Palestinian March of Return reshaped by Israeli restrictions

Palestinian March of Return reshaped by Israeli restrictions Submitted by Samah Watad on Wed, 04/22/2026 - 15:19 In a series of small marches, Palestinians tour villages depopulated by Zionist militias during Nakba Palestinian children wearing keffiyehs walk along a road in al-Mughayir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 22 April 2026 (Mohammed Torokman/Reuters) Off The annual March of Return, which typically draws tens of thousands of Palestinians inside Israel , was transformed this year into a series of smaller marches across depopulated Palestinian villages. Despite restrictions imposed by Israeli police, hundreds of Palestinians took part in local tours to their destroyed villages to commemorate the Nakba , or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias to make way for the creation of Israel in May 1948. Through these events, Palestinians say they aim to reaffirm their identity amid what they describe as ongoing Israeli attempts to erase it.