Palestinian March of Return cancelled for first time in decades due to Israeli threats
A protester holds a key symbolising the homes of Palestinians who were forcibly expelled in 1948 during a rally marking Nakba day in Ramallah on 15 May 2023
Mera Aladam reports in Middle East Eye on 29 April 2025:
An annual march in Israel symbolising Palestinians’ right of return has been called off for the first time in nearly three decades due to restrictions and threats from Israeli authorities.
The March of Return is an event held every year in Israel and the occupied territories to commemorate the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since 1948.
The organisers said in a statement they decided to cancel the march this year “due to pressure from the Israeli police and the imposition of unreasonable demands”. Citing “systematic obstacles and unprecedented, prohibitive conditions” as well as “a racist incitement campaign” from government ministers and the “brutal aggression against our people in Gaza”, the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (Adrid) deemed it safer to cancel the event.
“All of this reinforced our suspicions of a premeditated plot to harm the participants,” the NGO said, adding that it chose to preserve the “safety and security of our people”.
Adham Jabareen, a member of the association, told Arab48 that dozens of volunteers had “worked day and night” on preparations for the march that was set to be held in the village of Kafr Sabt, in the eastern Lower Galilee. “However, efforts to obtain a permit to organise the march failed due to pressure from the police and their unreasonable demands.” Such conditions included limiting the number of attendees to 700 people while tens of thousands usually participate in the event, and a ban on raising the Palestinian flag.
The police also threatened to infiltrate the march to enforce restrictions and to deploy a drone over participants, Jabareen said.
Increasing restrictions
Since Israel was established in 1948, the state has been working to restrict its Palestinian citizens, who account for more than 20 percent of the population, to their existing, overcrowded communities, while maximising the land available for Jews.