Laundry is hung while Palestinian children play in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on May 14, 2011, as Palestinians across annexed east Jerusalem and the Israeli occupied West Bank territories and the Gaza Strip ready for May 15th anniversary of the 1948 creation of Israel, an event known to Arabs as the “nakba” or “catastrophe. More than 760,000 Palestinians — estimated today to number 4.7 million with their descendants — fled or were driven out of their homes in the Arab-Israeli war which accompanied the establishment of the Jewish state. Around 160,000 Palestinians stayed behind and are now known as Arab Israelis. They number about 1.3 million people, or some 20 percent of Israel’s population. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)
