On May 18^th, the Academic Program for the Study of Involuntary Migration at An-Najah University organized a number of events to mark the 63 anniversary for the Palestinian Nakba Day (1948 Exodus) on May 15^th every year. This Exodus has forced more than 800,000 Palestinians to leave their homes and land.

The Program held, in cooperation with Al-Tanweer Forum in Nablus, a seminar titled “Nakba in Zionist Intellect” in which a number of documents were presented that reflected the way of thinking of the Zionist leaders since the first Basel Conference until the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

In the seminar also a number of slides were presented that discussed a number of quotes by Zionist leaders which showed how they considered the Palestinians as people who have no existence at all and never existed. The slides also addressed the policy of destroying the Palestinian villages and towns, the building of settlements, the elimination of the Arab and Islamic characteristics of the Palestinian cities and villages, in addition to some policies which are based on violence, killing and collective murder of people in Palestine which was evident in the speech of Ben Gurion, Jabotinsky and Golda Meir.

Moreover, the participants presented several facts and evidences about the massacres that the Zionists committed in Palestine. Of the 100 massacres that the Zionists committed, according to researchers and historians, the Deir Yassin Massacre, Al-Dawayima Massacre, massacres in Haifa and Jaffa, Safed and Lod. In addition to these, the Zionists committed massacres in many Palestinian cities and towns including the massacre in the Tantura village in northern Palestine, Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre, Al-Aqsa Mosque Massacre, as well as the random and cruel bombing of Gaza and the nearby refugee camps; these information are available at the Programs’ page on An-Najah University’s website.

Later on, Mr. Samer Aqrouq, Coordinator of the Academic Program for the Study of Involuntary Migration at the University, met with a number of international volunteers in a tour around the Old City of Nablus where he presented to them a number of facts about the Palestinian Nakba and how the Palestinians were forced to leave their land in 1948. He also presented statistics of the Palestinians in the Diaspora and their geographical distribution over many countries around the world. Moreover, Mr. Aqrouq spoke about the Resolution 194 which stated the right of the Palestinians to return to their home and the be compensated for the losses they suffered over the years that followed the 1948 Exodus.

The different local TV and radio stations also addressed the issue of Nakba, its reasons, the suffering that the Palestinians are experiencing in the refugee camps and the possible solutions to their situation. Mr. Aqrouq pointed out the importance of educating the young generation about the Nakba and instilling the right of return in their thinking and memory.

He also said the Palestinians must make use of the available technology and the internet in order to promote the Palestinian rights and educate the world about the Palestinian issues especially those that are considered as central to the Palestinian cause including the Nakba, the Right of Return, the refugee…etc. This can be achieved through the many social networking websites that are available these days including Facebook, Twitter and others.

The Academic Program for the Study of Involuntary Migration works on familiarizing internationals with the Palestinian cause, the history of their suffering, the events that took place in the past which ended up in their exodus from their land and the difficult situations they face these days under the Israeli occupation through holding seminars, lectures and documentary film screenings.