 The Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948 was the first major systemic campaign of violence carried out by the Zionist movement to dispossess and forcibly displace Palestinians from Historic Palestine. With the support and complicity of the Global North, this ethnic cleansing and mass expulsion campaign is now 77 years strong. Whether you see the Nakba from the perspective of the "never-ending Nakba" or from "multiple Nakbas inflicted on the Palestinian people", one fact remains: If we were to measure the ideology of Zionism by its material manifestation in the past, it would be one of systemic and violent ethnic cleansing through mass dispossession, displacement, detention, state-sponsored terror campaigns, assassinations, and uniform killing. In its present, as Zionism has cemented its grip on violating international humanitarian law and the rights of the Palestinian people with utter impunity, this material manifestation has culminated into an ongoing genocide in Gaza, apartheid in the West Bank, and life as second-class citizens for Palestinians inside the territories occupied by Israel in 1948. Palestinians and their allies commemorate the Nakba every year on May 15th, however, the reality is that more than half the indigenous population in Historic Palestine was already ethnically cleansed from their homeland by Zionist paramilitary groups before that date. In fact, prior to the outbreak of the all-out war between Zionist paramilitary groups and Palestine's neighboring Arab states, between 250,000 and 350,000 Palestinians were expelled from their villages and towns amidst the passage of the UN Partition Plan, where the United Nations, against the wishes of the indigenous Palestinians, decided to divide Palestine on November 29, 1947, and the declaration of independence by the state of Israel on May 15, 1948. Furthermore, the blueprint for a Zionist state laid out by early colonial Zionists such as Theodore Herzl and Ze'ev Jabotinsky envisioned the expulsion of the Palestinians well before the end of the British Mandate over Palestine, and even before the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement where England and France inserted borders that arbitrarily divvied up the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Some of the most infamous massacres against the Palestinians had already been committed by Zionist paramilitary groups and gangs as early as 1947, including the Baldat al-Sheikh Massacre of December 31, 1947, in which the Zionist Haganah paramilitary group encircled the village of Balad al-Sheikh, destroyed homes, and killed 70 Palestinians. In another act of dominance through impunity, the Sa’sa’ Massacre of February 14, 1948 saw the destruction of 16 homes and 60 Palestinians slaughtered. The Deir Yassin Massacre on April 9th, 1948, was of the more notorious massacres inflicted on the Palestinians. Weeks before the establishment of Israel as a state, the village of Deir Yassin was attacked by Zionist militants led by future Israeli prime ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. At least 110 Palestinian men, women, and children were slaughtered at Deir Yassin. This particular massacre consisted of some of the worst atrocities committed against the Palestinians at the time. It was a pivotal moment in both the Nakba and in the Zionist agenda to establish a Jewish-majority state in Historic Palestine. Word of the horrors at Deir Yassin spread quickly and triggered the flight of Palestinians from other villages around Jerusalem and beyond. It became one of the major catalysts for the mass-displacement of Palestinians both internally to other parts of Palestine, and externally to neighboring countries such as Lebanon & Syria. During the 1948 campaign of massacres, Palestinians fled with little but the clothing on their backs and the keys to their homes, the plan was to return after the conclusion of hostilities. They fled in two ways, either under direct fire by the Western armed & trained Zionist paramilitary groups, or out of fear from the horror stories of massacres such as Deir Yassin. This harrowing, violent ethnic cleansing campaign is what nurtured the fierce resistance of remaining Palestinians, who insist on remaining on their land and in their homes despite the relentless oppressive military occupation and overwhelming aggression that Israel has inflicted on them since before 1948. By the time Israel was established, the first toll of expulsion stood at over 750,000 Palestinians, or three quarters of the entire indigenous population. More than 530 villages were completely destroyed, and over 15,000 Palestinians were killed. The root causes of the ongoing atrocities are both the denial of the right to self-determination for Palestinians and the systematic breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law during the Nakba. These injustices have continued for over seven decades and have culminated today in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and its horrific displacement and ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank. On this 77th commemoration of the Nakba, we continue to witness powerful entities in the Global North such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and other member states in the European Union not only turning a blind eye to Israel's atrocities, but actively facilitating and funding Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and violent annexation of what little remains of Palestinian lands in the West Bank. To compound Western complicity, damning evidence of the repression of pro-Palestinian solidarity was unveiled by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), in which research presented concluded that the German government "is aimed at making a thought diverging from the colonial narrative literally unthinkable". Where data was compiled to monitor the German government's response to pro-Palestinian solidarity, a haunting conclusion regarding the impunity bestowed upon Israel was reached, "The repression of Palestine solidarity across Europe is a continuation of a colonial pattern that denies the history and reality of the colonized. This denial seeks to destroy, distort, and negate Palestinian identity, in order to manufacture consent for settler-colonialism and genocide." 77 years later, the only way forward is to seek justice for those who have been stripped of all they possess by the Zionist killing machine. The facilitation of atrocities through collaboration, whitewashing campaigns and cover-ups, the double standards, and the supply of weapons and economic aid to Israel by the Global North, must stop immediately. If human rights apply to all human beings, as institutions such as the United Nations, signatory states to the Geneva Conventions, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and human rights activists repeatedly claim in international law conferences and seminars, then there must be an immediate dismantling of the illegal military occupation and the colonization of Palestine. International law must be adhered to by all without exception. Palestinians must regain their right to freedom of autonomy and self-determination, and Israel must be held accountable for its illegal and deplorable acts as a rogue state in this world order. Comments are closed.
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