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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Free Palestine! Communists from Palestine, Lebanon and Iran discuss the war on Gaza
A packed fringe meeting at the 57th congress of the Communist Party heard warnings of a second Nakba. BEN CHACKO reports
(Left to right) Dr Firas Sarhan, Nader Awaad and Navid Shomali

“I AM 55 years old, and I have never encountered such devastating news as I am receiving now from Palestine,” Palestinian People’s Party guest speaker Dr Firas Sarhan told a fringe meeting at the Communist Party’s 57th Congress yesterday.

“My dad lived through the first Nakba [catastrophe, as the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes as Israel was established is widely known] and he shared it with us, told us the horrible stories from that time.

“And that makes me think deeply and carefully about whether we are now facing a second Nakba, especially in terms of what’s going on in Gaza.

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