• In 1948, two-thirds of the indigenous Palestinian Arab population were forcibly expelled from their homes in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in order to establish Israel as an exclusive Jewish state. Over 530 Palestinian villages were systematically depopulated and destroyed.
• Today, Palestinians form one of the largest refugee populations – one in three refugees worldwide is Palestinian.
• Palestinians continue to be denied their internationally sanctioned rights to return to their homes, to self-determination, and to live in full equality in their homeland.
• Israel now comprises over 78% of historic Palestine and controls 85%.
• This control is exercised through a brutal military occupation, the illegal expropriation of land and natural resources, and the construction of Jewish only settlements – all of which push Palestinians further off their land.
• A recent UN report condemned Israel’s on-going policies in the Occupied Territories as forms of foreign occupation, colonialism and apartheid – all in violation of international law.
• No other democracy has so flagrantly breached international laws and UN resolutions as Israel has.
• 60 years on, Israel’s practices of ethnic cleansing continue.