Palestinians link Gaza to Nakba as 77th anniversary commemorations held worldwide

Palestinians and pro-Palestine activists across the globe held commemorations on Wednesday and Thursday to mark the 77th anniversary of the Nakba ("The Catastrophe"), which saw the dispossession of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland, to make way for the creation of Israel.

People took to the streets of Ramallah and Hebron in the West Bank, as well as several European capitals to remember the lives lost and changed due to the Nakba of 1948, and to remind the international community that its horrors remain ongoing today.

Demonstrators shouted slogans decrying the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the military onslaught in Gaza, and called for Palestinians to be allowed back to land lost during the Nakba.

In Madrid, members of pro-Palestinian groups and left-leaning political parties, such as the Communist Party of Spain and Podemos, marched in the capital holding banners calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza. Images from the events of 1948 and recent massacres in Gaza were also displayed by activists.

In Istanbul, where pro-Palestinian rallies have been held since the Gaza War broke out in October 2023, the Ankara Palestinian Solidarity group protested in front of the UK embassy due to what they described as British complicity in the events leading up to the bloody creation of Israel.

"The Nakba is the day when this tragedy remains engraved in the memory of Palestinians, today and every day. The brutal and unjust displacement of Palestinians by Western political forces did not happen once, and continues to be repeated over and over again like in Gaza today," the group said in a statement.

In London, rights groups and activists rallied outside the High Court, where the UK government faces a case over its arms sales to Israel, in order to mark the Nakba.

Amnesty International, which has described the continuing atrocities in the Gaza Strip as a "live-streamed genocide", said the "crimes committed in 1948 draw haunting parallels to the actions that Israeli forces have been committing in Palestine since October 7, 2023".

In Ramallah on Wednesday, Palestinians marched holding banners commemorating those who were killed and expelled in 1948 as well as Palestinian flags.

Children held a life-size replica of a key, representing the homes lost during that period, and symbolising their hopes of returning.

One banner read: "Our rights are not negotiable and are not subject to American dictates", in refence to the US's alliance with Israel during its occupation of the Palestinian territories and assault on Gaza. 

Similar protests were also held in Hebron.

The Nakba, remembered annually on 15 May, refers to the deliberate displacement and ethnic cleansing of at least 750,000 Palestinians from towns and villages in what is now Israel by Zionist militias in 1948, when Israel was created.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian homes were razed, 500 villages were destroyed, and thousands of people were killed.

The Palestinian names of towns and village were erased and replaced with Hebrew-language ones instead.

Others were forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, or elsewhere across the globe.

As well as ethnic cleansing, the Israeli army's actions also served to suppress Palestinian culture, identity, and aspirations for an independent state.

The atrocities of 1948 continue to impact Palestinian affairs, identity and discourse to this day.

Palestinians and activists insist that the Nakba is still happening today in the form of Israel’s war and siege in the Gaza Strip and frequent raids in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel’s military onslaught in the enclave has killed more than 53,000 people and displaced nearly the entire population.

Military raids in the West Bank have also displaced thousands, and killed more than 920 people since 7 October 2023.

Omar Khamaisi, director of the Mizan Human Rights Center in the Palestinian territories, told The New Arab's sister Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the Nakba "continues today with its unjustified escalation against our society in many aspects that impact our rights and freedoms".

Khamaisi pointed out the right-wing rhetoric in Israeli society calling for Palestinians to be killed, arbitrary arrests, and detentions without trial saying that this shows that the Nakba is still being carried out against Palestinians today.