Colloquium in Seixal marks 75 years of Nakba

On Thursday 30 November, Seixal’s Town Council, in collaboration with MPPM and CPPC, organised the Colloquium "75 years of NAKBA: The Catastrophe in Palestine," which was attended by the Ambassador of Angola, a representative of the Embassy of Venezuela, members of the Embassy of Palestine, local government representatives, and the general public.

Paulo Silva, Mayor of Seixal, and Nabil Abuznaid, Palestinian Ambassador to Portugal, opened the session.

Helena Palacino moderated the panel "The 75th Anniversary of the Nakba and a New Catastrophe: Palestine at the Centre of the World," which opened with a presentation by Carlos Almeida, vice-president of MPPM, who outlined the historical context in which the Palestinian question has unfolded, from the Balfour Declaration to the present day.

Rui Garcia, vice-president of CPPC, addressed the issue of international solidarity and its central role in building peace and the self-determination of peoples.

Dima Mohammed, a Palestinian university lecturer in Lisbon, emphasised the importance of complying with international recommendations for resolving the Palestinian question, with special emphasis on the right of refugees to return, as she herself belongs to the third generation of a family of refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars.

Mário Jorge Nunes, the mayor of Soure, testified to what he saw and heard during his visit to Palestine as part of a delegation of Portuguese municipalities that are part of the Movement of Municipalities for Peace.

In the third part of the Colloquium, under the theme "Times That Are Running Out: Experiences and Hope in the People of Palestine," several testimonies, both live and recorded, were heard.

Monya Haddad, a young Palestinian volunteering in Portugal, has drawn an intimate portrait of her relationship with her great-aunt, Leila Khaled, presenting a different side of the resilient woman that the world has come to know.

Mohammad Nassar, who was a monitor at a holiday camp held in Seixal, attended by 19 young people from refugee camps in the West Bank and Jordan, recorded an impressive video account of the current situation in Palestine.

In response to an invitation addressed to the UN Secretary-General, António Ferrari, the UN Communications Advisor for Portugal, sent a video recording describing the efforts the UN is making in Palestine, with a special emphasis on humanitarian aid.

Closing the Colloquium, José Oliveira read out a motion that brought together the conclusions of the afternoon's debate and called on the established powers to make a serious effort to find a solution to the Palestinian question, which was approved by acclamation.

This was followed by a visit to the exhibition "The Palestinian Question: The Essentials", conceived by MPPM and produced by Seixal’s Town Council, which will be open to the public in the atrium of the municipality's Central Services building.

To round off the day, students from José Afonso High School performed a staged reading of a compilation of Palestinian poems.