2011 Nakba Day
In an unprecedented development on May 15, thousands of people, mostly Palestinian refugees from Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syria, marched towards the ceasefire borders with Israel.
[1][2][3][4] Fifteen Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded, most by live ammunition as the Israeli Defense Forces tried to hold them back across the line.
More than a hundred protestors from Syria managed to breach the fence and enter the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and at least one made it all the way to Tel Aviv.
Attempts by march organizers in Egypt and Jordan to reach their countries' borders with Gaza and Israel, respectively, were largely thwarted by domestic security forces.
At a mass demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian Army used tear gas and live fire to disperse the crowd, wounding 353.
Organized by calls put out by Palestinians on Facebook, the border marches were given impetus by the revolutions and uprisings taking place in the Arab world.
[5] Al-Nakba is the Arabic word for "the catastrophe" or "the disaster" and is used by Palestinians to refer to the loss of Palestine, the displacement and dispersal that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.
Commemorations among Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are often held on Israeli Independence Day which falls on the Hebrew calendar date of 5 Iyar (in 2011, May 10).
[12][13] In anticipation of Nakba Day events, the Israeli military sealed off the West Bank for 24 hours and deployed IDF regiments and Border Police gendarmes.
Israeli commanders also monitored internet chatter and social media websites to get a clear sense of the Palestinian street's mood.
[15][16][17] Inspired by the uprisings and revolutions taking place in the Arab world, Palestinians used Facebook to call for mass protests throughout the region on May 15, 2011, Nakba Day.
[21][22] The page called for mass marches to Palestine from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to commemorate the Nakba and demand the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.
On Saturday, thousands were planning to make their way toward the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip in convoys set to depart from Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Damietta, North Sinai.
Israeli authorities said the group had no permit to protest and that the area had been declared a closed military zone because of the escalating border disturbances.
[31] Crossing through a minefield that was laid by Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, they reached the border fence, and threw stones over it, chanting for their right of return.
Near Nabi Salih, dozens of Palestinians, Israeli leftists, and foreign activists clashed with IDF forces who said they were dispersed for throwing stones.
Dr. Sami Dar Nakhla said the IDF was using a new form of toxic tear gas that caused seizures and unconsciousness, and remarked that the last time he saw so many casualties in one day was during the Second Intifada.
[37] IDF forces fired on the group intermittently over the course of several hours with tanks, machine guns, gas canisters, and sound bombs, killing one demonstrator and wounding more than 80.
[37] In a separate incident, Israeli troops killed 17-year-old Khamis Salah Mesleh Habeeb in the "buffer zone" at the Israel-Gaza Strip border near the Nahal Oz crossing.
[39] The IDF said that troops opened fire on a Palestinian man they suspected of placing explosives on the Israel-Gaza Strip border fence near Nahal Oz.
[37] The dead were Palestinian refugees: Qais Abu Alheija from Houd, Bashar Ali Shahabi from Lubya, Samer Khartabeel from Tiberias, and Abadah Zaghmout from Safsaf.
[44][45] Arab residents of the Golan Heights, many of whom still hold Syrian citizenship, had gathered near the fence when they heard shots, and welcomed those who entered Majdal Shams, offering them food and drink.
However, a minor incident took place prior to the demonstration when a group of protesters arrived at the promenade in Tel Aviv and left their bus while waving Palestinian flags, prompting passerby to spit on and curse them.
At the entrance of nearby Birzeit University, Palestinian students burned tires and pelted Israeli soldiers manning the 'Atara checkpoint with stones.
Israeli troops responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, injuring 30 protesters according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
While the demonstration was taking place, Israeli settlers from Kiryat Arba threw four molotov cocktails at a Hebron home while 30 family members and European observes were inside.
[51] Following the events of Nakba Day, Palestinian factions in the West Bank called for a two-hour general strike to mourn demonstrators killed.
[52] In Tel Aviv, an Israeli man was killed and 17 people were injured when Islam Issa, an Israeli-Arab truck driver from Kafr Qasim, rammed several vehicles along a 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) highway section along Bar-Lev Street.
