Opinion: The world must stop a second Nakba 76 years after the first

Every year, Palestinians commemorate the Nakba (the Arabic word for “catastrophe”) of May 1948, when the establishment of the state of Israel caused the displacement of more than 750,000 people, the demolition of hundreds of villages, and the seizure of nearly 80 percent of historic Palestine. 

This year, Palestinians commemorate this event in light of an ongoing second Nakba - perhaps the most horrific and the bloodiest in the history of the Palestinian people.

Today, 76 years after the first Nakba, the wounds are still open, as millions of Palestinian refugees have been denied their right of return to their homeland, while Israel has occupied the rest of their territories in a continuing quest to erase the Palestinian people. 

My father is one of those refugees. He was born in Haifa in 1931, but he passed away before realising his right of return.

This year, the descendants of displaced Palestinians need not commemorate the painful memories of the catastrophe, because they are reliving it. It is as though each Palestinian generation is destined to live their own Nakba. This time, Israel is committing a genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 

READ MORE: The world must stop a second Nakba 76 years after the first, opinion by Fareed Taamallah