What was the Nakba and how did it change Palestine?

Nakba Day, inshort, a day when Israel not only steal was a day when the Palestinians’ land, property, and belongings but this day was the day when their society, culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations were also stolen.

It was an unfortunate cleansing] of Palestinians in Mandatory Palestine during the 1948 Palestine War through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings.

Today marks the day when the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants was snatched away.

What does Nakba mean?

Nakba means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic and is the word used by Palestinians and others to refer to this historic moment.

What is the significance of Nakba?

Nakba Day actually marks the beginning of the destruction of the Palestinian homeland and the mass displacement in 1948 of the majority of the Palestinian population.

How did the Nakba change Palestine?

The enormous loss of territory which began with the Nakba continues to affect the everyday lives of Palestinians.

Many valuable resources are located in land now claimed by Israel, preventing Palestinians from accessing them and potentially growing their economy.

The Nakba resulted in the world’s longest running unresolved refugee crisis, with some 6 million Palestine refugees within Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In some cases, Palestine refugees in the Middle East have endured wars and further displacement in their host countries.

The Israeli occupation, which has been ruled illegal under international law, affects every aspect of Palestinians’ lives. It denies their basic human rights, undermines their dignity and entrenches poverty.

It restricts movement, trade and access to water, services, farmland, markets, families and religious sites. It cuts Palestinians in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank off from each other.

Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, which restricts the movement of goods and people in and out of the Strip.