Occupied Jerusalem, May 15 (SANA) The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said Friday that the Nakba was not merely a historical event but an ongoing tragedy, describing the war in the Gaza Strip as one of its current manifestations.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the ministry said in a statement marking the 78th anniversary of the Nakba that the catastrophe extended beyond the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 and continues through what it described as ongoing violations against the Palestinian people.
The ministry said more than 530 Palestinian villages were destroyed and nearly 950,000 Palestinians displaced during the events of 1948, adding that violence against Palestinians continues in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
It accused Israeli authorities of carrying out killings, arrests, settlement expansion, land confiscation and settler violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The ministry also said the Nakba represented a broader colonial project aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land and erasing their identity.
Palestinian officials called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities by recognizing the Nakba as a crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing, and by supporting Palestinian rights, including self-determination, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return for refugees under U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
The ministry further urged continued support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), describing the agency as a witness to the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis.
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