing the rights of the Palestinian people. Any political position, initiative or program should not affect these rights and should not be contradictory to Palestinians self-determination.

7- We appeal to the Arab and Islamic countries and all the free people of the world to stand by the Palestinian people and end their suffering by supporting their inalienable rights to freedom and independence.

8- We call upon the international community to bring those responsible for Palestinian injustice to the international courts and prevent the Israeli Occupation from continuing its terror acts against Palestinian.  

9- We reject all forms of normalization with the Israeli Occupation. We consider this to be an act of hostility against the Palestinians and a betrayal of their rights. We endorse the international boycott organizations, including BDS, and call upon the Arab and Islamic nations and the world to not engage with the Israeli Occupation on all levels and areas including culturally, politically or socially.

 The Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas"

13 / May / 2018