POSTERS TO REMIND "ISRAEL PARADE" MARCHERS OF ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE
Washington, DC - Advertisements commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (or "catastrophe" in Arabic) were posted throughout Manhattan this weekend by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
In 1948, Israel destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee. These Palestinians and their descendants remain refugees to this day because Israel has denied them their right of return. Palestinians recall this record of dispossession, forced exile, and ethnic cleansing as the Nakba.
More than 1,000 posters will appear in Manhattan over the next four weeks. The
advertising campaign is timed to coincide with both the
internationally-commemorated Nakba Day on May 15 and the June 1 "Salute
to Israel Parade". Josh Ruebner, National
Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation,
stated that the ad campaign "is designed to educate New Yorkers that
the establishment of Israel
in 1948 was accompanied by the widespread and purposeful ethnic
cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and lands. Participants in
the 'Salute to Israel Parade' will see our ads and be forced to
confront the reality which they deny, namely, that Israel's continued
existence as a 'Jewish State' is only possible by refusing Palestinian
refugees' their right of return home."
The ad was designed by Hungarian-born graphic artist Ildiko Toth, who resides in Portland, OR and is married to a Palestinian man who has been trapped in the Gaza Strip for more than one year due to Israel's siege. The
poster features keys, the symbol of Palestinian refugees' desire and
right to return home, parachuting in above a skyline of Jerusalem and a list of names of Palestinian villages destroyed by Israel in 1948. To view a high-resolution image of the ad, please click here.
Commenting
on her design, Toth stated, "My artwork explores creative ideas on how
to express the Palestinian struggle publicly and draw attention to its
existence. I hope the poster will help bring national and international
recognition to the refugees' right of return. I am very happy for the
significant effect the poster could have on many people."
Toth's
poster was selected as the winning poster design entry in an
international multi-media arts competition sponsored earlier this year
by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Additional
winning entries and honorable mentions from the competition-entitled
Expressions of Nakba-can be viewed in an on-line gallery by clicking here.
Additional information about the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is available by clicking here.
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