May 2009 Marks the 61st Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba

Photo: Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights

Nakba Defined

While 1948 is considered the year of the creation of the state of Israel, for Palestinians, it is called Al-Nakba, Arabic for the great catastrophe. Zionist forces attacked and destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages, forcing two-thirds of Palestinians out of their homes and into refugee camps in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Those original refugees and their descendants registered with the United Nations number 4.5 million, and many still have the keys to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948.
Sources:
Nakba: The Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, The Palestine Online Store, 2008.
Factsheet from Al-Awda on Palestinian Right of Return, www.al-awda.org, 2006.

Palestinians have not been granted the right of return by Israel to this day, though United Nations Resolution 194 specifically gives refugees the right to return or be compensated, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives all people the right to leave and return to their own country.

Links to more information, photos & resources:
http://www.al-awda.org/ (Palestinian Right to Return Coalition)
http://www.60yearsofnakba.org/ (a free copy of Nakba, The Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine is available for download)
www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/index.html (Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights)