Why is it in the news?
- Nakba Day, which is observed on May 15 every year, commemorates the displacement of thousands of Palestinians and the near-total destruction of their society during the creation of Israel in 1948.
- However, it is important to note that the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians did not start or end in 1948.
| · According to the Hebrew Bible, the land of Canaan, which corresponds to modern-day Israel-Palestine, was given to the descendants of Abraham by God.
· Over time, the descendants settled in this land and formed the biblical Israelite nation. · By the 19th century, Jewish people were a minority in Palestine, which was then a part of the Ottoman Sultanate and had been under various ruling authorities throughout history. · In Europe, Jewish people faced violence and persecution, especially during anti-Jewish pogroms in Imperial Russia in the 1880s and the aftermath of the Dreyfus Affair in France in 1894. · In response to this persecution, Zionism emerged as a political movement for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. · Theodor Herzl, considered the “spiritual father” of Israel, published a influential pamphlet called “Der Judenstaat” (The Jewish State) in 1896, highlighting the need for a Jewish homeland to address the ongoing Jewish question. · These historical factors set the stage for the eventual establishment of Israel, but it is important to remember that the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians occurred over a much broader timeline, both before and after 1948.
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