Name: How did the Nakba happen? | Al Jazeera English
Uploaded: 2024-06-12T16:44:27.000Z
Duration: 6 min 14 s
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70 years have passed since the Nakba, the catastrophe in Arabic, took place in Palestine in 1948, in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were forcefully displaced from their homes and pushed into refugee camps in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and neighboring countries.

The catastrophe continues to affect more than 12 million Palestinians, who remain stateless today.

Historical Palestine was mostly made up of Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and a small number of Jews, who generally lived together peacefully.

The persecution of Jews across Europe led them to believe that they were not safe there, and Zionists saw Palestine as a prime location for a Jewish homeland.

And it was clear that there were Palestinians on the land.

Zionist leaders and common people alike got used to the idea that the only way of making Palestine a Jewish state is by causing the Palestinians to leave.

The Jewish Zionist movement began organizing immigration and buying land in Palestine.

This was the first step in turning Palestine into a Jewish homeland.

Britain promised Zionist support for a Jewish national home in Palestine.

This came as a formal political letter, known today as the Balfour Declaration.

It also included that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

When World War I ended and the Ottoman Empire was defeated, Britain occupied Palestine.

Britain provided the under which they could simply emigrate.

I mean, they couldn't have emigrated were it not for the British presence, because the crucial battle in the early stages was simply getting Jews into Palestine and acquiring land.

They couldn't have done that without British government's sponsorship.

Jewish migration into Palestine was a major issue, and the Palestinian people organized large demonstrations against this influx.

Palestinians saw British support of Zionism as biased and unfair.

So the people of Palestine revolted in 1936 to fight against British and Zionist occupation.

During the three-year uprising, thousands of Palestinians were killed and hundreds of British citizens and Jewish Zionists died as well.

Britain dismantled the Palestinian Revolution, leaving them with no political or military leadership.

However, the British also began limiting Jewish migration.

This upset the Jews who had fought with the British during the uprising and led them to create their own forces.

Zionist militias carried out bombing attacks against both the British and the Palestinians.

As things got out of hand, the British announced in 1947 that they'd be ending their mandate on Palestine.

The file on Palestine was then transferred to the UN, which suggested dividing Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state.

As the British were preparing to leave, the new Jewish population began taking over, and it helped that they were heavily armed.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians began months before the British officially left Palestine.

Zionists were taking over major cities and hundreds of villages, forcing thousands of Palestinians into neighboring countries.

It happened many times that the Israeli soldiers took ten of the youngsters in the middle of the village, shot them just in order to kill them, in order that all the others would see and run away.

And if it's not enough, they took others also.

The British ended their mandate on May 14, 1948, leaving their tanks and armored weapons to the newly created state of Israel.

From the time the British occupied Palestine in 1917 to when they left in 1948, the number of Jews is estimated to have multiplied ten times, to half a million.

As Zionist Jews declared the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, the surrounding Arab nations declared war with the objective of liberating Palestine.

Although Palestine had the support of other Arab nations and they outnumbered the Jewish population, the Israelis also had foreign military, political, and financial support.

They were a highly prepared, highly dedicated, well-armed fighting force, which was superior to all the Arab armies.

Israel grew beyond the UN partition lines during the Arab-Israeli war by destroying Arab villages and further reducing the Palestinian population.

By April 1949, more than 500 villages and settlements had been occupied by the Israelis.

Over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and over 13,000 Palestinians had been killed.

Today, Israel occupies the whole of historical Palestine.

Israelis continue to build illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territories.

Palestinians in the West Bank live under military law, which subjects them to checkpoints, curfews, and arbitrary arrests.

Palestinians in Gaza live under a blockade imposed by Israel.

Palestinians today continue to demand their right to return to their homes.

 For them, the Nakba will not end until this right is granted.

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How did the Nakba happen? | Al Jazeera English

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