Palestinians to mark 60 years of 'the catastrophe'

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — Palestinian officials said on Sunday they are preparing events to mark the 60th anniversary next month of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arabs during the 1948 Middle East war.

The National Committee for the Anniversary of the Nakba -- the Arabic word for "catastrophe" used to denote the expulsion of some 700,000 Arabs during Israel's war for independence -- will stage several events in the coming weeks.

This year "will be completely different from previous years," the head of the committee Omar al-Asaaf told reporters in the Palestinian political capital of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

"We are trying to get all Palestinians to wear black in the middle of next month, to send a loud message to the world that we...