At UN, Palestinian-Americans mark 60 years of displacement

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
As Israel marked the 60th anniversary of its independence Friday, Americans of Palestinian descent rallied near the United Nations to mark six decades of displacement from the sliver of land uneasily shared by Jews and Arabs. "Our country died 60 years ago," said Salah Zalatimo, 28, who blames the current Israeli-Palestinian face-off on "minority extremists on both sides." "It was the death of a nation that coincided with the birth of a nation," said Zalatimo, an American-born business consultant who said his family members were expelled from Israel in 1948, then again from the West Bank during the Six Day War.