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A specter is haunting the prospective Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations—the specter of the Nakba. The literal meaning of the Arabic word is “disaster”; but in its current, expansive usage, it connotes a historical catastrophe inflicted on an innocent and blameless people (in this case, the Palestinians) by an overpowering outside force (international Zionism). The Nakba is the heart of the Palestinians’ backward-looking national narrative, which depicts the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 as the original sin that dispossessed the land’s native people. Every year, on the anniversary of Israel’s independence, more and more Palestinians (including Arab citizens of...

The Palestinians have been holding the title of “refugees” for over six decades . They have succeeded in creating a unique historical narrative for themselves . This myth is growing, so it should be shattered and the real facts presented: the Palestinian population before the first Aliya was sparse, hundreds of thousands of Jews were also expelled from Arab countries, and there is no precedent anywhere in the world for the right of return. The Nakba - the story of the Palestinian refugees is the greatest success story in the history of modern times - a success that is a...

Iraqi Author 'Aref 'Alwan: The Jews Have an Historic Right to Palestine In an article posted December 7, 2007, on the leftist website www.ahewar.org,[1] 'Aref 'Alwan, an Iraqi author and playwright who resides in London and is the author of 12 novels,[2] states that the Jews have an historic right to Palestine because their presence there preceded the Arab conquest and has continued to this day. In the article, titled "Do the Jews Have Any Less Right to Palestine than the Arabs?" 'Alwan called on the Arab world to acknowledge the Jews' right to Palestine, because justice demanded it and...

Every year on the 15th of May, the Palestinians - and many others around the world along with them - "celebrate" Nakba Day. For them, this is the day that marks the great catastrophe that befell them as result of the establishment of the State of Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs became refugees. Some fled, some were deported. The Nakba grew to such enormous proportions that it is preventing a solution to the dispute. We must remember that in the 1940s, population exchanges and deportations for the purpose of creating national states were the accepted norm. Tens of millions...

"The government took Ze'ev Jabotinsky out of the school textbooks and inserted the Nakba [the Palestinian "disaster" of Israel's founding] instead," opposition leader and Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during a special Knesset session called during the legislature's summer recess. Netanyahu was referring to the decision by Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor) to remove the writings of Jabotinsky from the curriculum. Jabotinsky (1880-1940) founded the Zionism revisionist movement, the precursor to the Likud Party. He also helped form the British army's Jewish Legion during World War I, and the Irgun (IZL) underground movement. In addition, he was an author,...

World body's spokeswoman says Ki-moon phoned Abbas to stress his support for Palestinians on day marking 'catastrophe' of Israel's inception; Israel demands retraction WASHINGTON - Israel is demanding that the UN strike the word 'Nakba' from its lexicon, this after the world body's spokeswoman uttered it, apparently by mistake, in a press briefing she held Thursday night. 'Nakba', or 'catastrophe', refers to the refugee flight of Palestinian Arabs that followed Israel's inception in 1948. The spokeswoman told reporters that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stress his support for the Palestinian people on Nakba Day". An...

Only 20 of the 160 people who showed up to participate in the conference connecting Nakba Day and Independence Day were Arab Unlike those who relate them, the Israeli-Jewish narrative and the Palestinian-Arab narratives usually share what seems to be a productive coexistence, a kind of strange mutual support system: the more one develops and grows, so its colleague-rival is reinforced and strengthened. So just now there is a festival of narratives: the traditional torch-lighting on Mount Herzl was accompanied last week by a "Procession of Return" event, which is held annually on the Hebrew date of Independence Day, and...

Columbia’s Catastrophic “Nakba” Conference   By Mary MadiganFrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, May 08, 2008 As Israelis look towards the future in their celebration of the nation’s 60th birthday, some Palestinians cling to the past by commemorating what they call the “Nakba” or “the catastrophe.” A faculty panel discussion held at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) last month and titled, “60 Years of Nakba—The Catastrophe of Palestine 1948-2008,” was one of many similar lamentations held worldwide. The tone from the outset was grim. Speakers acknowledged that another “Nakba” anniversary was confirmation that combined Palestinian and Arab attempts...

Jordanian authorities have banned all events marking the "Nakba," or Catastrophe, as Arabs refer to the creation of Israel 60 years ago. Several pro-Palestinian groups and Jordanian opposition parties has been planning to hold a rally in Amman on Friday. But the authorities informed the organizers of the decision to ban the event, as well as other "illegal public gatherings." The Islamic Labor Front, which was planning a major rally in the capital, condemned the ban as unconstitutional. The party expressed outrage over the decision, noting that the Jordanian government had allowed the Israeli Embassy in Amman to celebrate Israeli...

JERUSALEM — As Israel toasts its 60th anniversary in the coming weeks, rejoicing in Jewish national rebirth and democratic values, the Arabs who make up 20 percent of its citizens will not be celebrating. Better off and better integrated than ever in their history, freer than a vast majority of other Arabs, Israel’s 1.3 million Arab citizens are still far less well off than Israeli Jews and feel increasingly unwanted. On Thursday, which is Independence Day, thousands will gather in their former villages to protest what they have come to call the “nakba,” or catastrophe, meaning Israel’s birth. For most...

