Nakba

The Nakba (Arabic: النكبة an-Nakbah, lit. 'The Catastrophe') is the violent displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, along with the destruction of their society, culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. The term is used to describe the events that took place during the 1948 Palestine war, as well as the ongoing persecution and displacement of Palestinians by Israel throughout the Palestinian territories (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).

During the foundational events of the Nakba in 1948, dozens of massacres targeting Arabs were conducted and about 400 Arab-majority towns and villages were depopulated, with many of these being either completely destroyed or repopulated by Jewish residents and given new Hebrew names. Approximately 750,000 Palestinian Arabs (about half of Palestine's Arab population) fled from their homes or were expelled by Zionist militias and later the Israeli army in what is now Israel proper, which covers 78% of the total land area of the former Mandatory Palestine.

As a whole, the Nakba covers the long-running rejection of the Palestinian right of return, the creation of permanent Palestinian refugees, and the "shattering of Palestinian society" for the establishment of a Jewish state.

Many scholars, including Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, describe the events of the Nakba (especially the expulsions of 1948) as ethnic cleansing, but this categorization has been disputed by other scholars, such as Israeli historian Benny Morris. The Palestinian national narrative views the Nakba as a collective trauma that defines their national identity and political aspirations, whereas the Israeli national narrative views the same events in terms of the war of independence that established Jewish aspirations for statehood and sovereignty. To this end, the Palestinians observe 15 May as Nakba Day, commemorating the war's events one day after Israel's Independence Day.

The Nakba has greatly influenced Palestinian culture and is a foundational symbol of the current Palestinian national identity, together with the political cartoon character Handala, the Palestinian keffiyeh, and the Palestinian 1948 keys. Countless books, songs, and poems have been written about the Nakba. Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish described the Nakba as "an extended present that promises to continue in the future" as the Israeli–Palestinian peace process falters.