Former Nakba Day march in Israel
Photo: Yariv Katz
Akko residents to hold first Nakba parade
Despite recent ethnic tensions, city's Arab residents - led by Hadash - to hold march mourning establishment of Israel; local Hadash leader: We won't carry Palestinian flags like we did at Worker's Day parade
Arab residents of Akko will march on Saturday in honor of Nakba Day – a day in which Palestinians mourn the creation of the State of Israel
- under the slogan "not another Nakba." They plan to carry black flags and torches.
Two weeks ago, during the city's first Worker's Day parade on May 1, many Arab residents of the city carried not only red flags, but also Palestinian flags, an action that enraged many Jewish residents of the city. The Worker's Day March had been organized by the Hadash party.
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Shortly afterward, and despite recent tensions between Jewish and Arab residents of the city, the local Hadash chapter decided to hold a Nakba march in Akko this year, for the first time.
"Under the banner of 'not another Nakba' we will march on Friday at 8 pm to commemorate Nakba," said the chapter's Chairman Ahmed Awada, who is also a municipal councilor. He added that Palestinian flags would not be waved.
"One of the objectives of Hadash members and Arab residents of the city is to communicate to our youths, to the members of the new generation, that they must never forget what happened to our forefathers in 1948," he said.
"The most important message to give to these youths is to be vigilant and careful, so that this won't happen to them, so that there won't be another Nakba," Awada said, adding that the march had received a police permit and that the party would be responsible for its security.
Meanwhile, Shlomo Fadida, a municipal councilor from Yisrael Beiteinu, expressed his outrage at the march and warned that it was likely to exacerbate the existing tensions in the city.
"Ahmed Awada is frustrated by the results of the elections and is now busy bringing Knesset members from Hadash like Dov Khenin who was present during the May 1 parade, in which Palestinian flags were waved, and called the Israeli government racist," Fadida said.
"I suggest leaving the country's policy to Knesset members and ministers and not to Ahmed Awada," he said. "In my opinion the goal of this march is to incite. Everyone has something to lose. Look at last Yom Kippur," he added, referencing riots in late 2008 between Jewish and Arab residents of the city.
