march of return

Protesters wave Palestinian flags during the 27th annual March of Return in the depopulated villages of Hawsha and Al-Kasair, northern Israel, May 14, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

‘The fourth generation remembers’: Nakba commemorated in shadow of Gaza war

Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel joined the annual March of Return, with many making connections to the violent displacement in Gaza.

By Baker Zoubi and Ghousoon Bisharat May 14, 2024

A Palestinian woman is hit with tear gas during a women's march toward the Israel-Gaza fence, east of Gaza City, July 3, 2018. (Mohammad Za’anoun/Activestills.org)

Palestinian women lead latest march on Israel-Gaza border

This was the first time since the start of the Great Return demonstrations, during which Israeli snipers have killed well over 100 and wounded thousands, that the march was led by women. By Meron Rapoport Thousands of Palestinian women took part in march on the border fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel on Tuesday, in…

By +972 Magazine July 4, 2018

A still frame from the IDF Spokesperson's video.

When does propaganda go too far?

The Israeli army publishes a heavily edited video of a detained Palestinian man from Gaza being interrogated about Hamas tactics. The army won’t answer any questions about it. By Oren Ziv The Israeli army often claims that video clips published by B’Tselem and other human rights organizations in the occupied territories are mendaciously edited, and…

By Oren Ziv May 28, 2018

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Palestinian medics evacuate a protester injured during the Great Return March in Gaza. April 20, 2018. (Mohammed Zaanoun / Activestills.)

Live Blog: Israeli troops open fire on Gaza Return March

Ahead of Nakba Day, marking 70 years since the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem, tens of thousands in Gaza were expected to march on the border, culminating 45 days of protests demanding the right of refugees to return, an end to Israel’s siege. Protests were also taking place in the West Bank and Jerusalem,…

By +972 Magazine May 14, 2018

Gaza protesters run from tear gas and live ammunition during Friday's Great Return March demonstrations. May 11, 2018. (Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)

Israeli soliders open fire on Gaza protesters seventh week in a row

One Palestinian killed and dozens evacuated to Gaza hospitals after Israeli snipers open fire on the Great Return March for the seventh consecutive week. By +972 Magazine Staff [This post will be updated as events unfold.] Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at Palestinian protesters on the border with Gaza for the seventh…

By +972 Magazine May 11, 2018

An Israeli soldier raises his rifle toward unarmed Palestinian protesters along the border fence separating Israel and Gaza, Gaza Strip, near the Nahal Oz crossing, October 30, 2015. (Ezz Zanoun/Activestills.org)

Gaza ‘Return March’ organizer: ‘We’ll ensure it doesn’t escalate to violence — on our end’

Palestinians in Gaza are planning 45 days of protests along the border with Israel leading up to the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, and they fear Israeli troops may open fire. One of the organizers speaks to +972 Magazine about why he believes hundreds of thousands of people will show up, and what message he’d…

By Rami Younis March 27, 2018

Palestinians participate in a rally marking the 69th anniversary of the Nakba, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2017. (Flash90)

WATCH: Palestinians mark Nakba on both sides of Green Line

Both the March of Return in al-Kabri and a Nakba Day demonstration in Ramallah were held to mark 69 years since the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Read more: Mapping the Palestinian villages erased and replaced with Jewish towns How we learned to forget the villages we destroyed Fighting occupation…

By Social TV May 26, 2017

Palestinian youth stand inside a mock prison cell during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, Nablus, West Bank, May 8, 2017. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

WATCH: What do Palestinians on hunger strike want?

For the past four weeks, over 1,600 Palestinian prisoners have refused to eat in protest of their conditions inside Israeli jails. But what are they actually demanding? Mohammed Matry, a former political prisoner, talks about the prisoners’ strike in which he participated in the 1980s, Israel policy of forced feeding, and the basic demands of Palestinian prisoners today.…

By Social TV May 11, 2017

Palestinians participate in the March of Return, Galilee, May 2, 2017. (Maria Zreik/Activestills)

‘Israel has never recognized its Palestinian citizens’

Thousands of Palestinians participated in the March of Return on Tuesday, gathering at the site of the destroyed village of Al-Kabri in the Galilee. Below is a translated transcript of the speech given by Anat Matar, a member of the Israeli Committee for Palestinian Prisoners, at the event. By Anat Matar I am profoundly grateful…

By +972 Magazine May 3, 2017

My grandfather, Mohammed Samara, shaking hands with an official at a football tournament in Jerusalem during the British mandate of Palestine, 1946. Photo courtesy of the Samara family.

Nakba Day attests to the power of our grandparents’ stories

For young Palestinians, Nakba Day is dedicated to remembering the catastrophes that our grandparents went through. But with every passing year, we realize how much the day belongs to our catastrophes too. My maternal grandfather was born in 1929. Although Alzheimer’s disease eroded his memory during the later years of his life, he had a…

By Amjad Iraqi May 16, 2016

Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel take part in March of Return to the destroyed village of Hadatha, near Tiberias, April 23, 2015. (Activestills)

Recognizing the grief of the Nakba

In appointing itself the gatekeeper of historical memory, Israel has shackled the promotion of its own narrative to the suppression of the Palestinian narrative. A few years ago I took part in a class about the Armenian genocide at Toronto University with students from around the world, including several Armenian and Turkish participants. Three of…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland May 15, 2016

March of Return, May 2016 (Samah Salaime)

I lost my Palestinian flag on the March of Return

I went down to the Negev to participate in this year’s Nakba Day events. The fact that it’s the 68th year and little has changed depressed me; the sense of unity and the bubbly optimism of some of the activists encouraged me. “I will not come with you to the march!” my adolescent son exclaimed.…

By Samah Salaime May 14, 2016

Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel take part in the March of Return, in the lands of the destroyed village of Hadatha, near Tiberias, April 23, 2015. (photo: Omar Sameer/Activestills.org)

To return, we must feel what our grandparents went through

So what if we didn’t liberate Palestine on our rain-soaked March of Return? Each and every one of us got a little taste of what life was like for our forefathers in 1948. There is no doubt that this year’s “March of Return” was the most difficult, physically and mentally, of these past years. The…

By Samah Salaime April 25, 2015