Philly Remembers Al-Nakba... 60 Days for 60 Years

As supporters of Israel celebrate down the Ben Franklin parkway, Palestinians and solidarity activists send a cloud of black balloons into the sky to mark the 60th anniversary of Palestinian dispossession.

Volunteers are needed to prepare and release the balloons in order to make this action as effective as possible.

To prepare balloons meet at 10AM at AFSC (15th and Cherry Sts) on Sunday, May 18. To release balloons, arrive by 11AM for a rally in front of AFSC. Remember to wear black!

For those concerned with the environmental effects of balloon releases, let it be known that we are not tying strings to the balloons and that latex, made from natural tree rubber, is biodegradable.

This spring marks the 60th anniversary of Al-Nakba, Arabic for "the catastrophe," the little known side of Israel's creation that drove over 700,000 Palestinians into exile, massacred civilians, and razed hundreds of Palestinian villages. In Philadelphia, a coalition of Palestinian support groups and peace organizations is responding to the call made at last year’s US Social Forum for 60 days of action to coincide with and counter "Israel 60" celebrations.

Philly's Palestine solidarity movement insists Al-Nakba not be forgotten with a series of events nearly every day from March 17th to May 18th. Our intention is to raise awareness of the past 60 years from the Palestinians’ perspective, and to mobilize people against the occupation. Billions of our tax dollars each year go to the Israeli military, funding the destruction of lives, homes, agriculture, and infrastructure. At the same time, people in the U.S. -- including Philadelphians -- face crises around health-care, housing and education. The Al-Nakba Coalition believes that federal taxes need to come home to support our communities instead of a militarized foreign policy in Palestine, Iraq and around the world.

Some events to look forward to are a kick-off event on March 17th, 11am-1pm on the west side of City Hall where we'll be publicly broadcasting the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) Winter Soldier testimony happening that week in Washington DC; a Palestine Film Festival from March 22nd-29th; the March 31st-April 6th Students for Justice in Palestine campus awareness weeks at UPenn, Temple, and Bryn Mawr College; an April 7 talk titled "Women in Resistance" by a Jewish-American woman and a Palestinian woman from Hebron working together against the occupation; a mjeddera dinner (traditional dish eaten by poor Palestinians) on April 18th; a talk by a Palestinian trade unionist on April 21st; an April 30th talk St. Joseph’s Professor Bassam Haddad on Syria and Lebanon; the May 3rd premier of Philadelphia filmmaker Adam Beach’s film "Handala"; the theater piece "Café Intifada" on May 6th and 7th; an occupation themed puppet show; weekly Friday noon vigils by "Bubbies and Zadyes for Peace" at Philadelphia’s Israeli consulate; street theater simulating the checkpoints in the occupied territories, and various decentralized actions throughout Philadelphia from now until May 18th.