Thousands of Palestinians mainly citizens of Israel, participated in the
annual "March of Return" for the Nakba commemoration on Thursday, May
12.

This event which coincides with Israeli Independence Day,
calls for the right of return for Palestinians who were expelled from
their land in 1948.

For the first time the Association for the
Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced organized the march in
the Naqab. The location on the lands of the destroyed village of Wadi
Zabala is symbolic, and highlights the on-going Nakba of the
Palestinians.

Wadi Zabala is symbolic because, in 1948 its
people were expelled and ended up in the village of Umm al Hiran. Today,
Umm al Hiran is under ongoing destruction to be replace by the Jewish
town of Al Hiran.

Israeli forces continue to displace people and
destroy villages in the Naqab. Approximately 160,000 Bedouins residing
in villages not recognized by the state of Israel are threatened.

The
aim of the march was to highlight the internationally-recognized right
of Palestinians to return to their homes and villages in Israel, a right
which was recognized with the adoption of United Nations Resolution
194, and also to highlight and fight against "the continuing Nakba."