The 2011 Nakba Day was the annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people marking the Nakba—their forced displacement that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. Generally held on May 15, commemorative events in 2011 began on May 10, in the form of march by Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel on Israel's Independence Day. On May 13, clashes between stone-throwing youths and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem resulted in one Palestinian fatality, and clashes continued there and in parts of the West Bank in the days following.
In an unprecedented development on May 15, thousands of people, mostly Palestinian refugees from Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syria, marched towards the ceasefire borders with Israel. Fifteen Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded, most by live ammunition as the Israeli Defense Forces tried to hold them back across the line. Dozens of Israelis were also injured. More than a hundred protestors from Syria managed to breach the fence and enter the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and at least one made it all the way to Tel Aviv.
Attempts by march organizers in Egypt and Jordan to reach their countries' borders with Gaza and Israel, respectively, were largely thwarted by domestic security forces. At a mass demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian Army used tear gas and live fire to disperse the crowd, wounding 353. In other events in Tel Aviv, an Israeli man was killed and others wounded by an Arab truck driver who claimed he lost control of his vehicle, but is suspected by Israeli police of having purposefully carried out a "terrorist attack".
Organized by calls put out by Palestinians on Facebook, the border marches were given impetus by the revolutions and uprisings taking place in the Arab world. The American and Israeli governments said the marches were coordinated by the Iranian and the Syrian governments to shift public attention from domestic unrest.
Background Al-Nakba is the Arabic word for "the catastrophe" or "the disaster" and is used by Palestinians to refer to their forced displacement and flight from Palestine that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. More than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled over the course of the 1948 Palestine War and they and their descendants number several million today, divided between Jordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria (477,700), the West Bank (788,108) and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel.Figures given here for the number of Palestinian refugees includes only those registered with UNRWA as June 2010. Internally displaced Palestinians were not registered, among others. Factbox: Palestinian refugee statistics
Nakba Day is commemorated annually, generally on May 15. Commemorations among Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are often held on Israeli Independence Day which falls on the Hebrew calendar date of 5 Iyar (in 2011, May 10). On that day, several thousand internally displaced Palestinians and their supporters held their 14th annual "March of Return" between al-Damun and al-Ruways, two Palestinian villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. At least 1,000 Arabs and Jews held the first public commemoration of the Nakba in Jaffa on May 14 to protest the "Nakba Law" passed by the Israeli Knesset in March. Organized by members of youth movements in Jaffa and Lod, Arab Members of Knesset did not attend the protest, where demonstrators chanted pro-Palestinian, pan-Arab, and anti-Israel slogans, and blocked traffic along Jaffa's main street.Hartman, Ben.
In anticipation of Nakba Day events, the Israeli military sealed off the West Bank for 24 hours and deployed IDF regiments and Border Police gendarmes. Inside Israel, police prepared for Arab protests and possible violence, and security forces were deployed in the predominantly Arab Wadi Ara region. A heavy police presence was reported in many of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, and included both regular police officers and Border Police gendarmes.
Israeli forces were provided with riot and crowd-control gear, and were ordered to use live fire only under extreme circumstances. Israel's political leadership instructed the IDF not to take risks and assume major precautions. Soldiers were ordered not to intervene in peaceful demonstrations that did not target soldiers, settlers, or infrastructure. The IDF said that it wanted "zero funerals" during the demonstrations. Senior field officers were deployed in every sector of operations to monitor the situation and assist in the decision-making process. Israeli commanders also monitored internet chatter and social media websites to get a clear sense of the Palestinian street's mood. IDF Brigades were also trained to deal with clashes between Palestinians and settlers.
Border demonstrations
Inspired by the uprisings and revolutions taking place in the Arab world, Palestinians used Facebook to call for mass protests throughout the region on May 15, 2011, Nakba Day. A page calling for a "Third Palestinian Intifada" to begin on May 15 garnered more than 350,000 "likes" before being taken down by Facebook managers at the end of March after complaints from the Israeli government as well as a counter group which repeatedly requested Facebook to block the page on the grounds that it incited violence. The page called for mass marches to Palestine from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to commemorate the Nakba and demand the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.
Egypt
Organizers in Egypt had been preparing for weeks to implement the plans for a mass march to the border. In addition to demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees, several demands specific to Egypt were added by Cairo organizers, including the opening of the Rafah border on a permanent basis, the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails, and an end to the export of Egyptian gas to Israel and all other "humiliating agreements with the Zionist state".
