The 76th anniversary of the Palestine people’s wholesale expulsion from what is now Israel, a turning point in their national fight, is being observed on Wednesday, May 15. But the situation that is currently playing out in Gaza is considerably more serious than this historical disaster.
The 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, known as the “Nakba” (Arabic for “catastrophe”), resulted in the relocation of almost 700,000 Palestinians, making up the bulk of the prewar population.
Fearing a change in population, Israel forbade their return after the war, which led to the creation of a substantial refugee population that currently numbers about 6 million and is primarily housed in urban camps spread throughout Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Approximately 75 percent of people in Gaza are descendants of these refugees.
One of the key grievances in the conflict is Israel’s denial of the right of return for Palestinians, which has contributed to the collapse of peace negotiations during the previous fifteen years. In the past, Palestinian insurgency has always had strongholds in the refugee camps.
Background of Nakba Day
Nakba Day, which falls on May 15th, marks the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and is a day on which Palestinians demonstrate against their forced relocation. Many participants fly Palestinian flags, carry symbolic keys that stand in for their previous residences, or wave banners with keys on them to express their desire to go back home, which they claim is their right.
A few of these protests have turned into violent altercations in the past.
According to Deutsche Welle, Israel has claimed that Hamas and other groups that the EU, other countries, and other governments have labeled as terrorist organizations take advantage of this day for their own ends.
Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinians at the time, used the phrase “Nakba Day” in 1998 to mark the official day for commemorating the fall of the Palestinian state.
The Palestinian exodus
Palestine was a component of the Ottoman Empire and was ruled by the Ottomans until the end of World War I.
It was subsequently governed by the British under the terms of the Mandate for Palestine. Around this time, when antisemitism in Europe was on the increase, more and more Jews from all over the world moved to Palestine, seeing it as Eretz Israel, the Promised Land where Jews had historically lived, albeit in lower numbers.
A partition plan for Palestine was adopted by the UN after the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. The Arab League rejected the plan, while the Jewish Agency for Palestine approved it. The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948.
A coalition of five Arab governments launched war in retaliation, but Israel prevailed by 1949.
Between 200,000 and 300,000 Palestinians are thought to have already left their country or were expelled prior to the war, while another 300,000 to 400,000 were displaced during the fighting, for a total estimated population of 700,000.
More than 400 Arab villages were destroyed during the conflict.
Human rights breaches were perpetrated by both sides, but the murder in Deir Yassin, a town halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, is still vividly remembered by Palestinians. Many Palestinians were forced to leave as a result of the incident, which claimed the lives of at least 100 people, including women and children.
By the end of the conflict, Israel possessed around 40% of the land that the 1947 UN partition plan had initially set aside for Palestinians.
Only a small percentage of Palestinians moved further abroad, with the remainder becoming stateless refugees in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and neighboring Arab nations.
There are currently about 6.2 million Palestinians living in the Middle East, with a large percentage of second and third generation Palestinians still living as stateless people.
Condition of Palestinians today
Most Palestinians in the area live in refugee camps that have evolved into cities over time, according to UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and East Jerusalem are the main locations of these camps.
Between six and seven million people are thought to be part of the Palestinian diaspora worldwide.
Nevertheless, accurate data is not available because there is no centralised authority monitoring Palestinians globally.
UN on Palestinians’ right to return
The 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, UN Resolution 3236 from 1974, and UN General Assembly Resolution 194 from 1948 all uphold the “right of return” for Palestinians who are officially recognized as refugees.
Israel, on the other hand, has rejected the “right of return,” claiming that doing so would compromise Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
Noting the expulsion or flight of about 800,000 Jews from Arab nations like Morocco, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen between 1948 and 1972, Israel has denied culpability for the displacement of Palestinians.
Palestinians now dread a possibly catastrophic repetition of their painful past. Palestinians in Gaza are fleeing to already packed tent camps in the midst of Israel’s military offensive, drawing striking similarities to the 1948 mass exodus. Mustafa al-Gazzar, 81, spoke with AP about his family’s terrifying childhood trek from their town in central Israel to Rafah. He described the memories of flying bombs and improvised shelters. Al-Gazzar was forced to escape again over the weekend, and he is currently living in a tent in Muwasi, where things are considerably worse than they were in 1948.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have died in the current conflict, which was sparked by Hamas’ onslaught on Israel, making it the bloodiest phase of the conflict’s history. Three-quarters of Gaza’s population, or over 1.7 million Palestinians, have also experienced several displacements. There are serious concerns about a prolonged refugee crisis since Egypt is restricting Palestinian exit and Israel is locking its border.
Far-right elements inside the Israeli government support the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, a move that has drawn criticism from throughout the world. Israel has maintained its long-standing position of accepting refugees from 1948 into host nations rather than assisting in their return. Their situation is made worse by the likelihood that Palestinians would never be able to rebuild in the face of massive destruction or return their homes.
