Palestinian right of return

A protester waves the Palestinian flag toward Israeli soldiers standing on the other side of the fence encaging Gaza, during the "Great March of Return," east of Gaza City, Gaza Strip, October 18, 2019. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)
What a real ‘day after’ for Gaza could look like
Many of those displaced by the genocide are already Nakba refugees. Activists are mapping out how they could return to their original homes from pre-1948.
By Yahav Erez April 22, 2026
People gather near the entrance to the the church at the Christmas market in Bir'im, Dec. 13, 2025. (Anna Maria Hawa)
In the Galilee hills, Christmas celebrations revive a depopulated Palestinian village
After a two-year absence, displaced residents and their descendants returned to Bir'im — part of efforts since 1948 to keep the community alive.
By Samah Watad December 24, 2025
View of graffiti painted by artists of different backgrounds, supporting the Palestinians, seen painted on the separation wall in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, October 21, 2024. Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90
Forget symbolic statehood — the world must recognize Israeli apartheid
The push to recognize a Palestinian state creates the illusion of action, but delays the real remedies: sanctioning and isolating Israel's apartheid regime.
By Alaa Salama August 29, 2025
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Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, meets with internally displaced people in Rafah during his visit to the Gaza Strip, Dec. 12, 2023 (UNRWA Photo)
‘If UNRWA implodes tomorrow, there’d be no alternative’
Still functioning despite Israel's ban, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini explains how the agency is laying the groundwork for future Palestinian institutions.
By Ghousoon Bisharat and Meron Rapoport February 27, 2025
Supporters of the Israeli activist group Zochrot carry banners and signs to remember the Nakba and Palestinian refugees as thousands march in the annual human rights march in Tel Aviv, December 9, 2011. (Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
Refugees of apartheid: Why Israelis need to talk about Palestinian return
Amnesty's bombshell report and Ukraine's refugee crisis are an opportunity for Israelis to rethink their denial of Palestinian return to their homeland.
By Yaara Benger Alaluf March 17, 2022
Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel take part in March of Return to the destroyed village of Hadatha, near Tiberias, April 23, 2015. (Activestills)
PODCAST: The Jewish Israelis helping make Palestinian return a reality
What do Jewish Israelis think about the right of return for Palestinian refugees? The answer is not what you might expect.
By Henriette Chacar May 29, 2020
Two decades after building this house in Jerusalem’s Talbiya neighborhood and posing for a photo with his family, Shukri Al Jamal was expelled from his home during the Nakba, along with the rest of the neighborhood’s Palestinian residents. The home is now populated by Jewish Israelis. (Courtesy of Tarek Bakri)
PODCAST: The project bringing Palestinian refugees back home
What does the right of return mean to Palestinians, 72 years since the Nakba? Tarek Bakri’s visual documentation project offers a glimpse.
By Henriette Chacar May 15, 2020
Israeli security forces guard as Jewish Israelis tour the Palestinian side of the old city market in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 15, 2019. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
Confederation can’t answer the most important issue in Israel-Palestine
Any framework that comes to replace the two-state solution must aspire toward decolonization, and accept that Zionism and full civic equality are irreconcilable. Changes on the ground over the past decade have allowed Israel to consolidate its rule between the river and the sea. While the final nail in the two-state coffin was hammered long…
By Henriette Chacar July 2, 2019
Palestinian protesters waive the Palestinian flag, during a Great Return March demonstration near the Gaza-Israel fence, Gaza Strip, September 7, 2018. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills.org)
The Palestinian struggle is shifting to a civil rights movement, and Gaza is leading the way
The Great Return March signals a shift for the Palestinian people, says scholar Tareq Baconi. Palestinians are no longer fighting for a state, and are increasingly demanding their full rights — primarily the right of return. The leaders of the Great Return March surprised the world when they organized the first demonstration along the Israel-Gaza fence…
By Rami Younis January 11, 2019
Israeli and international activists protest at the Israeli side of the Gaza fence in solidarity with the 'Great Return March' of Palestinians in Gaza, September 2018. (Oren Ziv)
PHOTOS: Activists protest on Israeli side of Gaza fence in solidarity with Great Return March
‘We will continue to come here until Gaza is free.’ By Oren Ziv Dozens of Israeli and international activists protested on the Israeli side of the Gaza fence on Friday, in solidarity with the Great Return March protests in Gaza. The activists, some members of organizations like Jews for Return and Coalition of Women for Peace,…
By Oren Ziv September 21, 2018
Palestinian refugees, Mohammad Abdullah Tafesh, 90 years old, and His wife. Laila Abdel Meguid Tafesh 78 years old, from the Rafah refugee camp, holds up a key allegedly from his house in Jaffa, now located in Israel on May 15, 2009. in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza strip. Palestinians are marking May 15, as Nakba Day or Catastrophe Day, as the 61st anniversary of the al-Nakba, the day the Israeli state was created in 1948.Photo By Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90 *** Local Caption *** *** Local Caption *** ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???????? ????????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ????????? ????????
How Israeli leftists trivialize the Palestinian cause
Ending Israel’s military rule in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 will not solve the problem of a state built for one group at the expense of another. By Zena Tahhan Ask any Palestinian on the street and they will tell you that the 1948 territories—those areas that now make up Israel—are occupied. It does not…
By +972 Magazine November 28, 2017
South African Jews and representatives of Lubyan refugees at a public apology ceremony amid the ruins of the destroyed Palestinian village of Lubya, May 1, 2015. (Sarah Levy)
S. African Jews in Lubya: We’re here to acknowledge the Nakba
Among the ruins of the destroyed Palestinian village of Lubya, a group of South African Jews publicly apologizes to descendants of Lubya’s refugees for their donations to the Jewish National Fund, donations that were used to plant part of the forest that covers the village’s remains. In a forest glade set atop the remains of…
By Natasha Soffer-Roth May 2, 2015
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  2. ‘NAZA’ is forcing Israelis to reflect. But we Palestinians are not your mirror
  3. ‘The Gaza Holocaust won't be forgotten’: An Israeli musician screams into the void
  4. A restored history of Jewish anti-Zionism — and the loss it cannot repair
  5. The 'gray arm' of Israeli annexation
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  4. A restored history of Jewish anti-Zionism — and the loss it cannot repair
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