Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2009, page 59

Waging Peace

Al-Nakba Demonstration at Israeli Consulate

	A protester’s map depicts Israel’s ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land (Staff Photo Phil Pasquini).

ON MAY 18—the day President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House Oval Office—some 50 Palestinian-Americans and their friends and supporters gathered outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco’s financial district to commemorate the 61st anniversary of al-Nakba, the Palestinian “catastrophe.” On May 15, 1948, the state of Israel was created based on the displacement of 750,000 indigenous Palestinians and the destruction of 400 Palestinian villages.

Wearing checkered keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, many protesters held signs reading “Let Gaza Live” and “Free Palestine.” A few held hand-made banners depicting a map of Palestine. One poster showed the progressive confiscation of Palestinian land by Israel over the past 61 years.

An equal number of Israel supporters were also on hand to counter the Palestinian group.

—Elaine Pasquini