Nakba demonstration on Sunday in Nicosia

THE PALESTINIAN community in Cyprus will hold a demonstration to commemorate the 63th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine this Sunday in the capital.

Every May 15, Palestinians around the world commemorate the anniversary of the creation of Israel, referred to as Nakba (the Catastrophe), marking the expulsion and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.

According to a Cyprus-based organiser, a march will be held on Sunday, starting at 12pm at Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, heading to the Israeli embassy “to demand the end of Israeli occupation and the right for all Palestinian refugees to return to Palestine”.

Demonstrators will pass in front of the Egyptian Embassy on their way “to congratulate the Egyptian people for the victory of their revolution and their stand and support to Palestinian people”.

The organisers call on “all those who are against occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes, who are committed to justice, peace and freedom, to act against Israel to stop the occupation and end the siege on Gaza”.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.