The Nakba: An Ongoing Reality for Palestinians!
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Kairos Palestine II - A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide, describes the Nakba not as a single historical event confined to 1948, but as an ongoing reality for Palestinians – ‘The Nakba of our people is our daily reality.’
The Nakba (Arabic: النكبة, al-Nakba, meaning ‘the catastrophe’) is the term Palestinians use to describe the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1947–1949 war surrounding the creation of the state of Israel. Following Israel’s military victory, the State of Israel was established. Up to 90% of the Palestinians who would have been inside the new Jewish state’s borders were expelled. As many as 500 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed. This is why Palestinians refer to the creation of Israel as the Nakba.
For Palestinians, the Nakba is not only a historical event but also a continuing symbol of statelessness, exile, military occupation, and unresolved refugee claims. Nakba Day is commemorated each year, the day after Israel’s Independence Day.
Israel’s illegal land grabs have continued unabated. Settlements have become cities, with all the associated infrastructure, taking unprecedented amounts of land from Palestinians, including agricultural land. Today there are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Settlements and the wall have taken over 42% of Palestinian land in the West Bank since 1967.
Through Kairos II, Palestinian Christians present the Nakba as: a moral and spiritual crisis; a continuing structure rather than only a past catastrophe, and something that must be addressed through justice, equality, accountability and Palestinian self-determination. Ultimately, rightly calling for the dismantling of systems of apartheid and settler colonialism, envisioning a future based on equal citizenship and rights for all inhabitants of the land.
Christian Palestinians are telling us through Kairos II that ‘We live now in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world. This moment — a moment of truth — demands from us a new stand unlike any before it. While people of the world have stood in solidarity with us, the genocidal war has laid bare the hypocrisy of the Western world, its hollow values and its empty boasts of commitment to human rights and international law.’ We heed their call!
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