Palestinians are marking the Nakba or Catastrophe.
It is a day they mourn the loss of their homeland and the displacement of their people by the creation of the State of Israel.
There has been minor scuffles between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Qalandiya,
The crowd is expected to get larger through the course of the day.
More than 760 thousand Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in 1948 - their descendants now number around 4 point 7 million.
Around 160 thousand Palestinians stayed behind. Their descendants - known now as Palestinian Israelis - make up 20 percent of Israel's population.
Last year on Nakba Day Israeli soldiers opened fire on protesters from Lebanon and Syria as they tried to breach a fence and enter Israel.