RAMALLAH, Monday, January 9, 2023 (WAFA) - The Palestinian government, through a national committee headed by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, announced today the launch of a competition to design a special memorial to commemorate the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948.

The national committee invited artists, architects, designers, university students and all interested parties to submit proposals of their work taking into consideration the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of the Nakba as well as a reflection of the Palestinian narrative related to the Nakba, dispersion, struggle, and hope.

The memorial is going to be located at Al-Istiqlal (Independence) Park in the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate.

The contestants were asked to present a summary of the idea, its content, and illustrative pictures to a special committee selected to choose the best three proposals and to announce the winning design no later than Thursday, February 9.

President Mahmoud Abbas, in an effort to consolidate the Palestinian narrative and the Nakba, decided on December 20 to establish a national memorial for the Nakba.

The Nakba refers to the time in 1948 when most of Palestine was occupied by Zionist gangs who later established Israel after the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes, villages and towns following the creation of Israel to become permanent refugees in their own homeland or neighboring countries and the destruction of hundreds of villages in an effort to obliterate the Palestinian memory or ties to their lands.

The Nakba later evolved into Palestinian national struggle and resistance to regain their homeland and preserve their identity and history following immense Israeli attempts to change and distort the history of Palestine.

M.K.