RAMALLAH: The top Palestinian negotiator on Friday said Palestinians are enduring a continuing "catastrophe," 62 years after the creation of Israel sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
"The catastrophe continues," Saeb Erakat said in a message for Naqba (catastrophe) Day which Palestinians mark on Saturday.
He insisted that the refugees, who together with their descendants now number 4.7 million, have the right to return.
"In other conflicts, refugee rights have been honored and respected, including the right of return, restitution and compensation.
In stark contrast, however, Israel refuses to even recognise the Palestinian right of return, thus continuing to deny the refugees’ basic rights.
"No state is above the law," Erakat said, calling on the international community to end Israeli "belligerence and disregard for international law."
He also insisted that the creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital "is a must."
Naqba Day marks the anniversary of the "catastrophe" Palestinians say unfolded with the May 1948 creation of the state of Israel, when an estimated 700,000 Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes.
Candle-light vigils were planned in refugee camps on Friday evening and major demonstrations were scheduled in the Palestinian territories on Saturday, including a march to the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
