Support the right to return

On Dec. 1, the San Diego Chapter of Al-Awda hosted the Third Al-Awda West Coast Regional Conference to prepare for the Sixth Annual International Al-Awda Convention, which will be held on May 16-18, 2008, in Anaheim, Calif. The theme is “Palestine: 60 Years of Forced Exile—Time for Return.”

This important 2008 conference will mark the sixtieth year of Al-Nakba, the cataclysm that forcibly displaced a million Palestinians from their villages and cities. The Zionist settler state of Israel was installed by U.S. and British imperialism on May 15, 1948, through the massacre of civilians and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages. The conference will reaffirm the right of displaced Palestinians to return to the lands stolen from them—not just in theory, but in reality.

Through panels, workshops and cultural presentations the 2008 conference will educate and inform Palestinians, supporters and others seeking to understand the roots of the anti-imperialist struggle in the Middle East. Topics will include modern history, current affairs, the goal of one democratic secular state, the parallels with the former South African apartheid regime, and the current status of refugees and racism and discrimination faced in the U.S.

To plan with the San Diego Chapter of Al-Awda, Palestinians traveled from as far away as Portland, Ore., and Phoenix, Ariz. As each attendee introduced themselves, they included the town or area in occupied Palestine from which they or their families were displaced, including the first wave of displacements in 1948. One young man now living in the U.S. had parents who were born in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon after their parents were driven from their homes in Palestine.

Supporters who also attended the planning meeting included representatives from Alternate Focus, Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid, International Action Center/Troops Out Now-LA, Workers World Party and the ANSWER Coalition. Go to www.al-awda.org for registration, agenda and other information on the 2008 Conference.