Palestinian March of Return reshaped by Israeli restrictions
The annual March of Return, which typically draws tens of thousands of Palestinians inside Israel, was transformed this year into a series of smaller marches across depopulated Palestinian villages.
Despite restrictions imposed by Israeli police, hundreds of Palestinians took part in local tours to their destroyed villages to commemorate the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias to make way for the creation of Israel in May 1948.
Through these events, Palestinians say they aim to reaffirm their identity amid what they describe as ongoing Israeli attempts to erase it.
Khaled Awad, spokesperson for the Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced, said discussions with Israeli authorities began around three months before the march.
He noted that police initially refused to engage with the organisers of the event and warned they could break it up if it went ahead.
In response, the association, alongside the rights group Adalah, petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court, which compelled police to formally respond to their requests.
Even after negotiations began, Awad described a pattern of delays and shifting conditions.
“We are used to this kind of stalling,” he said, referring to similar experiences in previous years.
According to Awad, police agreed to allow the events on the condition that participation would not exceed 1,000 people - a limit he described as “unreasonable”, given that thousands have historically attended.
Police also required that no Palestinian flags or national symbols be displayed, claiming such imagery could “provoke unrest”.
Organisers were explicitly warned that the march could be blocked and dispersed if it proceeded in its traditional form, particularly if Palestinian symbols were raised.
Given that the march typically includes families, children and elderly participants, organisers said they took these warnings seriously.
“We are talking about a space where people come with their children,” Awad said, noting concerns that participants could be harmed in the event of police intervention.
“We want this to remain a safe place,” he added, describing the march as an opportunity for people to reconnect with their villages and affirm their right of return.
By the time approvals were finalised, only days before the planned march, organisers said it was no longer possible to coordinate a large central gathering. Instead, they shifted toward smaller, decentralised events across different locations.
‘We left thinking we would come back’
More than 30 tours were organised to depopulated villages, including al-Damun, Miar, Maalul, al-Lajjun, and Miska, among others in the Galilee and northern areas - sites where Palestinian communities once lived before they were forcibly depopulated.
Participation varied from one location to another. Some gatherings drew a few dozen people, while others reached several hundred.
In al-Damun, hundreds attended one of the main events, while turnout elsewhere remained more limited, reflecting both logistical constraints and the dispersed nature of this year’s activities.
In Miska, one of the smaller gatherings brought together around 70 participants, including families and descendants of the village’s original residents.
Among them was Abu Amjad Shbita, now in his late 80s, who was displaced from the village as a child and now lives in the village of Tira.
Shtiba recalled how residents fled following warnings from the Arab Liberation Army, after news of Zionist attacks on nearby villages spread fear among the population.
“We left thinking we would come back,” he told the group.
Shbita described the lifetime of displacement that followed.
“There is no place without someone from Miska,” he said, referring to the dispersal of the villagers across different areas.
He added that the village was later destroyed in the early 1950s, marking the end of what he described as his childhood.
An act of imagination
Palestinians mark this anniversary at a time when Israelis celebrate their state’s independence, established on the ruins of Palestinian homes, many of which were deliberately destroyed in the early years to prevent their owners from returning.
For Palestinians, these visits and tours, however modest, serve as a way to preserve memory and pass on their story across generations.
'There are always ruins, and people return to them and try to rebuild meaning from them'
- Jasmine Shbita, a Nakba descendant
That meaning is also deeply personal.
Jasmine Shbita, a third-generation Nakba descendant, said returning to the site of a depopulated village is an act of imagination as much as memory.
“I keep trying to imagine it as a living place,” Jasmine said, describing how she envisions what the village could have been if it had not been destroyed.
She added that even without rebuilding, the act of visiting carries significance.
“Even if I don’t build a house, just passing this story to my children means I’ve done my part,” she said.
“There is no complete destruction. There are always ruins, and people return to them and try to rebuild meaning from them.”
While this year’s march looked different, organisers and participants say the message remains unchanged: the connection to the land and the demand for return continue, regardless of the scale.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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