Sixty years of Israel, sixty years of 'the catastrophe'

US President Bush has arrived in Tel Aviv to help Israel mark the anniversary of its declaration of independence.

As Israelis celebrate sixty years of Statehood, so Palestinians mark sixty years of 'al Nakba' – 'the catastrophe'. In this zero sum game, one equalled the other and continues to do so to this day. The killing continues apace.

The BBC has just uploaded a terrific photo slideshow of life in the Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon. Founded by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1949 for dispossessed Palestinians, site of a massacre in 1982 by Lebanese militia forces supported by the Israeli Defence Forces and still home to some 15,000 people. The children of Shatila include third and fourth generation refugees from what is now Israel. Worth a look.

Meanwhile the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be holding a demonstration this Saturday afternoon in Belfast to mark 'Al Nakba – sixty years of dispossession'. Kicks off at 1:30pm at the Art College.