Israeli forces quash students’ attempts to quietly commemorate Nakba in Jerusalem

Israeli police detained three Jerusalemites in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as they participated in a commemoration ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of the Nakba.

More than 300 female university students arrived in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to jointly commemorate the Nakba, when 61 years ago hundreds of thousands of their parents’ and grandparents’ generation were driven out of their homes and villages to make way for the State of Israel.

As the women began to gather in the compound Israeli forces forcibly evicted them, confiscated posters and pamphlets about the Nakba from two female university students who were then detained and taken to the Western Wall, or Al-Buraq, police station.

A third Palestinian, Nawwaf At-Touri, was also detained as he lead a clean-up campaign in the ancient Islamic cemeteries surrounding the Al-Aqsa compound. He was one of hundreds of Palestinian students from inside Israel who arrived at the cemetery to tend to the graves and privately mark the Nakba.