The Palestinians commemorated the 65th Nakba anniversary by holding rallies, conferences and meetings in cities across Palestine, issuing press releases and publishing articles on websites. The youth took to social media to stress the right of return and posted pictures of the 1948 Palestinian displacement.

On Wednesday, May 15, the Supreme National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba organized a rally and a festival in the Gaza Strip, including sounding sirens and a observing a minute of silence in the morning. Public participation was noticeably weak as Palestinians, especially the youth, are frustrated about the futility of these activities in light of the political division between Hamas and Fatah.

Participating in the rally, which made its way from the monument of the Unknown Soldier to the UN headquarters in Gaza City, were a few thousand Palestinian activists, some of whom raised keys to their original houses in 1948 to assert that they are hanging on to their land.

They also raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans demanding the implementation of UN resolution 194. Their banners read “We will come back to our Palestinian villages and cities no matter how long it takes,” “Our right of return is a sacred and inalienable,” “Palestine is an Arab and Muslim land. We cannot give up one inch of it,” “Yes to the right of return. No to the projects of displacement” and “We will definitely return.”