May 15, 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Nakba [1] or commemoration of the displacement of Palestinians from what is now Israel. Of course, for Israelis the date signifies the 60th anniversary of their country's independence. And for bloggers, May 15 signifies Palestine Day.
za3tar, the organizer of the initiative, explained the purpose [2] in a post saying:
Dear all,
May 15th of this year is the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba –which marked the beginning of the modern age Palestinian plight and suffering. This date is remembered annually on local, regional, and global levels.
I am certain that many in the blogosphere will dedicate some posts to commemorate this tragic event. However, inspired by the success of the “Blog About Jordan Day” initiative, i would like to start a formal initiative to encourage everybody to dedicate one post on Thursday, May 15th, to talk about Palestine or the Palestinian Experience.
There are no restrictions on what you can write, or the language that you can use. Really, anything that talks about Palestine, or the Palestinians; in the past, present, or future; political, social, economical, or any other aspect is welcomed. The goal of this event will be to share thoughts, and raise awareness about the Palestinian situation. Hopefully, with everyone’s support, this will be such a spectacular event that it will catch the eye of the mainstream media (specially that the Palestinian situation is inadequately and incorrectly represented in most of the western media outlets).
bruised earth is encouraging fellow bloggers [3] to take part:
With May 15th fast approaching – and with it the 60th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba – a wonderful initiative dubbed ‘Blog About Palestine Day’ will take place encouraging sites and bloggers to write something, anything having to do with Palestine and the Occupation. This is a great chance to get behind an online movement – and bruisedearth.org will of course be proud to take part.
Sugar Cubes will also be blogging that day, and suggests topics [4]:
On the 15th of May, bloggers everywhere will unite through blogging to help raise awareness about the Palestinian cause and what happened (and is still happening) 60 years ago on the 15th of May, 1948.
Your post could be a picture, an article, a video, a poem or something you’d like to say
In addition to the blogging, a Facebook group [5] has been created to document May 15. The group informs readers:
You don't have to be a Palestinian or an Arab to participate. You could offer your views as a non-Palestinian on the issue. We just seek to get the word out and inform people about us.