Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations    

    RAMALLAH, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Palestinians inside the Palestinian territories and in diaspora will go on a one-hour strike at noon Thursday to commemorate their Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe) as the Israelis marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of a statehood.

    The Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) Higher National Committee, which arranges ceremonies marking the Nakba, announced a series of activities such as raising Palestinian flags and blackbands on the rooftops and sit-in protests across Palestinian lands.

    The strike will take place in Gaza, West Bank and refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries between 12 p.m. local time (O9OO GMT) and 13 p.m. (1000 GMT), the committee said in a statement.

    It called on Palestinians "to participate in the steps against the celebrations of the occupation's state which was built on the ruins of our people, villages and cities."

    The statement also urged the Palestinians to stick to their right of return.

    Mohammed Shamasna, 85, a refugee from al-Qubaiba, a coastal village near Ashkelon, said he, his sons and grandsons "will never forget our land and houses which they (the Israelis) demolished."

    On Thursday, Israel celebrates its anniversary in accordance with the Hebrew lunar calendar.

    In 1948, the Jews drove out the Palestinians to the Gaza Strip, West Bank and established a state. Every year, when Israel marks its anniversary, the Palestinians mark their catastrophe.