Palestinians refer to the tragic event, which falls on May 15 each year, as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.
David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of Israel on May 14, 1948.
More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in a war between Israel and Arab armies that erupted a day later.
Israel did not allow Palestinians to return to their homes after the war.
Presently, up to six million Palestinians have become refugees, most of whom are living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank.
Israeli forces have massacred a large number of Palestinians over the past decades. Zionists also butchered Palestinians before Israel’s establishment.
Every year, Palestinians participate in demonstrations to commemorate the Nakba. They often display symbolic keys, emblematic of their lost homes.
However, this year’s anniversary of the Nakba has been overshadowed by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that began on October 7.
Israel has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory. The regime has slaughtered more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza. About 70 percent of them are women and children.
History repeats itself
During the Gaza war, Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation orders forcing around three quarters of the territory’s 2.3 million population to flee their homes.
At the beginning of the war, the Israeli army ordered people in northern Gaza to evacuate to southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
As a result, more than half of Gaza’s population was crammed into Rafah. More than a week ago, Israel ordered Palestinians in parts of Rafah to leave their homes ahead of a ground offensive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “total victory” over Hamas won’t be achieved without an incursion into the city.
On May 7, Israeli troops seized the main border crossing at Rafah, closing a vital route for aid into the besieged territory.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have fled Rafah.
As the Israeli army moves deeper into Rafah, more people are forced to leave the city on foot, in cars and donkey carts.
The mass evacuations in Gaza are reminiscent of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948.
Mustafa al-Gazzar, an 81-year-old grandfather, is among those people who have been forced to flee from Rafah.
He was a 5-year-old child when his family was forced from their home in 1948.
Mustafa told the Associated Press that the current conditions are worse.
“My hope in 1948 was to return, but my hope today is to survive. I live in such fear and I cannot provide for my children and grandchildren,” the grandfather told AP as he broke into tears.
Following the Six-Day War in 1967, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were also displaced.
Returning to their homes remain a key Palestinian demand.
Palestinians have also called for an end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
But Israel has always rejected these demands.
Palestinian uprising
The continuation of Israeli crimes and occupation led to the first Palestinian Intifada or uprising in 1987. At that time unarmed Palestinians only threw rocks at fully armed Israeli troops and military vehicles to vent their anger at the regime’s atrocities.
Sheik Ahmad Yassin established Hamas after the outbreak of the uprising.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, was concerned over the growing power of resistance in the occupied territories.
It called for talks to resolve the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed the US-mediated Oslo Accords in 1993, but no progress was made toward achieving Palestinian statehood.
Frustration and anger rose among Palestinians on the backdrop of Israel’s refusal to abide by the Oslo Accords and end the occupation.
It was one of the main reasons that sparked the Second Intifada in 2000.
Israel killed thousands of Palestinians during the two uprisings.
Israel’s brutal attacks against Palestinians failed to deter them from putting up resistance against the occupying regime.
As resistance against occupation grew, Israel had to deal with crushing blows at the hands of resistance groups.
Power of resistance
In October last year, Hamas carried out a surprise military operation in southern Israel which shattered the regime’s image of invincibility. More than 1,100 people were killed and about 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive.
Over the past seven months, Israel has failed to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.
The Israeli military’s intelligence, the US intelligence community and Western officials including EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell have admitted that the regime will not be able to defeat Hamas militarily.
No to second Nakba
Weeks after launching war on Gaza Israeli officials acknowledged that the regime’s Intelligence Ministry had drafted "a wartime proposal" to forcibly transfer the territory’s entire population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The move which would effectively amount to a premeditated plan of ethnic cleansing, sparked fears of a “second Nakba”.
But Palestinians said they will remain steadfast and will not allow for another Nakba to take place, no matter the cost.
Global support for Palestine
Along with growing resistance against Israel’s brutalities, support for Palestine has been on the rise.
The adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly that overwhelmingly backed the Palestinian bid for full UN membership has highlighted growing global solidarity with Palestinians.
The General Assembly approved the resolution by a vote of 143 to 9 with 25 abstentions on Friday.
Rising support for Palestine has further isolated and humiliated Israel and its Western allies, in particular the US.
Recent college campus pro-Palestine protests at US universities which have spilled over to Canada, Europe, Australia and beyond have highlighted increasing global opposition to Western support for Israel.
Israeli vulnerability
Israel receives huge amounts of military aid from the West, particularly from the United States.
Undoubtedly, Israel has become stronger but it is unable to eliminate Hamas because the era of hit-and-run has come to an end.
Palestinians have realized that the so-called two-state solution and peace talks have helped Israel pursue its sinister goals.
They have understood that negotiations with Israel are futile and only help the apartheid regime carry out its ethnic cleansing plans.
Currently, the Palestinian resistance has the upper hand against Israel because it has been able to outsmart and outmaneuver the regime.
It is as clear as day that only resilience can bring Israel to its knees and end the occupation of Palestinian lands.
By Shahrokh Saei
First Published by Tehran Times
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