May 23, 2015

For the first time since 1948, Palestinians inside the Green Line commemorated the anniversary of the Tantura Massacre, in which 138 people from the village, located south of Haifa, were killed, according to the source.

Hundreds of Palestinians from villages in the Galilee and the Triangle, together with a number of Tantura residents, took part in commemorating the massacre. The event was organized at the initiative of the Palestinian Women’s Association and the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Displaced. Participants set out from the Tantura Mosque toward the cemetery, which had been turned into a tourist resort.

Several participants delivered speeches emphasizing the importance of never forgetting the victims or what happened. They described the story of the village as “the story of the Nakba and suffering… the story of displacement, expulsion, and exile; the story of grandparents and grandchildren.”

They also stressed that “the right of return is a sacred individual and collective right that cannot be relinquished.”

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé also spoke, describing the situation as a striking paradox: “that a place of entertainment and leisure should be built on the site of a cemetery.” He pointed out that the site had been established over the ruins and aftermath of what he described as a major crime that someone wanted to conceal, adding that it was important for anyone who comes there to know what crime this place is concealing, according to the Panet website.

Teddy Katz also spoke, saying that what happened in Tantura had occurred elsewhere as well. He noted that there were “535 cemeteries like it, because of the Nakba,” adding that this could have been avoided, and that today there could be no hope without the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.