Ministry of Transport and Public Works Organizes Symposium Commemorating the Nakba and the Continuation of Zionist Crimes Against Palestine and Lebanon

A symposium titled “Commemorating the Nakba and the Continuation of Zionist Crimes: An Analysis of Violations Against Palestine and Lebanon” was held in Sana’a today. It was organized by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works in cooperation and coordination with the Central Committee for Mobilization and Recruitment, the Preparatory Committee for the Palestine Conference, and the Yemeni Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

At the symposium, Minister of Transport and Public Works Mohammed Qahim emphasized that the Palestinian Nakba represents an ongoing chapter, written daily in blood and gunpowder across the land pulsating with pain and resistance, from steadfast Palestine to resilient Lebanon. He added that the Arab world is currently living through a time when masks are falling and humanity is being tested in its most severe trials before a global conscience that has fallen into a deep slumber.

He said, “Seventy-eight years have passed, and the wound is still fresh. The Nakba that shook the foundations of our nation in 1948 is the greatest act of displacement in modern history, a heinous attempt to erase a people, obliterate their identity, and confiscate their history. However, this tyranny has given rise to a generation nurtured on steadfastness, a generation that has inherited the keys to return as an unwavering belief and an inescapable destiny.”

Minister Qahim pointed out that the massacres being perpetrated today—genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip—and the ongoing violations in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the occupation’s prisons, are a brutal continuation of the methods of the early Zionist gangs. He emphasized that the will of the people, who have embraced martyrdom as a bridge to freedom, is capable of removing this tyranny, no matter how oppressive it becomes.

He also addressed the shared suffering of the brotherly Lebanese people as a result of Zionist brutality, destruction, and the continuous assassinations in their steadfast south and proud Bekaa Valley. He noted that the blatant violations of Lebanese sovereignty are a direct reflection of the expansionist Zionist project. He added: “The Lebanese blood mingled with Palestinian blood today confirms to the entire world that the battle is one, that Lebanon’s security is Palestine’s security, and Beirut’s dignity is Jerusalem’s sanctity.” He emphasized that true reconstruction begins with rebuilding the human will and fortifying memory before paving roads and constructing bridges. The enemy’s brutal aggression may destroy roofs and buildings, but it is utterly incapable of harming an idea that has taken root in a free heart, or uprooting a right deeply embedded in history.

The Minister of Transport and Public Works stressed that Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” constituted a pivotal and crucial stage in the history of the conflict, with its strategic dimensions, foremost among them the consolidation and establishment of the equation of “unity of arenas” extending from Lebanon to Iraq and Iran, reaching as far as Yemen.

He praised the religious and civilizational significance of the “Promised Victory and Holy Jihad” battle led by Sayyid Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, which made the world witness a Yemeni moral battle that restored concepts to their proper place and resulted in an unprecedented awakening of global conscience and widespread mobilization in the West. He reiterated the steadfast Yemeni position that the conflict with the Israeli enemy is an existential struggle, not a border dispute.

Meanwhile, Hamas representative in Yemen, Mu’adh Abu Shamala, explained that the Palestinian Nakba began on May 15, 1948, after the Jews received the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, which granted Palestine to the Jews as a national homeland. He clarified that with the declaration of the establishment of the Zionist entity, the tragedy of the Palestinian people began, along with the crimes of ethnic cleansing, including the displacement of 75,000 Palestinians and the destruction of 500 villages. He added that the enemy’s crimes and schemes have continued, most recently the war of genocide and starvation waged against the people of Gaza for two full years.

He stated that Zionist crimes have continued against the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa Mosque through settlement projects, the policy of forced displacement, repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the enactment of unjust laws, the latest of which is the law authorizing the execution of prisoners, all in full view of a world that claims to be civilized and a defender of human rights.

The Hamas representative said, “On the 78th anniversary of this human tragedy, the Palestinian people and all their active forces and resistance continue to stand against Zionist arrogance, affirming that this occupation has no sovereignty or legitimacy, and that the Palestinian people will continue with all their might until this occupier is expelled, all their legitimate rights are achieved, and their independent state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.”

He pointed out that the Palestinian people, for 78 years, have remained steadfast on their land, writing the most magnificent epics of heroism in defending their identity and holy sites, and confronting all the enemy’s attempts to obliterate their cause, continuing to rally around the project of resistance and jihad until the liberation of all Palestinian land from the criminal Zionists.

Abu Shamala emphasized that the sacrifices of the martyrs from among the sons and leaders of the Palestinian people will continue to fuel their ongoing struggle until the defeat of the Zionist enemy and the liberation of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and all prisoners from Israeli jails. He affirmed that the occupation has no sovereignty or legitimacy over Palestine, and that Jerusalem will remain the focal point of the conflict with the enemy, and Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain a purely Islamic mosque.

He also affirmed that the Palestinian people will remain steadfast in their commitment to Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and will not allow the alteration of history and geography. They will sacrifice their lives and souls, along with all the vital and benevolent forces of the Arab and Islamic nation.

Abu Shamala commended all the efforts and stances supporting the rights of the Palestinian people and their cause, particularly Yemen’s unwavering support since the Nakba to this day, as well as its role since the launch of the Al-Aqsa uprising and the battle for “the promised victory and holy jihad.” This support, he noted, confirms that the pulse of truth and goodness still exists within the nation and is growing stronger, which has alarmed the Zionists, the Americans, and all criminals. He affirmed their commitment to continuing on this path with the same resolve and determination until victory is achieved.

