Skip to main content
NEU job advert
Erasure v sumud: how the Nakba came to define the collective Palestinian identity
RAMZY BAROUD argues that the Nakba is not a single historical incident to be debated or bargained over — it is an injustice that continues to this day, and continues to unite all Palestinians
SUMUD: Unarmed Palestinians face down IDF soldiers close to the Jewish settlement Yitzhar, near the West Bank city of Nablus, February 2020

ON May 15, 2023, the Palestinian Nakba — “catastrophe” — will be 75 years old. Palestinians all over the world will commemorate the tragic occasion when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees and nearly 500 towns and villages were ethnically cleansed of their inhabitants in historic Palestine in 1947-48.

The depopulation of Palestine carried on for months – in fact, years – after the Nakba was supposedly concluded. But the Nakba has never actually concluded. Until this day, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, in the southern Hebron hills, in the Naqab Desert and elsewhere, are still suffering the consequences of Israel’s quest for demographic supremacy. And, of course, millions of refugees remain stateless, denied basic political and human rights.

In a speech before the UN World Conference against Racism in 2001, Palestinian intellectual Dr Hanan Ashrawi aptly described the Palestinian people as “a nation in captivity held hostage to an ongoing Nakba.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
An Israeli Defense Forces tank is towed near the Israel-Gaza border, southern Israel, June 26, 2025
Features / 1 July 2025
1 July 2025

Israel’s genocide in Palestine and wars against its neighbours would be impossible without constant Western support — so we must amplify the brave voices demanding a halt, argues DR RAMZY BAROUD

REMNANTS: Palestinians walk along a street in Gaza City, lit
Features / 8 February 2025
8 February 2025
The situation for the peoples of the Middle East is dire – the time has come to build an international coalition to isolate the warmongers for as long as they continue their violent campaign, argues AQEL TAQAZ
Displaced Palestinians return to their destroyed homes in th
Features / 5 February 2025
5 February 2025
RAMZY BAROUD explains why, despite horrific losses and destruction, many Palestinians talk of return to their homes as a victory