Knowing the Nakba: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine to Create the State of Israel
In 2023, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba.
The Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 has been called the poisonous root of all that has plagued the Holy Land since that time, with a never-ending impact that pervades the Middle East and the entire world. We cannot hope to understand the present turmoil in the Holy Land - let alone achieve a just peace for all those who live there - without knowing where and how this world-shaking conflict began: with the ethnic cleansing of indigenous people from their homeland.
This is a unique educational and thought-provoking presentation, with moving firsthand recollections of the Nakba, expert historical analysis, and riveting video clips.
***Trigger warning: graphic depictions of violence of war described in the video recording
OUR SPEAKERS:
ILAN PAPPE: The world-renowned author Ilan Pappé is widely regarded as the pre-eminent voice among Israel's "New Historians." His courageously ground-breaking, myth-shattering work of 2006, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," draws upon previously classified archival evidence and clearly presents to the world the truth about Israel's birth and the ideology that drove it: that the forcible removal of the indigenous Palestinians from their homeland was wholly intentional and was considered essential for the creation of the state of Israel.
Ilan Pappé's large body of work also includes the 2017 book "Ten Myths About Israel" and the 2023 article "Using the Right Language: The ‘Incremental Genocide’ of the Palestinians Continues."
Professor Pappé founded and directed the Academic Institute for Peace in Givat Haviva, Israel and was the Chair of the Emil Tuma Institute for Palestine Studies in Haifa. He was a senior lecturer in Middle Eastern History and Political Science in Haifa University, Israel. Today Pappé is Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Besides his focus on the modern Middle East and Israel and Palestine in particular, he has also written on multiculturalism, Critical Discourse Analysis, and Power and Knowledge in general.
SAMIA KHOURY: Nakba survivor Samia Khoury has been throughout her life a leading voice in the Palestinian Christian community. She has written and spoken widely on all aspects of the Palestinian experience, from her vivid recollections of the Nakba to the current realities of life under the Israeli military occupation. Some of the former can be found in her article "The Nakba and Its Aftermath."
In her 2014 memoir "Reflections from Palestine: A Journey of Hope," Khoury beautifully explains the wide-ranging social and political problems facing Palestinians under occupation through the sweet and sorrowful experiences of family and community life.
Educated in the U.S. at a Methodist-affiliated college, Samia Khoury is a co-founder of Sabeel, the Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, a founding member of Birzeit University Board of Trustees, and former president of the Palestinian YWCA, among many other roles she has filled in Palestinian society.
RESOURCES:
BY ILAN PAPPE:
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine https://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=sr_1_1?
A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples https://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1108401449/ref=sr_1_9?
Ten Myths About Israel https://www.amazon.com/Myths-About-Israel-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1786630192/ref=sr_1_2?
Using the Right Language: The ‘Incremental Genocide’ of the Palestinians Continues https://www.palestinechronicle.com/using-the-right-language-the-incremental-genocide-of-the-palestinians-continues/
Ilan Pappe archives at The Palestine Chronicle https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/ilan-pappe/
BY SAMIA KHOURY
Reflections from Palestine: A Journey of Hope - A Memoir by Samia Khoury https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Palestine-Journey-Hope-Memoir/dp/9963715117/ref=sr_1_1?
The Nakba and Its Aftermath https://www.birzeit.edu/en/blogs/nakba-and-its-aftermath
RESOURCES ON THE NAKBA
FILMS
- 1948: Creation and Catastrophe the film that we are seeing portions of today https://www.1948movie.com/
- Farha https://www.netflix.com/title/81612982 After persuading her father to continue her education in the city, a Palestinian girl's dream is shattered by the harrowing developments of the Nakba.
VIDEOS
- The Nakba Explained (IMEU) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he82sNj2des
- How did the Nakba happen? (Al Jazeera) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=megzzpTWajg From IMEU, Institute for Middle East Understanding
- Quick Facts: The Palestinian Nakba (“Catastrophe”) https://imeu.org/article/quick-facts-the-palestinian-nakba
- The Nakba, 65 Years of Dispossession and Apartheid https://imeu.org/article/the-nakba-65-years-of-dispossession-and-apartheid
- Plan Dalet https://imeu.org/article/plan-dalet
- Israeli Independence and the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine https://imeu.org/article/quick-facts-israeli-independence-the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine
- FAQs: the Nakba and Palestinian Refugees Today https://imeu.org/article/faq-on-the-nakba-the-nakba-and-palestinian-refugees-today
- Explainer: The Deir Yassin Massacre https://imeu.org/article/explainer-the-deir-yassin-massacre
FACING THE NAKBA A seven-session curriculum from Jewish Voice for Peace https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/facing-the-nakba/
Project48 Provides educational material, eyewitness testimonies, images, videos and artifacts that bring to life the Palestinian Nakba, its generational impact, and the struggle for return of Palestinian refugees. History and ongoing realities of the Nakba and its impact on Palestinian lives. https://project48.com/
From Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, Marking the Nakba: From Betrayals and Warnings to Future Visions a collection of pieces in a downloadable booklet https://al-shabaka.org/releases/marking-the-nakba-from-betrayals-and-warnings-to-future-visions/
In Middle East Monitor Remembering the Massacre at Deir Yassin https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180409-remembering-the-massacre-at-deir-yassin/EXPLAINER
In Al Jazeera The Deir Yassin massacre: Why it still matters 75 years later https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/9/the-deir-yassin-massacre-why-it-still-matters-75-years-later
In Middle East Eye Nakba: Essential books explaining the ethnic cleansingof Palestine and creation of Israel https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/nakba-five-books-understand-ethnic-cleansing-palestine-creation-israel