Nakba

Screengrab from "Lyd." (Courtesy of the directors)

A Lyd without the Nakba

Merging documentary with sci-fi, a new film narrates the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian city in 1948, and imagines what it would look like if the war never happened. So the Israeli government banned it from being screened.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman October 25, 2024

Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 24, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Can Palestinians imagine a future with Israelis after this war?

My grandfather remembers neighborly relations with Jews before 1948. For Palestinians today, such a prospect seems nearly impossible.

By Mahmoud Mushtaha May 27, 2024

Palestinians march during a rally marking the anniversary of the Nakba in the West Bank city of Nablus, May 15, 2024. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

How do we tell the story of the Nakba when the plot hasn’t ended?

Elias Khoury’s new book encapsulates the symbiotic relationship between literature and the Nakba, exploring its nature as a continuum of calamities.

By Yehouda Shenhav-Shahrabani May 15, 2024

Latest

Protesters wave Palestinian flags during the 27th annual March of Return in the depopulated villages of Hawsha and Al-Kasair, northern Israel, May 14, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Bazz)

‘The fourth generation remembers’: Nakba commemorated in shadow of Gaza war

Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel joined the annual March of Return, with many making connections to the violent displacement in Gaza.

By Baker Zoubi and Ghousoon Bisharat May 14, 2024

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation in the Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s right to tyranny

In justifying the violent unraveling of Gaza as ‘self-defense,’ Western capitals have once again signed off on Israelis’ license to act like despots.

By Amjad Iraqi January 17, 2024

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The ‘second Nakba’ government seizes its moment

Israeli leaders are explicit about reusing the methods of 1948 in Gaza today. But what didn’t quell the Palestinians then will not do so now.

By Meron Rapoport January 2, 2024

First Intifada in the Gaza Strip, 1987. (Efi Sharir/Dan Hadani Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel)

Why is Gaza so central to the Palestinian struggle?

The history of Gaza illuminates how the tiny enclave has long encapsulated Palestinian identity — and why it is now the focal point of a regional crisis.

By Anne Irfan January 2, 2024

Palestinians at a temporary tent camp set up for people who evacuated from their homes, on the grounds of an UNRWA school in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 19, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Is Israel preparing another Nakba for Gaza?

Forcing Palestinians out of the besieged strip seemed unthinkable weeks ago. But Israel’s war suggests that efforts may be underway to see it through.

By Samer Badawi October 19, 2023

+972 editor Vera Sajrawi stands in front of the well in the depopulated village of Al-Sajara. (Maria Zreik)

‘Your grandparents couldn’t return to Al-Sajara. But I know they died hoping’

Little remains of the village from which +972 editor Vera Sajrawi’s grandparents were uprooted in 1948. Living out the rest of their lives close by as internal refugees, they yearned for what was taken from them.

By Vera Sajrawi September 22, 2023

Israeli teenagers sign their names onto a letter declaring their refusal to enlist in the army and serve a dictatorship in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories, Gimnasia Herzliya, Tel Aviv, September 3, 2023. (Oren Ziv)

A lesson on Israeli ‘democracy’ from an 18-year-old draft refuser

Previous generations of Israelis closed their eyes to the oppression of Palestinians, Mizrahim, and asylum seekers. Our generation can be different.

By Yahli Agai September 5, 2023

A mural in the Jenin refugee camp, West Bank, October 10, 2006. (Anne Paq/Activestills)

Dispelling the myths about Palestinian refugees — in Jenin and beyond

With Israel's Jenin invasion sparking a new round of misinformation, here are the truths behind five hasbara tropes on Palestinian refugees.

By Anne Irfan July 9, 2023

Protest against Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during his visit to Washington DC, March 13, 2023. (Gili Getz)

‘A moment of disillusionment’: American Jews torn as Israel turns 75

Grappling with a far-right government and growing awareness of the Nakba, American Jews revealed mixed feelings marking Israel's independence.

By Emily Tamkin June 2, 2023

Berlin police arrest a Palestinian protester during a Nakba Day flash mob, after banning all commemorations of the day in the city, May 1, 2022. (@thequestionislysh)

Where can we Palestinians mourn our catastrophe?

By banning our ability to mourn the Nakba, Germany is opening the floodgates to a new wave of repression against all aspects of Palestinian identity.

By Hebh Jamal May 18, 2023