US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib has reintroduced a resolution recognising the 78th anniversary of the Nakba and reaffirming the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
“The Nakba never ended," Tlaib said in a statement on Thursday.
"Today, the Israeli apartheid regime is committing genocide in Gaza, violently erasing entire communities across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and bombing Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. It is a campaign to erase Palestinians from existence."
The resolution, titled “Recognising the Ongoing Nakba and Palestinian Refugees’ Rights", comes ahead of the 78th anniversary of the Nakba on May 15.
The Arabic term "Nakba", meaning "catastrophe", refers to the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 war and the creation of the state of Israel.
Tlaib also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of seeking to permanently displace Palestinians from Gaza and expand military threats into southern Lebanon.
“War Criminal Netanyahu has threatened to ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, annex the land, and permanently occupy it. As we mark the anniversary of the Nakba, we honour all of those killed since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine began and the Palestinians who were forced from their homes and violently displaced from their land. This immense trauma, including the loss of their loved ones and connections to the communities they grew up in, needs to be repaired.”
"True peace must be built on justice and the inalienable right of return for Palestinian refugees," she said.
The resolution is co-sponsored by several Democratic lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Betty McCollum.