On the Friday (May 13) before Nakba Day, thousands demonstrated in Cairo's Tahrir Square in solidarity with Palestinians (and Copts). On Saturday, thousands were planning to make their way toward the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip in convoys set to depart from Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Damietta, North Sinai. Gharbiya, Beni Suef, Assiut, Qena and Sohag. However, an order from the Supreme Council of Armed Forces to tourism companies not to send buses to the convoy organizers left them without sufficient transportation and the few buses they did manage to procure were stopped by the army. The blockage of access by Egyptian forces to the Sinai Peninsula, meant that only about 80 activists managed to reach the border with Rafah.Egyptians rally at Rafah for Palestinian rights . Ma'an News Agency. 2011-05-15.
At the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on May 15, thousands gathered for a demonstration. Individuals tried to break into the building, but were dispersed by Egyptian security forces using tear gas and live fire. Some 353 protesters were injured and 180 arrested.Rights organization urges release of Nakba protesters. Al-Masry Al-Youm. 2011-05-17. At least two of the wounded had been shot in head and chest by Egyptian forces, and at least two of those arrested were well known for their tweets during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Israel On 15 May, about 25 Arab-Israeli students gathered near Avivim alongside the border with Lebanon to commemorate Nakba Day. Israeli police ordered them to leave the area. A female attorney among the protesters asked why and was slapped by an Israeli police commander. The protesters said they could not leave immediately because they were waiting for their bus to arrive, and that they were attacked by security forces who fired tear gas. Israeli authorities said the group had no permit to protest and that the area had been declared a closed military zone because of the escalating border disturbances. A police statement said when they refused to leave, reasonable force was used to remove them, and eight people were arrested.
Jordan In Jordan, 200 Palestinian students attempted to march towards the Israeli border, but were stopped by Jordanian security forces. Six people were injured.Muir, Jim. Palestinian protests: Arab spring or foreign manipulation?. BBC News. 2011-05-15. They were part of a larger group of 500 who were stopped at the Allenby Bridge. Jordanian authorities said a total of 25 people were injured, including 11 police officers. The political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, condemned police actions which they described as "shocking" stating: "We condemn the attack, which is part of government policies to impose its will on the people, and we demand an end to such policies that have harmed Jordan's image."Jordan police say 25 hurt in Nakba clashes . Ma'an News Agency. 2011-05-16.
Lebanon In Lebanon, activists had organized an event on a mountaintop in the village of Maroun al-Ras that overlooks the border with Israel. Some 30,000 people, including Palestinian refugees from various Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon attended. After walking up the mountain to the protest site, many decided to descend the opposite side, and continued on towards the border. Lebanese Army soldiers fired into the air in a failed effort to deter them. Crossing through a minefield that was laid by Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, they reached the border fence, and threw stones over it, chanting for their right of return. Eleven Palestinian refugees were killed and 100 injured by gunfire before the protesters retreated. Media reported that the protesters were shot by the IDF. The IDF said most of those killed were likely shot by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and that they had a video that established this, but would not release it on the grounds that it might cause embarrassment to the Lebanese Army.
Palestinian territories
On 13 May, protests took place throughout the West Bank, primarily at the weekly Friday protests against the separation fence. Near Nabi Salih, dozens of Palestinians, Israeli leftists, and foreign activists clashed with IDF forces who said they were dispersed for throwing stones. Protestors reported 10 injuries. Similar protests took place in Na'alin and Umm Salamuna, south of Bethlehem, where six were arrested and the area sealed off by the IDF. A protest was also held near Bil'in.
Palestinian demonstrators marched on the Qalandia checkpoint on May 15. Organizers had previously convened seminars on strategies for non-violent resistance to prepare for a march on the Qalandia checkpoint on May 15. Several of them were arrested by Palestinian Authority police in the month before the protest date. Representatives from Bi'lin, Nil'in and Nabi Salih, villages known for their grassroots weekly protests against the separation barrier, attended the protest which began at around 10:30am on May 15. More than 1,000 protestors marched through the Qalandia refugee camp until they reached within 100 meters of the checkpoint, where Israeli forces used tear gas to disperse them. A standoff ensued that lasted more than seven hours between Israeli soldiers and around 100 Palestinian protesters who threw stones as Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Israeli undercover officers in plain clothes carrying pistols ran into the crowd from time to time and made arrests. In several incidents, Palestinians took cover behind ambulances while throwing rocks. More than 80 Palestinians, including three paramedics, were injured, and 20 were hospitalized. Dr. Sami Dar Nakhla said the IDF was using a new form of toxic tear gas that caused seizures and unconsciousness, and remarked that the last time he saw so many casualties in one day was during the Second Intifada.