On Friday, scores of Palestinians and Arab Americans gathered at the United Nations to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Saifeedan Anmousa, Columbia University student: “The Nakba is not a historic event that happened sixty years ago, and this is why we’re commemorating it. This is not just about talking about the history, this is about the reality that is going on today. The Nakba is still alive in every Palestinian refugee camp around the Arab world, in every checkpoint in the West Bank, with every bomb that is thrown into Gaza and with every child that is murdered in the West Bank.”