Skip Navigation LinksHome > In The News > Fayyad attacks Israel for celebrating 60th anniversary while Palestinians 'suffer'
Fayyad attacks Israel for celebrating 60th anniversary while Palestinians 'suffer'
Associated Press | 05.13.08

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says Israel shouldn't celebrate its 60th anniversary while "Palestinians are suffering."

The usually mild-mannered Palestinian moderate said the festivities were out of place as long as the Jewish state maintains soldiers and settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinians regard Israel's Independence Day as their "nakba," or catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted in the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation.

Israel celebrated its 60th Independence Day last week, in accordance with the Hebrew calendar. Palestinians mark the "nakba" on May 15.

Fayyad made his remarks Tuesday in a speech before foreign dignitaries and Palestinian intellectuals in the West Bank town of Ramallah.