"Rami Zurayk: Every year the Nakba is commemorated and each year, the commemoration becomes more intense, not less. This year the demonstrations were inspired by the Arab Spring, a massive pacifistic resistance with no weapons and under only one flag — the Palestinian flag. So no factions, no PFLP, no Hamas, no Fatah, just everyone flying one flag and wearing white hats emblazoned with the flag. Like the demonstrations in Tahrir Square and throughout Tunisia, the Nakba Day demonstrators were audacious, tenacious and most of all, repetitive. Repetition is why Tahrir worked — you put your body on the line against repression. So that became our modality.
People arrived at the border in 1,000 buses. All in all, we counted 40,000 to 50,000 people. The Arab Spring is a revolution of the disenfranchised and desperate, and the Palestinians who live in Lebanon certainly fit that description. But what was remarkable about the Nakba Day demonstrations was that they also included rich Palestinians who were not from the camps — students from AUB (American University of Beirut) and Lebanese civil society."
People arrived at the border in 1,000 buses. All in all, we counted 40,000 to 50,000 people. The Arab Spring is a revolution of the disenfranchised and desperate, and the Palestinians who live in Lebanon certainly fit that description. But what was remarkable about the Nakba Day demonstrations was that they also included rich Palestinians who were not from the camps — students from AUB (American University of Beirut) and Lebanese civil society."