Over the past few years, the term nakba (also spelled naqba) has become the favorite nonsense word of the Anti-Israel Lobby. Meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic, it has been embraced by anti-Semites all over the planet to refer to Israel's creation, which supposedly imposed a "catastrophe" upon the "disenfranchised Palestinian Arabs." Of course, the real catastrophe that befell the Arabs in 1948-49 was that they failed in their attempt to annihilate Israel and exterminate its population, and for that they paid a price. Meanwhile, nakba Nonsense has been spreading. Google finds over 85,000 web pages referring to Israel's creation as a...

We are coming up on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Israel or, as the Trinity United Church of Christ’s friends in the Sabeel Ecuminical Liberation Theology Center put it, the Nakba or “catastrophe.” Sabeel’s denial of Israel’s right to exist is entirely consistent with a Trinity United Church of Christ bulletin–the official bulletin of the church of which Barack Hussein Obama has been a member for more than 20 years–in which Jeremiah Wright questions Israel’s legitimacy as a nation. Per “Look Again,” Most of our members do not know that my Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago’s...

Over the past few years, the term nakba (also spelled naqba) has become the favorite nonsense word of the Anti-Israel Lobby. Meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, it has been embraced by anti-Semites all over the planet to refer to Israel’s creation, which supposedly imposed a “catastrophe” upon the “disenfranchised Palestinian Arabs.” Of course, the real catastrophe that befell the Arabs in 1948-49 was that they failed in their attempt to annihilate Israel and exterminate its population, and for that they paid a price. Meanwhile, Nakba Nonsense has been spreading. Google finds over 85,000 web pages referring to Israel’s creation as a...

Original caption for both photos: Palestinians take part in a play in commemoration of Nakba Day "The Day of Catastrophe" during a rally in Gaza May 1, 2008. Palestinians will mark Nakba on May 15 as a day of mourning for the establishment of Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

A Nazareth District Court judge on Thursday allowed the Islamic Movement to organize an event in Kafr Kanna marking the 60th anniversary of the Nakba- or 'catastrophe,' which is a day of mourning for the Arab dispersion following the establishment of the State of Israel. The matter was discussed in the court after the supervisory council in Kafr Kanna and the Interior Ministry refused to permit the proposed event claiming that it was purely political. The deputy leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Kamal Hatib, praised the district court's decision saying, "they want to frighten us, but the judge...

We remind our readers that Jeremiah Wright’s accusation that Israel created an “ethnic bomb” to kill Black people and Arabs was first exposed at IsraPundit [http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=551]. Now we bring you more fresh revelations of anti-Israel hate speech from Barack Obama’s pastor of 20-plus years. With regard to the following, the United Church of Christ has ties to the Sabeel Ecuminical Liberation Theology Center, which refers to the creation of Israel (NOT the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the creation of Israel) as the Nakba or “catastrophe.” Trumpet Magazine The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40...

Put the blame where it belongs: The Arab world's crimes on the "Palestinians" The Arab nations keep the Arab-Palestinians and their descendants in squalor. They are denied citizenship rights. They are denied work. They are denied property. They are denied their human rights because they are and always will be a political football in the Arab campaign against Israel.How early did Arab leaders start their crimes on the "Palestinians"?How many times have you heard the term "Palestinian refugees" but never heard the full story behind it? or the the Nakkba, known-coined by "Palestinians" as a catastrophe was actually self inflicted by adhering...

Arab party member says during Lod rally marking ‘disaster’ of Israel’s establishment ‘this is our memorial day; it is more important to us than the Holocaust is to the Jewish nation’; MK Zahalka: We have come here to say that the Arabs population will remain in Lod forever Some 1,500 Israeli-Arabs attended the central Nakba Day rally in Lod on Monday to mark the ‘disaster’ of the establishment of Israel. David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence on this day, May 14, in 1948. “This is our memorial day,” National Democratic Assembly member Gabi Tanus told Ynet. “It is more important to...

Palestinian Authority marks 'Disaster Day' for State of Israel's establishment. Gaza residents seem worn out, not eager to demonstrate; 'how could people be expected to go out and protest with no salaries?' Fatah activist explains Gaza residents on Monday marked the 58th Nakba Day – the "disaster" that struck the Palestinian people following the establishment of the State of Israel, which caused millions of Palestinians to become refugees all over the Arab world. This year, however, the day was different than before and stood in the shadow of what Gazans refer to as "the current Nakba" – the economic and...

IN THE last week of April 1948, combined Irgun-Haganah forces launched an offensive to drive the Palestinian people out of the beautiful port city of Jaffa, forcing the remaining inhabitants to flee by sea; many drowned in the process. My aunt Rose, a teenager at that time, survived the trip to begin her life in exile on the Lebanese coast. Each Palestinian refugee family grows up hearing again and again the stories of those final moments in Palestine, the decisions, the panic, as we live in the midst of their terrible consequences. Throughout 1948, Jewish forces expelled many thousands of...