Date: 6/5/2026
The Nakba is an ongoing crime aimed at liquidating national rights and uprooting our people
Warned of new displacement trajectories and the reproduction of the Nakba through racist policies and crimes of genocide
What our people are subjected to in Gaza and the West Bank is an extension of the colonial project of 1948
Affirmed adherence to the right of return in the face of annexation plans and forced displacement
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Dr. Ahmad Abu Holi, Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Head of the Department of Refugee Affairs, and Chairman of the National Higher Committee for Commemorating the Nakba, announced the launch of activities marking the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba under the slogan: “We will not leave… our roots are deeper than your destruction,” stressing that this year’s activities come at the most dangerous stage our Palestinian people have faced since the Nakba of 1948, amid the ongoing war of genocide against the Gaza Strip, the targeting of camps in the northern West Bank, and attempts to liquidate the refugee issue and end the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Abu Holi affirmed that the Palestinian Nakba was not a passing event in history, but an ongoing crime with renewed tools, stressing that what our people in Gaza are subjected to—mass killing, starvation, displacement, and systematic destruction—and what the camps in the northern West Bank and Bedouin communities are subjected to—raids, destruction, forced displacement, land confiscation, settlement expansion, and the imposition of facts by force, within the framework of silent annexation and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over Area (C)—constitute a direct extension of the colonial project that began in 1948, aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people from their land, liquidating their national rights, foremost among them the right of return, reproducing the Nakba through racist policies and crimes of genocide, and opening new displacement trajectories.
He explained that the National Higher Committee for Commemorating the Nakba has approved a comprehensive national program of central and local activities in the homeland and diaspora, including mass marches, national festivals, popular gatherings, and sit-ins in front of United Nations and UNRWA headquarters, in addition to a broad media and digital campaign to highlight the Palestinian narrative and expose the crimes of the occupation and policies of displacement and ethnic cleansing.
Abu Holi indicated that the central event in the northern governorates will be held on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, in the city of Ramallah, through the “National Return March,” which will set off from the mausoleum of the martyred leader Yasser Arafat toward Al-Manara Square, including a central speech rally, the raising of the keys of return and black flags, in addition to a pause for 78 seconds upon the sounding of the mourning siren in tribute to the martyrs of our Palestinian people.
He added that activities will continue in the Gaza Strip through the National Return Festival in Khan Younis Camp next to Shabab Khan Younis Club on 11 May, carrying messages of adherence to the right of return and rejection of displacement and resettlement plans, while camps in the diaspora and Palestinian communities in Arab countries, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa will witness political and popular activities and sit-ins in front of United Nations headquarters and international institutions to affirm that “there is no justice without accountability.”
Abu Holi confirmed that the digital and media campaign will launch on 7 May and continue until 17 May, through media outlets and social media platforms. He explained that the campaign will include the publication of infographics, documentary materials, short films, and live testimonies about the Nakba, Israeli massacres, destroyed Palestinian villages, and the conditions of Palestinian refugees in camps, in addition to shedding light on the war of genocide in the Gaza Strip, the targeting of camps in the northern West Bank, and the risks of banning UNRWA and drying up its sources of funding.
Abu Holi stressed that the activities marking the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Nakba will carry clear political and national messages to the international community, affirming that the issue of Palestinian refugees is not subject to liquidation or erasure, that the right of return is an individual and collective right that does not lapse over time, and that UNRWA represents the living international witness to the crime of the Nakba and the responsibility of the international community toward Palestinian refugees.
He also affirmed that the activities will renew the emphasis on the unity of the Palestinian people and the unity of their cause in the homeland and diaspora, the rejection of all displacement, alternative homeland, and resettlement projects, and the continued pursuit of the Israeli occupation for its crimes before international courts, foremost among them the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Abu Holi indicated that the National Higher Committee will address political memoranda and messages to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and to the heads of Arab and international parliaments through the Palestinian National Council, including Nakba messages and calling on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities toward the Palestinian people, to work to stop the war of genocide, protect Palestinian refugees, ensure the continuation of UNRWA’s work, and reject any measures aimed at ending its UN mandate.
Abu Holi called on the masses of our Palestinian people in the homeland and diaspora to participate widely and effectively in all Nakba commemoration activities, and to raise the unified Palestinian voice in defense of the right of return and national constants, affirming that our people, who have defeated the bets on displacement and uprooting, will remain deeply rooted in their land, and that Palestinian camps will remain a symbol of national identity and a fortress for defending the right of return until freedom, independence, and return.
