RAMALLAH, May 15, 2017 (WAFA) – As Palestinians worldwide mark 69 years since their uprooting from their homeland, referred to as Nakba (catastrophe), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said this anniversary means an ongoing journey of pain, loss, and injustice.

“Our nation marking 69 years of the Nakba, our national catastrophe, is symbolized in our exile and the systematic denial of our rights,” said Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO’s Executive Committee. “The Nakba means an ongoing journey of pain, loss, and injustice.”

Erekat said the Nakba is also time to remember massacres committed by the Zionist gangs against the Palestinian civilian population before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

“Today we mark Deir Yassin and Abu Shusha, among other massacres that led our people to exile. As with almost every single crime committed by Israel before and since its creation, the criminals responsible for such massacres and war crimes enjoyed full impunity,” he said.

“In order to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, it is important that Israel recognizes the Nakba and apologizes for it. In that sense, we call upon the Israeli government to open all its 1948 archives and show their own nation the truth of what was done to our people, including its ethnic cleansing policies and the policy of shooting to kill Palestinians that attempted to return home,” said the PLO official.

“We call upon the United Kingdom to apologize for its role in the Palestinian catastrophe, beginning by the infamous Balfour Declaration and the denial of our national rights. It‘s also the responsibility of the international community to achieve the Palestinian right to self-determination and to solve all final status issues, including a just resolution of the refugee issue, based on international law and relevant UN resolutions,” Erekat concluded his statement.

M.K.