Every year on May 15th, Palestinians worldwide commemorate the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic. This day marks the tragic events of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes and lands during the establishment of the state of Israel.

In 1948, immediately after the end of British colonial rule, Zionist forces, backed by the British government’s support to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, declared the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14th, sparking the First Arab-Israeli War. Consequently, Israeli Zionist forces forcibly displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and expelled them from their lands, resulting in the seizure of 78 percent of historic Palestinian land. The remaining 22 percent was divided between the now-occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA’s mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.)

Israel, along with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, forged an armistice agreement in January 1949. However, fighting continued. The 1949 Armistice Line, also known as the Green Line, was demarcated as the generally accepted border between Israel and the West Bank.

Between 1947 and 1949, Zionist military forces attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed approximately 530 villages. These actions resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities and massacres. After the 1948 genocide, throughout Palestine and neighbouring countries, approximately six million registered Palestinian refugees live in at least 58 camps, enduring the ongoing repercussions of displacement and dispossession.

Israeli military rule over the Palestinian people has profoundly affected the lives of the general population. Each year, Israel demolishes hundreds of houses in Palestine. According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) between 2009 and 2022, Israeli forces demolished at least eight thousand Palestinian-owned buildings, displacing at least 12,000 people. In the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, approximately 750,000 Israeli residents live alongside around 250 illegal settlements, which are deemed unlawful under international law. Palestinians in these areas frequently endure attacks on both themselves and their property. These ongoing challenges stem from misguided government policies and errors made by the Israeli government. The Israeli authorities actively fund and establish settlements in predominantly Palestinian-inhabited areas, providing incentives and subsidized housing to encourage Israeli Jews to relocate there. The US and Western powers support these actions against the Palestinians. The imperialist camp, spearheaded by the United States, generates conflicts globally and prioritizes arms trafficking in its economic agenda.

Gaza has been subjected to an Israeli sea and air blockade since 2007. Since 2008, Israel has launched four wars on Palestinian territory, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 people.For Palestinians, the Nakba is not merely a singular historical event; it represents an ongoing, continuous process of ethnic cleansing that continually displaces people from their homelands.

As a result of an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, there was an unprecedented scale of targeting, attacking, and killing civilians, marking a tragic escalation of violence in the recent history of Israel and Palestine. (According to a policy approved by the United Nations, armed actions against colonial rulers have been deemed legal and just. December 3, 1982. At that time UNGA resolution 37/43 removed any doubt or debate over the lawful entitlement of occupied people to resist occupying forces by any and all lawful means. The resolution reaffirmed “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.This has been widely confirmed by the Chinese representative representing the UN Security Council recently.)

Shortly after this attack, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government launched a massive military operation targeting innocent Palestinian civilians. Israeli authorities cut off essential services to the population of Gaza, including water and electricity, and allowed entry only for fuel and critical humanitarian aid. All of these actions signify the beginning of another Nakba.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between October 7, 2023, and the present, Israeli forces have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip alone, including approximately 14,500 children. Reports indicate that there are over 78,000 wounded and 8,000 missing individuals. Since October 7 until now, approximately 500 people have lost their lives in the West Bank too due to Israeli military operations. Palestinian health authorities report that nearly 120 children are among them. As a result of these clashes, 80% of buildings, 75% of schools, and 267 places of worship in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have been destroyed. According to the World Health Organization, out of the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, only 12 hospitals are partially operating under very difficult conditions. The situation in these areas is dire, with 15 people being killed every hour, including six children. About 35 people are presumably injured, with nearly 42 bomb explosions causing destruction to buildings. Due to this brutal war, more than 100 journalists have lost their lives. Most of them are Palestinians. Although the Hamas organization has expressed its willingness to go to a ceasefire, on Tuesday, authorities reported that an Israeli tank brigade had taken control of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Despite ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire with Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation in a video, stating that he had ordered troops to “operate in Rafah” after his government rejected a cease-fire proposal supported by Hamas the previous day.

The Joe Biden administration has provided US$61 billion in military aid to its political ally, the Netanyahu government. Currently, student protests against the United States and Israel have started in cities such as Chicago in the United States and are spreading across Europe. Recently, thousands of peace-loving people gathered in London to demand an immediate cease-fire and an end to the ongoing conflict in Israel. Approximately 15 countries worldwide have suspended diplomatic relations with Israel.

Today (May 15), on Nakba Day, The Peace and Solidarity Organization of Sri Lanka (PASOS) while condemning the military policies of Israel, the United States of America, and the Western powers is calling for an immediate halt to the Nakba-style genocide by Israel. Our demands include restoring the safety of innocent people in Gaza and the West Bank, agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas, and ending military aid to the Netanyahu government by the United States of America. PASOS also urges the immediate arrest of Israeli political and military officers involved in the genocide.

Finally we urge the United States to respect today’s UNGA overwhelming majority decision 143 vs 9 to accept Palestine as a full member of the United Nations the only way to stop bloodshed and the only remedy which can guarantee lasting peace between people of Israel and Palestine.

Bimal Ratnayake,
On behalf of the Executive Committee,
President,
Peace & Solidarity Organization, Sri Lanka