60 years

Today is the Nakba anniversary. I’m watching the news on Al Jazeera and Al Manar TV, listening to speeches I can barely understand about hopes for a Palestinian state, the right for Palestinian refugees to return to the villages they were expelled from 60 years ago at the founding of the state of Israel, the inhumanity of occupation and the full support Israel has of the US. In Jordan, commemorative events are not allowed, but people (who have the emotional energy to think about it) are wearing black. In Jerusalem, while world leaders like our dear president Bush are visiting Israeli heads of state, a slew of black balloons are being released in protest. In the UAE, blood drives are being held to collect 531 units of blood (the same number of villages destroyed by Zionist forces in ’48). The power of the activities being held in the Arab world are purely symbolic. I guess there’s importance in symbolism, but to me, the events are more a symbol of the lack of official support for Palestine. It is clear that money and power tip the scale in measure with justice and human lives.