Palestinians Mourn 60th Anniversary Of Displacement Caused By Israel's Creation

Ramallah, West Bank (AHN) - Palestinian's marked the anniversary of the creation of Israel on Thursday as the disastrous 60th anniversary of the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland.

Many Palestinians were either expelled from their homes or fled them during the war that followed the creation of Israel in 1948. Those people and their descendants have grown to 4.5 million refugees that have registered with the United Nations and are living either inside Israel in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank, or outside Israel in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is himself one of the refugees.

"Sixty years ago we were pushed into exodus and suffered an injustice. Today we call upon the world to give our people justice," Abbas was quoted as saying earlier this week according to AP reports.

While Israelis celebrate the day joyously as the birth of their nation, Palestinians mark the day with protests as a "nakba" the Arabic word for catastrophe.

This year many Palestinians in the West Bank carried black flags as they protested and listened to taped speech by Abbas, while Hamas officials in Gaza planned a march toward a sealed border crossing, according to AFP reports.