GAZA/WEST BANK 15 May 2008 Palestinians mark 60th Nakba (Catastrophe) Day with marches, protests 

Marches and rallies in the area and in some European and Unites States cities on 15 May and for about a week afterwards will mark the 60th Nakba (Catastrophe) Day for Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of whom were dispossed by the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948 and the wars that followed. Some Nakba demonstrations incorporate protests against the Israeli West Bank barrier. Violence is usual on Nakba Day.

According to official United Nations figures, there are almost seven million Palestinians living mainly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, and most are described as refugees.

The high cost of defending isolated Israeli settlements in Gaza and West Bank has led to the dismantling of some settlements and the land returned to the Palestinians. Israel left Gaza Strip unilaterally on 12 Sep 2005. At the same time Israel has consolidated its hold on less isolated settlements on historic Palestinian territory on the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel's insistence that all of Jerusalem is its capital adds to Palestinian grievances.

The International Court of Justice has ruled the construction of the barrier, 24 feet high in places, as "contrary to international law." Opponents claim that building and maintaining the wall is a crime of apartheid - isolating Palestinian communities in the West Bank and consolidating the annexation of Palestinian land by Israeli settlements. Jun/07