Palestinians are marking Nakba Day, commemorating 64 years since their loss of land and displacement after the creation of Israel in 1948.<br/> <br />Black flags hang through the streets of Ramallah and shops have closed in observance of the day.<br/> <br />Nakba Day, or "The Day of Catastrophe", is traditionally marked by protests across the Palestinian Territories.<br/> <br />In a national address on Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called upon Palestinians to unite.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SAYING:<br/> <br />"Today, all of our people unite to commemorate the Nakba, which displaced our people and they continue to suffer as a result. Every Palestinian, men and women, (suffer) whether living under occupation or in the refugee camps."<br/> <br />Some 700,000 people fled or were driven from their homes when Israel was created in 1948.<br/> <br />Now as many as five million refugees and their descendants live in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, many of them in squalid camps.<br/> <br />Abu Rizik, a 75-year-old resident of Ramallah, recalled being forced to flee from his home in Jaffa.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABU RIZIK, PALESTINIAN REFUGEE, SAYING:<br/> <br />"I remember the suffering that we had gone through as they (Jewish militias) were throwing bombs and firing shells at us. We used to have a huge home and my father brought in goods while there was a war. He took a tank from the fighters and he placed the goods in it and hid the goods at home, I was young then. We put sand bags all the way up to the roof so that the Jews would have trouble entering (our house)."<br/> <br />In East Jerusalem, Israeli border police clashed with stone-throwing youth.<br/> <br />Sarah Sheffer, Reuters
