""Today is Nakba Day, the day on
which Palestinians mourn the loss of their homeland in 1948. 65 years ago, in
May of 1948, Ghatheyya Mifleh al-Khawalda was a carefree 15-year-old girl who
lived with her mother and sister in the village of al-Qastina in Mandatory
Palestine, when they were forced, along with the rest of their village, to flee
in the face of imminent threat from Jewish militias." "Before that, there had
been a British military camp nearby, but that year the British left and allowed
the Jewish groups to take over. We were terrified of what they might do to us.
They arrived, some of them in uniform and some in civilian clothes, and began
shooting at people.""