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==See also==
==See also==
*[[Letter of British Jews on 60th anniversary of Israel]]
*[[Yom Ha'atzmaut]]
*[[Yom Ha'atzmaut]]
*[[Naksa Day]]
*[[Naksa Day]]

Revision as of 16:49, 13 May 2008

Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة yawm al-nakba — 15 May) meaning "day of the catastrophe" is a annual day of commemoration for the Palestinian people of their displacement and dispossession as a result of their defeat in the 1948 Palestine war.[1][2] While for Israelis, 1948 war gave them independence and this day represents the "fulfilment of a historic ideal of the Jewish people" to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, for Palestinians the day represents, "the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of their people who were made homeless as Israel was born.”[3]

Events in Palestine during the British mandate prior to Israel's declaration of independence, as well as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that erupted following the invasion by neighbouring Arab states, resulted in the flight or expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinian refugees,[4] and the destruction and abandonment of up to 418 Palestinian villages.[5] Palestinian Arabs call these events al-Nakba ("the catastrophe").[6]

Israel declared its independence on the evening of May 14 1948. In the ensuing struggle, Israel defeated armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq and captured just over fifty per cent of the territory allocated as an Arab state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan, while the remaining was annexed by Transjordan or controlled by Egypt. After the end of the War, the vast majority of Palestinian Arab refugees outside the 1949 armistice lines were barred from returning to their homes, many of which had been destroyed, or from reclaiming their property.[4][5] Every year, on the 5th of Iyyar of the Hebrew calendar (which can fall between 15 April and 15 May) Israelis celebrate Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzma'ut).[7] While Nakba Day is commemorated on May 15 in keeping with the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic calendar, Palestinian Arabs and their supporters around the world coordinate some Nakba Day events to coincide with the Israeli Independence Day celebrations.[8][9][10] Because of the differences between the Jewish and the Gregorian calendars, Independence Day and the official May 15 date for Nakba Day usually only coincides every 19 years.[11] In Israel, there are Nakba day protests which takes place according to the Hebrew date, on the same day when Israelis celebrate Israel's independence day.

The event is often marked by speeches and rallies in the West Bank, Gaza and in Arab states.[12] In 2006, Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara told the Israeli newspaper Maariv: "Independence Day is your holiday, not ours. We mark this as the day of our Nakba, the tragedy that befell the Palestinian nation in 1948".[13][14]Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman called for Israeli Arab Knesset members that marked Nakba Day to be tried for treason.

The day was inaugurated in 1998 by Yasser Arafat,[15] when over one million people participated in marches and other events.[16] Nakba Day has been marked each year by protests which at times develop to clashes between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,[17][18][19] and in 2003 and 2004, by demonstrations in London[20] and New York City.[21]

  • Grandmother cries over grandson, Nakba 1948.
    Grandmother cries over grandson, Nakba 1948.
  • Palestinan mother Nakba 1948.
    Palestinan mother Nakba 1948.
  • Palestinian watch over a school in a refugee camp 1948
    Palestinian watch over a school in a refugee camp 1948
  • Makeshift school for Palestinian refugees.
    Makeshift school for Palestinian refugees.
  • Palestinian woman a baby and a jug, Nakba.
    Palestinian woman a baby and a jug, Nakba.
  • Refugees in the open Nakba 1948.
    Refugees in the open Nakba 1948.

See also

References

  1. ^ 58th anniversary of the Palestinian Catastrophe, Al Bawaba, 3 May 2006.
  2. ^ "In pictures: 'Catastrophe Day' protests". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2006-05-08.
  3. ^ "Flashback: Palestine's Catastrophe". BBC News Online.
  4. ^ a b Morris, Benny (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00967-7, p. 604.
  5. ^ a b Khalidi, Walid (Ed.). (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  6. ^ Sheleg, Yair 'Day of the citizen instead of day of the catastrophe', Haaretz, 3 May 2006.
  7. ^ Jewish Festivals in Israel, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed 3 May 2006.
  8. ^ Palestinians to mourn Israel's founding by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, May 12, 2005.
  9. ^ Palestinians mourn Israel's founding y by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, May 16, 2005.
  10. ^ Weekly Review of the Arab Press in Israel, Arab Association for Human Rights, April 30, 2001.
  11. ^ Hertz-Larowitz, Rachel (2003). Arab and Jewish Youth in Israel: Voicing National Injustice on Campus. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 51-66.
  12. ^ Bowker, Robert (2003). Palestinian Refugees: Mythology, Identity, and the Search for Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1-58826-202-2, p. 96.
  13. ^ Maariv article (in Hebrew).
  14. ^ 'The Palestinian nakba at 58', Bahrain News Agency, 1 May, 2006.
  15. ^ Rubin, Barry and Rubin, Judith Colp (2003). Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516689-2, p. 187.
  16. ^ Palestinians protest, National Public Radio, 14 May, 1998.
  17. ^ Analysis: Why Palestinians are angry, BBC News Online, 15 May, 2000.
  18. ^ Violence erupts in West Bank, BBC News Online, 15 May, 2000.
  19. ^ Israel - Palestinian Violence, National Public Radio, 15 May, 2000.
  20. ^ Pro-Palestine rally in London, BBC News Online, 15 May, 2003.
  21. ^ Al-Nakba Day Rally in Times Square, 2004.
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