Commemoration of Palestine Nakba (Catastrophe/Desolation): A few Facts You may not know about this Tragedy…
Posted by: adonis49 on: May 17, 2012
The Palestinian Al Nakba (Catastrophe/Desolation) commemoration: A few Facts You Didn’t Know about…
May 15 is the commemoration of the Palestinian of the Nakba (Catastrophe/Desolation). On that date 64 years ago, Israel dismissed the UN partition resolution of Palestine and attacked the Palestinian towns and villages, committing genocide and terrorizing the civilians. The Palestinians were forced to seek refuge in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Gaza (in the hands of Egypt at the time). The UN had partitioned Palestine and gave the State of Israel 53% of the territory, even though the Jews were less than 40%.
Israel made sure since 1948 to erase the names of Palestinian towns and villages, settle them, and even taking them out of the map. Ali Abunimah posted in Electronic Intifada an Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba.
Yesterday, massive Palestinian demonstrations and marches covered the West Bank, Gaza, and within Israel. Israel responded savagely on the check points of Kalendia and the military camp of Awfar, and severely injured 80 Palestinians with rubber bullets
First, Yousef posted a few facts on the Nakba:
1. Nakba is the Arabic word for catastrophe. It is used to describe the Palestinian loss of land and property during the depopulation of Palestine from 1947-1949. It does not refer simply to the declaration of a State of Israel.
2. Over 212 localities were depopulated and at least half of the refugees were transferred prior to May 15th, prior to the entry of armies of other Arab states. The terrorist Zionist organizations of Irgun and Hagana (of Menaheim Begin) stormed targetted strategic towns and exterminated the inhabitants.
The largest Palestinian cities of Yaffa and Haifa were emptied of the vast majority of their inhabitants before May 15th, 1948. The idea that the refugee condition was established only after the mobilization of “Arab armies” is patently false.
3. At every stage of the war, the Yishuv/Israeli forces were superior in training, equipment and numbers to the combined Arab armies.
| All That Remains of a Village Near Beisan |
4. The Zionists prepared extensive data collection efforts to map out intelligence relating to the Palestinian villages for a decade prior to the war, during the British mandate over Palestine. Detailed information about each village was kept including information on the number of inhabitants, the village’s resources, the potential activists that resided within it and what its political affiliations were.
5. Of the over 500 Palestinian villages depopulated during the Nakba, 303 were chased out of their homes as a result of either direct expulsion carried out by Yishuv/Israeli forces or as a result of attack by Yishuv/Israel forces.
6. Of the depopulated villages, 81 have been completely obliterated and no traceable sign of their existence remains. Rubble was identified at the site of another 140 villages. A few standing walls were apparent at another 60 villages, while 74 more had few houses intact. Other villages had houses intact and occupied by Israelis.
7. Golda Meir struck a secret agreement with the King of Jordan (Abdullah I) before the 1948 war. Even though Jordan’s Arab Legion was the most formidable of the Arab armies, and even though the massacre at Deir Yassin tested this agreement, the Jordanian forces didn’t cross into territory that was designated for the Jewish State under the UN partition plan.
| Palestinians Expelled During Operation Dani Recalled by Rabin |
8. After the depopulation of towns and villages, rampant looting of personal property took place. Israeli civilians and soldiers took part in stealing from vacated Palestinian homes and shops. Israeli historian Tom Segev notes that 1,800 trucks were taken from the town of Lydda alone.
9. While 700-800,000 Palestinians took refuge in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Gaza, they were not permitted to return by the State of Israel. About 150,000 Palestinians did remain inside Israel and many became internally displaced persons who still lost their property and were subjected to martial law until 1966 and various discriminatory laws since then. The Palestinians with Israeli passports currently count 1.5 million
10. Yitzhak Rabin, an officer during the 1948 war, included a description of orders to forcibly expel tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in his memoirs. The State of Israel prevented this description from being printed when his memoirs were published and continues to prevent it today. Yitzhak Rabin was later elected Prime Minister, as most veteran military officers, and was assassinated by a radical Zionist Jew personal guard in 1994
Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba
Ali Abunimah posted on May 15, 2012 the following Interactive
The Electronic Intifada has produced this interactive map that allows you to see information about any of the more than 400 Palestinian cities, towns and villages depopulated and destroyed during the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist and later Israeli forces from late 1947 into 1948.
The data and images come from the website Palestine Remembered, which used much of the basic research from Walid Khalidi’s seminal reference All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948.
Many individuals have also contributed their own narratives, images and personal discoveries on Palestine Remembered.The Electronic Intifada acknowledges this work and is pleased to present and increase access to this important data in a new form.
How to use the map:
- Clicking on a dot opens up a pop-up bubble which shows information about that location in Palestine;
- Zoom in to an area by holding the “Shift” key and drawing a box with your mouse or trackpad, or use the buttons on the left edge of the map;
- Click on the “+” sign in the blue tab on the upper right corner of the map to access more layers of data such as places built up by Israel, West Bank villages, Gaza places, and communities of Palestinians still living in what is now Israel;
- View the map in its own browser window: Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba.
Note: The Palestinians engaged so far in three major Intifada (civil disobedience movements): In 1935-38 (The British dispatched 100,000 soldiers to quell it), another intifada was in 1987, and the latest in 2000 (as Ariel Sharon stormed the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem). The inevitable fourth Intifada coming as fast as a bullet train.
The Palestinian prisoners in Israel launched several hunger strikes since the creation of Israel. The latest hunger strike involved 3,000 prisoners who fasted over 30 days. Israel agreed to satisfy all the demands of the Palestinian prisoners.
Tags: adonis49, Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada, few Facts You Didn’t Know about, Fourth Palestinian Intifada, israel, Kalendia check point, palestine, politics, The Palestinian Al Nakba (Desolation) commemoration, Tom Segev, Walid Khalidi, website Palestine Remembered, writing, Yishuv/Israeli forces
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