About 300 Arab Israelis gathered Thursday in the ruins of villages that Palestinians fled during the 1948 war, which led to Israel’s creation in honor of what the Palestinians call “nakba” or disaster.
As Israel celebrates Independence Day on Thursday, protesters – men, women and children – recite scriptures through the ruins, “Your independence is our nakba”.
The place where the protesters gather is al-lajjun village.
The site was once the home of thousands of Palestinians, and has now been taken over by Kibbutz Megiddo, an Israeli agricultural community.
According to the United Nations, this year's commemoration took place in the context of the Gaza War, with the battle between Israel and Hamas militants for more than 18 months, displaced almost 2.4 million people in the territory at least once.
Wearing traditional Keffiyeh turbans and costumes, the marchers sang the Palestinian national anthem and shared memories of loss and resilience.
These include Ziyad Mahajneh, 82, who fled the village as a child in 1948.
They “attacked our village with cannons and machine guns,” Mahajneh recalled.
He said he was left behind when his family fled, a neighbor helped him reunite with their nearby Umm al-Fahm, now part of Israel.
“Today, we are forbidden here. They ask us, 'What are you doing here?” he told AFP, referring to the Israelites.
“Al-Lajjun Land is now Kibbutzim.”
The memories of displacement echo in the gatherings.
During the 1948 war, about 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes.
About 160,000 Palestinian descendants have managed to stay in Israel, which currently has about 20% of the population.
Many Arab Israelis today are still closely related to their historical lands.
For twenty years, Arab Israelis have marked Israel’s Independence Day, an annual “return parade” to the declining Palestinian villages.
But this year's organizers said restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities have strengthened, including attendance restrictions and a ban on the Palestinian flag – leading them to cancel the central march and instead hold smaller demonstrations.
“They hope we don't even do the simplest move: remember Nakba,” said Faisal Mahajneh, another displaced al-lajjun resident.
“We are the people of this land, and we will not lose hope of returning,” Ziad said.
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