By Linda Young - AHN Editor

 
wake up: Who Would Pack up their belongings and Ditch their Home just Because the Government told them to?
Ramallah, West Bank (AHN) - Palestinian's marked the anniversary of the creation of Israel on Thursday as the disastrous 60th anniversary of the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. Many Palestinians were either expelled from their homes or fled them during the war that followed the creation of Israel in 1948. Those people and their descendants have grown to 4.5 million refugees that have registered with the United Nations and are living either inside Israel in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank, or outside Israel in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is himself one of the refugees. "Sixty years ago we were pushed into exodus and suffered an injustice. Today we call upon the world to give our people justice," Abbas was quoted as saying earlier this week according to AP reports. While Israelis celebrate the day joyously as the birth of their nation, Palestinians mark the day with protests as a "nakba" the Arabic word for catastrophe. This year many Palestinians in the West Bank carried black flags as they protested and listened to taped speech by Abbas, while Hamas officials in Gaza planned a march toward a sealed border crossing, according to AFP reports. [MORE]

In Israel, Rocket Attack Mars Bush's Optimistic Message
President Bush, in Israel this week to celebrate that nation's 60th anniversary, sounded an upbeat note on the prospects for a peace deal with the Palestinians. A terrorist attack, however, cast a pall over the festivities. The New York Times (5/15, Stolberg, Bronner) reports "Bush was hailed as 'a great leader' and 'a great friend' of Israel at an emotional Academy Awards-style celebration of the country's 60th birthday here Wednesday night." But "his visit, aimed at promoting peace in the Middle East, was instead marred by violence." Four Palestinians "were killed, including two militants, and nine were wounded in a series of Israeli Army strikes and incursions into Gaza, said medics and witnesses there." And "in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, a rocket that the police said was launched from northern Gaza struck a commercial center, crashing through the roof of a health clinic and badly wounding a woman and her 2-year-old daughter, both in the head." The White House "condemned the rocket attack, blaming Hamas." Yesterday evening "brought the biggest hitter of all," Bush, who was "was overcome with emotion, brushing aside tears after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed him as an 'unusual friend' to the state of Israel and a series of tributes that included a pair of interpretive dancers moving around the stage to Carole King's 'You've Got a Friend.'"

• Pictured above:  US President George W. Bush sits beside Israeli parliament speaker Dalia Yitzik in Jerusalem. White House hopeful Barack Obama Thursday accused President George W. Bush of stooping to the "politics of fear" after the US leader implied in Israel that Democrats would appease terrorists.