Gaza (IP) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians staged massive demonstrations Sunday in the Gaza Strip and Ramallah, the center of the West Bank, to mark the 74th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine, also known as Nakba Day.

Iran PressMiddle East: On May 15, 1948, Israel was established as a Jewish-majority state at the expense of the forced expulsion of about 750,000 Palestinians.

The day has subsequently been commemorated annually as Nakba Day. 

The word “Nakba” means “catastrophe” in Arabic and refers to the systematic ethnic cleansing of two-thirds of the Palestinian population at the time by Zionist paramilitaries between 1947-1949 and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society.

Zionist forces had taken more than 78 percent of historic Palestine, ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed about 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres.

This year marks 74 years of Al-Nakba or the Palestinian experience of dispossession and loss of a homeland. The anniversary comes at a time when many are angered by the killing of prominent Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

214

Read More:

Nakba Day, continuation of Israeli crimes with support of West: PIJ