Voices from Ramallah: What does Nakba mean to you?

Issa Bishara, 60, retired journalist and teacher: "Nakba means a lot to me, it means we as Palestinian people lost everything. It means that we left our paradise to live in such a hell surrounded by the occupiers. This is the general meaning for me. It’s a day that means a lot of people left their homes; left their relatives. People are still full of hope that they will come back one day to their homes. Some of my friends are refugees who left their homes and I feel for them - I am not a refugee, I am from Nablus living in Ramallah, but I don’t have the same feelings they have. When they hear stories from their grandfathers and fathers they talk about such scenes as if they were there, as if they could see the destruction even if they don’t know them. Some people are still forbidden from seeing their old homes. It’s a very disappointing situation nationally and internationally. Everybody has their own story and such stories need to be told in order to have a full narrative. The international community is doing nothing in comparison with our suffering. They are doing nothing - they just talk about peace and they occupy us. Nobody knows what the future holds for us.
Karin, 66, retired: "I am Palestinian-American and my husband was born in Salama Jaffa and I am here to on his behalf to remember the Nakba and the misery they went through and to share with Palestinian people here a day of mourning. It’s not changing. The Nakba is continuing. We still have refugees everywhere and we still have settlements and Palestinians being displaced from the West Bank, lands being stolen. So the Nakba continues. It never stopped. Of course, there is hope, but there’s a long way left. We don’t see any signs of Israelis changing their stance on the Nakba. We see more signs of aggression and no one is extending the olive branch."
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Leila Kheir, 35 and Layan Kheir, 2: "I know it’s a sad day, but we’re smiling we have to be positive in some way. The Nakba is a tragedy and it should be seen like this to everyone, including the Israelis. Until this is acknowledged, no one, not even us can really move on from here."
Samer Al-Rantawi, 15, student: "My English isn’t very good, but I will tell you about my pictures. An Israeli tank comes to Palestinian villages and destroys it. My people was forced to flee it. This is the real story of the Nakba. Now, this one, moves on 66-years until today. See, now its checkpoints, soldiers? Still we face this struggle today."
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