Nakba Day in the age of COVID-19: The Struggle Continues
Photo Credit: (Aljazeera/Google Images)
Written by: Usman Ahmad, @meagainstapathy
Every year thousands gather around the world to commemorate Nakba, also known as “Day of the Catastrophe”. This day marks the tragic events of May 15 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcefully displaced from their homes and lands with no right to return after the state of Israel was created.
Of course, the expulsion of a whole population and arrival of another is not an occurrence that takes shape overnight and, in fact, slowly started in the 19th century. There is a long history of numerous waves of explicitly zionist organisations encouraging, supporting and participating in the mass immigration towards Palestine. With that being said, it is often agreed upon that it was the adaptation of the 1947 United Nations partition plan, implemented after the British conceded their mandate over Palestine due to increasing tensions, that was the final nail in the coffin.
The United Nations partition plan declared that around 42% of the land would belong to the Palestinians and that around 56% would belong to the Jewish population. The end goal was the creation of an Arab and Jewish state with Jerusalem as a mutual capital. This is despite the fact that Palestinians comprised over two thirds of the population whereas the Jewish population barely broke one third and that whilst the Jewish population supported such measures, the Arab population rejected it in its entirety. Following the vote and implementation of this partition by the UN on November 29, 1947, mass violence broke out all around Palestine and, not long after, an estimated 300- 400 thousand Palestinians were already forced to flee.
Initially, this violence was more so limited to blockades where Zionist militias would prevent access to food so that entire villages were starved until they were forced to disperse. Around April of 1948, however, these tactics became increasingly brutal as zionist militia forces resorted to brute violence which in return, increased the rate at which entire Palestinian villages fled for survivial. This eventually lead to May 15, 1948, when zionist forces officially declared the creation of the state of Israel in Palestine; hence the date chosen for Nakba Day.
We can see here however, that although Nakba Day symbolically represents a day contrasting Israel’s Independence day, Nakba is more so a series of events as opposed to the consequences of one day. In fact, it is clear to see that Nakba is still ongoing by the way in which Palestine has continuously lost territory at Israel’s gain.
Expansion of illegal settlements, forced evictions and destruction of whole Palestinian villages aside, the recent calls for the annexation of the West Bank is possibly the most obvious and concrete example of this.
This annexation comes as a part of Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century '' which would result in 30-40% of the West Bank being taken away from the Palestinian population and given to Israel, continuing the trend of Israeli gain at the expense of Palestinians which began back in 1948. This would leave the West Bank without access to a large part of its food supply seeing as a majority of its agricultural land is a part of the Jordan Valley that is set to be annexed. At this moment of time, this annexation is due to occur on the 1st of July.
Typically such an announcement would lead to mass rallies on a global level, such as the rallies that were organised here in Toronto when Trump initially brought forward the “Deal of the Century”. The reality of COVID is as such that far right governments believe that they can fast track their plans and expect silence. That is why organisations such as Courage, Independent Jewish Voices, Palestine House and Socialist Action have been working at assuring, through virtual means, that we are still able to raise our voices through new and creative methods.
Originally planned as a means to assure we still commemorate Nakba day as well as protest the illegal siege on Gaza, which is currently preventing urgently needed medical supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip, the “Lift the Siege on Gaza: Nakba Day Rally for Palestine” online action is one of these methods! The announcement of the annexation transformed this action into one focused on the various injustices that the people of Palestine are now facing on a global level, all pointing to one glaring fact; those that were already the most vulnerable, continue to be disproportionately affected by the current global pandemic.
Happening today, Saturday May 16, from 2-4pm ET, speakers from Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon as well as progressives from across Canada will be talking about the different injustices that the Palestinian population has been facing historically as well as more recently within the context of Covid 19. Register here to attend and come together as a community for the people of Palestine. During the event attendees will be encouraged to participate with various hashtags, emails and tweets to put pressure on the Canadian government to end their complicit silence, as well as petitions that will hopefully be presented on a federal level.
Now, more than ever, international solidarity is needed to assure that not only are we fighting for the human rights we all inherently deserve, but collectively fighting the threat of COVID. As long as our most vulnerable populations remain vulnerable, we all do.
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