A (Brief) History of the Nakba

Today, around 6.5 million Palestinians cling to the hope of returning to their homeland. These millions are dispersed around the world, unable to return to their homes. Some thousands of miles away in another country, with others perhaps only a few dozen miles away from their stolen land, unable to return. Palestinians are subjugated daily to life in an apartheid state, human rights abuses, and routine bombings and slayings by an occupying Israeli military force.

At Bokitta, we support a free Palestine, and we condemn the acts of the apartheid, occupying force that is Israel. We want to use our platform to share the truth about what happened, and is happening in Palestine. 

How did the situation for Palestinians come to this?

It all started in the late 19th century, with a Zionist movement for a national homeland for Jews. The movement was spearheaded by Theodor Herzl, and supported by high-ranking European political leaders such as Britain's then-Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, and Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Zionist movement.

Eventually, the zoinist movement in Britain garnered enough support to produce the Balfour Delcaration, in which Britain officially supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Following the Balfour declaration, a large influx of European Jews began migrating to Palestine, buying land and displacing Palestinians with British support. Zoinist gangs and militias began forming, also supported and armed by the British, and skirmishing with Palestinians.

By the late 1930’s, Zoinists continued work on establishing a Jewish state as Palestinians continued to grow outclassed militarily. Battles between Zoinists and Palestinians continued under British occupation until 1947, when the British handed over control of the situation in Palestine to the United Nations.

The United Nations came up with a two-state plan, giving 55 percent of historic Palestine to the Jewish State, who constituted just ⅓ of the population in Palestine.

The British mandate ended on May 14, 1948. The very same day, David Ben-Gurion, then-head of the Zionist Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel.

In just one night, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became stateless, now living in a country that was not their own.

By 1949, more than 700,000 were forced off of their land, and more than 13,000 were killed by Israeli Military. Many were displaced internally, and many more  fled to Lebanon and Jordan.

The Nakba didn’t end in the 40’s. For Palestinians across the world, every day is the Nakba. The next 70+ years of history have constituted daily transgressions against Palestinians, with Israel blatantly violating their rights to life and liberty. Nearly every day more Palestinian homes are illegally destroyed. Palestinian civillians are routinely killed, and schools, hospitals, and civilian residences are bombed. Israel is doing nothing short of a long-term ethnic cleansing that aims to remove Palestiains, their culture, and their traditions from their land.