what was the nakba

The Nakba, which means "catastrophe" in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It involved the violent expulsion of approximately three quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland by Zionist militias and the new Israeli army during the establishment of the state of Israel. The Nakba had a profound impact on the Palestinian people, who lost their homes, their land, and their way of life, and it remains a deeply traumatic event in their collective memory. The term Nakba was first applied to the events of 1948 by Constantin Zureiq, a professor of history at the American University of Beirut, in his 1948 book "Macnā an-Nakba" (The Meaning of the Disaster) . The Nakba is viewed as a collective trauma that defines Palestinian national identity and political aspirations, and Palestinians commemorate it on May 15, the day after Israeli independence day. The Nakba is a significant event in the Israel-Palestine conflict and continues to shape the struggle for justice and the right of return for Palestinians.