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By Special Envoy Ciranda

Palestinian refugees demand right to return

Dimanche, 15 mai 2011 - 6h44 AM

Sunday 15 May 2011

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A movement coming from social networks promised to raise its voice on May 15h and it is being called the third Palestinian Intifada.

From a call made in social networks, Palestinian youth living in refugee camps in Arab countries has promised to travel to the borders of the territories occupied by Israel and demand their right to return, which is recognized by the United Nations.

The manifestation is being called to take place on May 15th – Nakba day (day of the catastrophe) for the Palestinians. On this day 63 years ago the State of Israel was unilaterally created, through ethnic cleansing practiced against the native population, as acknowledged by the newest Israeli historiography.

As consequence, around 800 thousand Palestinian people were removed from their homes and around 400 villages were destroyed. Today there are approximately 4.7 million refugees spread over camps in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the illegally occupied territories of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, according to the UNRWA (an United Nations agency formally created to give support to refugees).

This movement – an example of the moments that resulted in the ongoing revolutions in the Arab World – is being called the Third Palestinian Intifada (the term defines the popular uprising against the occupation). Recently similar uprisings happened in 1987 and 2000.

A page calling for Palestinians to take to the streets on May 15, and named ’Third Palestinian Intifada" has been removed by Facebool, following complaints from the Israel government. In few days, the page had attracted more than 340,000 fans,

The International Ciranda of Shared Information is following the manifestations gathering around the borders, joining the collective effort of shared coverage and it will send news about its progress

Translated by: André Bailão