Nakba 70: Ongoing Nakba Means Ongoing Resistance, We Will Not Back Down
Originally circulated 5/15/2018
Today, May 15, 2018, as we enter the final week of the Great Return March, we commemorate the 70th year of the ongoing Nakba, which, in its induction, saw the establishment of the illegitimate state of Israel and the mass expulsion, exile and removal, of more than 800,000 Palestinians at the hands of Zionist militias.
The Nakba Continues: Over the course of the past few weeks, more than 100 Palestinian protesters have been martyred with over 12,000 more injured by the Zionist army. We affirm that their sacrifices will not be in vain, as we honor the tens of thousands of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners who have given their lives to our struggle over the decades. It is only through collective, popular struggle that we will see a liberated Palestine – from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
With the current US regime ridding itself of the façade of “diplomacy” it has donned for three decades since the Oslo Accords, we further recognize that those who conspire against the Palestinian people are not limited to our occupiers: they are to be found in the global forces of empire that, since the Balfour Declaration, have worked to dispossess Palestinians of our lands, rights, and power in service of Zionism, settler capital and global white supremacy. In spite of the constant subjection to erasure, mass slaughter, total dehumanization and revocation of any and all (international) legal accountability systems for the Zionist state, the Palestinian people continue to rise each day and fight for an impending future of liberation.
The time for unity is now and has always been now. Our people’s lives and fate depend on it. As such, we call on the Palestinian leadership – from the political factions inside and outside of the PLO to our grassroots leadership – to unite under one Palestinian banner, and to relinquish your power to new, grassroots leadership that is accountable to the realities on the ground. We further call on the Palestinian diaspora to assume our role in the struggle. This struggle is yours. It cannot be won without you. From the refugee camps to the scattered cities of the world, we must heed the direction of our siblings languishing under conditions of siege, occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, settler colonialism, refuge and exile.
Finally, we salute our youth in the streets who continue to throw rocks, light molotov cocktails, burn tires – doing whatever it is they can, through unmatched resourcefulness, to move our struggle forward. We recognize the obligation to the homeland is one that has been generationally passed down through the various Nakbas our families have experienced time and time again - youth back home today are embodying that duty for our people and nation. Know that we, the Palestinian youth of the diaspora, affirm our duty to you and to our watan. We reject the notion that distance absolves us of our responsibilities to Palestine. Palestine gives us life, wherever we are in the world, and, as Palestine endures, we too must give our lives in return: to sustain the struggle today and plant seeds for generations to come. Our commitment to you all, and above all else, to Palestine, is unwavering and eternal.
We, the Palestinian Youth Movement, join you in the Great Return March today, and everyday, and call on all our people to do so, until we achieve full liberation and return!
بالروح
بدم
نفديك يا فلسطين