The symposium, attended by the heads of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muayyad, and the General Corporation for Roads and Bridges, Engineer Abdulrahman Al-Hadrami, as well as the acting chairman of the board of directors of Yemen Airways, Khalil Jahaf, the presidents of Sa’dah University, Dr. Abdulrahim Al-Hamran, and Al-Bayda University, Dr. Ahmed Al-Arami, the director general of Sana’a Airport, Khaled Al-Shaif, and a number of ministry officials and affiliated bodies, addressed two main themes. The first, a historical and documentary theme, was presented by Dr. Mohsen Al-Darbi, Dean of the Faculty of Education in Arhab. In his presentation, he shed light on the early roots of the Zionist project, demonstrating with compelling figures and facts that the 1948 Nakba was not a coincidence, but rather the result of a conspiratorial plan in which the ambitions of the Zionist movement converged with Western colonial interests.

He reviewed the beginnings of colonial engineering, which began with the Basel Conference in Switzerland in 1897, led by Theodor Herzl, to establish a national homeland for the Jews, culminating in the infamous British Balfour Declaration of 1917.

He explained that the British Mandate authorities exploited their presence in Palestine to implement a systematic policy of empowering the Zionist movement. This involved facilitating large-scale Jewish immigration to alter Palestinian demographics, providing economic and real estate support to the Jewish Agency, burdening Palestinian farmers with taxes and disarming them, and brutally suppressing Palestinian uprisings, particularly the Great Revolt (1936-1939). This left the Palestinians militarily defenseless on the eve of the Nakba.

Dr. Darbi then addressed the “Dalet” plan, one of the most dangerous military documents drafted by the Haganah leadership in March 1948. He emphasized that it was a blatant offensive plan for ethnic cleansing, aimed at seizing control of Palestinian cities and villages and the systematic forced displacement of the population to ensure an overwhelming Jewish demographic majority.

He explained that Zionist militias decisively won the battle in major cities like Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa, and Safed by employing massacres and spreading terror. The Deir Yassin massacre on April 9, 1948, was the most prominent example, used in the media to instill panic and force unarmed civilians to flee for their lives.

Meanwhile, Palestinian writer and researcher Ibrahim Nasouh presented the second session, titled “Palestinian Prisoners: Human Rights Violations and Executions… Testimonies and Human Rights Documentation 2026.” In this section, researcher Nasouh dissected the dangerous and horrific transformations that the issue of prisoners has witnessed from late 2023 to mid-2026. He emphasized, with evidence and testimonies, that Zionist prisons and military centers are no longer merely places of detention, but have become systematic spaces for practicing collective torture and slow extermination under an unprecedented legislative and political cover.

He pointed out that 2026 witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of detainees and overcrowding in detention facilities as a result of widespread and indiscriminate arrest campaigns in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He noted that the occupation has completely disregarded all legal guarantees and transformed “administrative detention” into a tool of collective punishment affecting thousands without charges or trials, amidst a complete denial of the right to legal defense or medical care, and the prevention of family visits and visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross, thus isolating the prisoners from the world.

The Palestinian human rights activist highlighted the occupation’s use of “starvation as a weapon” within the prisons. By reducing food rations to a level insufficient for survival, this led to severe health deterioration and massive weight loss among prisoners and the spread of malnutrition. This was accompanied by “deliberate medical neglect” and the transformation of medical clinics into additional torture tools, where those with chronic diseases and war wounded were denied treatment and surgical operations, resulting in the deaths of dozens of martyrs inside the cells.

Dr. Siham Haidar, speaking online from Lebanon, addressed the Zionist enemy’s history of disregarding all international agreements, laws, and conventions since 1948. She cited its blatant escalation and violation of all ceasefire agreements in both Gaza and Lebanon, as well as its continued aggression and violations through the systematic bombing and targeting of civilians and infrastructure.

The symposium, which included numerous researchers and specialists, issued a statement affirming that the Zionist enemy continues to perpetuate the ongoing Nakba through forced displacement, demolition, and annexation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in addition to its ongoing daily attacks on southern Lebanon. The statement also warned against the Zionist entity exploiting the current circumstances to expand its control and occupy vast areas of Syrian territory.

They pointed out that the so-called Greater Israel project and Netanyahu’s alleged strategic shift are nothing more than a renewed extension of the 1948 Nakba, aimed at forcibly redrawing the region’s map and liquidating the Palestinian cause. They emphasized that confronting this expansionist drive is an urgent national responsibility requiring the immediate unification of Arab and Islamic ranks and the complete abandonment of the illusions of negotiation or the repeated “deals of the century.”

The symposium’s statement affirmed that historical experience has proven the occupation’s failure to abide by any signed agreements or understandings, instead using them as a cover to expand its settlements and perpetuate displacement. It called for the international prosecution of the occupation’s leaders and for war criminals to be identified by their true names.

The statement clarified that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal according to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant issued on November 21, 2024, and that he and all the leaders of the Zionist entity must be tried before international courts, and their scandalous violations against civilians and prisoners must be exposed. The participants in the symposium expressed their full and unequivocal solidarity with the victims of genocide and displacement in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese cities subjected to daily bombardment and destruction, as well as with the prisoners in the occupation’s prisons. They demanded the immediate opening of international crossings to lift the siege and allow the entry of humanitarian and medical aid.

The statement called for linguistic vigilance, declaring its absolute rejection of the term “Middle East” as a dubious colonial designation, and reiterating the condemnation of normalization in all its forms as a legitimization of the occupation.

The statement continued, “We stand firmly with the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and their honorable resistance, and we affirm that the right of return, liberation, and resistance are legitimate options guaranteed by all international conventions.” It also emphasized full solidarity with Hezbollah’s position in its categorical rejection of direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy. The statement concluded by raising the firm political “no’s”: “No to the occupation of yesterday and today, no to the continued theft of land, no to the Greater Israel project… Yes to Palestine from the river to the sea, yes to a free and dignified Lebanon, yes to a united and liberated Syria, and yes to a resistant Arab region that does not submit to forced change.”