Palestinian factions Saturday held a commemoration in north Lebanon to mark the Nakba one day ahead of its 68th anniversary.

The state-run National News Agency reported that dozens of Palestinians at the Baddawi refugee camp waved their country’s flag and chanted slogans against Israel.

“The Palestinian people are adherent to the right to return and will continue to call for it and resist to defeat the occupation,” said Atef Khalil, an official from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

May 15 marks the day that Palestinians remember their expulsion from Palestine.

The term "Nakba" – "catastrophe" in Arabic – is used by Palestinians to denote their mass expulsion and displacement from their ancestral homes and land in historical Palestine. The Palestinian Statistics Agency said that in 1948, about 800,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and villages in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in addition to thousands displaced inside Palestinian lands.

Palestinian camps across Lebanon have set up programs throughout May to commemorate the Nakba.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian boys march as they take part in a rally to mark Nakba Day in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 15, 2013. (Reuters)

Weorldbulletin