Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, told the Israeli Army Radio that the Palestinians may launch a third intifada during the commemoration of the Nakba (catastrophe) Day, the day when Israel was established in 1948. The Palestinians are planning massive rallies on Sunday to mark the occasion.

Zaki added that the Palestinians people “would plan their efforts” if they lost hope for peace. The Palestinians walked out of US-brokered peace talks in September, protesting Israel’s decision to unfreeze a moratorium on settlement constructions in the West Bank.

According to the Fatah official, the PA “could not silence the Palestinian street after it saw the achievements of other peoples” in the Middle East.

The Israeli defense establishment decided to beef up the presence of security forces in the West Bank before the Palestinians mark the Nakba Day. Several Palestinian groups in recent weeks posted notices on Facebook, calling to turn this year's event into a “Day of Rage” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the Israeli occupation, as well as for demonstrations supporting the Palestinian statehood.

The Army Radio said that the security forces got instructions to avoid direct confrontation with Palestinians who will take to the streets in demonstrations Sunday.

The Nakba is considered to be the biggest catastrophe for Palestinians in modern history; the immediate consequences of the Nakba was the occupation by Israel of more than three quarters of historic Palestine and the expulsion of more than 85 percent of its population.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said that more than 800,000 out of 1.4 million Palestinians, who were living in the 1948 territories, were driven out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab countries and other countries of the world.

According to PCBS, Israel controlled 774 towns and villages and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns and villages during the Nakba. The atrocities of Israeli forces also included more than 70 massacres during Nakba in which 15,000 Palestinians were killed.

PCBS said that the Palestinian population has doubled 8 times 63 years after the Nakba which was 1.4 million at that time.