‘Israel can’t erase the Nakba from history’
by alethoBy Saeb Erekat | Ma'an | May 15, 2014
Today
is the anniversary of what we Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, our
catastrophe – although a single word cannot begin to explain it, and a
single day cannot begin to commemorate it.
More
than ever before, Israel needs come to terms with the horrors it has
caused since 1948, by ending its subjugation of millions rather than
intensifying its denial and trying to legitimize its persecution. Peace
can only come through justice and reconciliation.
This
day, in 1948, marks the forced exile of over 750,000 Palestinians from
their homes and lands. Some were subjected to brutal massacres, many
fled for fear of their lives. A few managed to stay in what would become
Israel. All suffered. Sixty-six years later, all continue to suffer.
The Nakba is a story of fear and intimidation, of denial and persecution, a cruel, unending reality.
Today
in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian families are evicted from their
homes due to claims that their property belonged to Jews before 1948,
while being forbidden from returning to their pre-1948 homes in West
Jerusalem.
In
Gaza – one of the most densely populated areas in the world – 1.2
million refugees overlook the open areas of what is now southern Israel.
In my own home town, Jericho, there are two refugee camps where
thousands continue to live in miserable conditions. In 2014, Palestinian
children died of starvation at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria.
Israel,
which claims to be a democracy for all its citizens, continues to ban
the villagers of Iqrit and Kufr Birem, two Christian villages in the
Galilee, from returning to their lands, despite a ruling from the
Israeli High Court of Justice on the matter.
This
is not the only example of persecution within Israel. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's promotion of the "nationality bill," determining
Israel as the Jewish nation-state, is one more in a long line of
discriminatory laws against a fifth of Israel’s own population, the
original inhabitants of the land.
A
list of laws make it not only acceptable, but legally admissible, to
discriminate against Israel's own citizens for belonging to a different
ethnic-religious group.
Meanwhile,
in the land which Israel has illegally occupied since 1967, settlers
and soldiers use similar methods of intimidation and fear to force
Palestinians from their homes.
The
reality in the West Bank is no less than apartheid, and, in Gaza, out
and out siege. Both within occupied Palestine and further afield, those
who have been waiting 66 years, with their keys in hand, continue to
wait.
Palestine
has recognized Israel's right to exist since 1988. We are not asking
for Hebrew not to be an official language or Jewish holidays not to be
official holidays. The character of Israel is not for us to define.
But
we will not allow any Palestinian to be portrayed as the immigrant or
intruder in his or her own land. We were here in 1948: We were here for
centuries before that – Muslims, Christians and Jews – all Palestinians.
The concept of an exclusively Jewish state naturally entails the denial
of the Nakba. It tells us: "This is our land. You were on it illegally,
temporarily, by mistake." It is a way of asking us to deny the
existence of our people and the horrors that befell them in 1948. No
people should be asked to do that.
We
will not be complicit in the notion that any ethnic-religious group
should have dominance over any other. We will not accept the denial of
basic human rights to which all are entitled.
Rather
than accepting historical responsibility, rather than acknowledging a
painful truth about the birth of Israel and addressing it, as a step
toward peace, the Israeli government attempts to wipe the event from
history.
In
Israel, it is forbidden by law to even commemorate the Nakba. If you
can erase the narrative, it is much easier to erase the people. This
Israeli government, in particular, is taking extraordinary measures to
achieve this. Is it any wonder that we have not managed to reach an
agreement at this time?
Today,
we remember those who have lost their lives, at the hands of their
oppressors, in their quest for freedom and dignity. Despite this, we are
ready to live side by side in peace with our Israeli neighbors. We hope
Israelis, if not their current government, will move in that direction.
At
this point we do not know what the future will look like in terms of a
solution, or when it will come. What we know for certain is that we will
remain.
Saeb Erekat is chief negotiator for the PLO.
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