Israel tightens security measures to disturb 63rd Nakba anniversary

[ 14/05/2011 - 08:37 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have intensified tight security measures in the occupied city of Jerusalem and at its entrances to the West Bank to prevent the Palestinians from organizing marches on the 63rd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe). The Hebrew radio said thousands of policemen and troops were deployed throughout the holy city and at the gates of the Aqsa Mosque. The IOF also set up military checkpoints inside the city and barred the entry of Palestinians from the West Bank. The Israeli security apparatuses expressed fears that the marches on the Nakba anniversary would turn into an uprising like what happened in some Arab countries. Palestinian youth groups had announced their intention to organize events and marches on the Nakba anniversary in all occupied territories and neighboring Arab countries. On Friday, the IOF kidnapped 13 Palestinian young men in occupied Jerusalem on allegation they wanted to cause riots on the eve of the Nakba day which falls on Sunday. In this regard, Palestinian movements and organizations in the 1948 occupied lands invited the Palestinians to participate on this occasion in a massive march to be organized on Saturday. In a meeting on Thursday, they said the march would start from Bab Al-Amoud square, one of Jerusalem's oldest gates, and pass through Sultan Suleiman and Salahuddin streets towards the Palestinian homes that extremist Jewish groups seized or intend to take them over in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in central Jerusalem.