Nakba Day occurs on May 15th, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israel's Independence Day. In Israel, Nakba Day events observed by Arab citizens have been held on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day), which is celebrated in Israel on the Hebrew calendar date (5 Iyar or shortly before or after).
While Israelis are celebrating their Day of Independence, on Nakba Day Palestinians are mourning the establishment of Israel. Mitchell Bard, in his book Myths and Facts : A Guide to the Arab/Israeli Conflict suggests, "Had the Palestinians . . . accepted the UN partition resolution in 1947, the state of Palestine would have been celebrating its birthday" (pg. 257).
Al Nakba means "The Catastrophe" referring to the creation of the State of Israel. Yet what Palestinians complain about the most is the "occupation" of the territories Israel captured in 1967 after three Arab nations (Syria, Jordan and Egypt) threatened to destroy Israel and drive the Jewish people into the sea. If the "occupation" is the major issue for the Palestinians, then why isn't "The Catastrophe" observed in June on the anniversary of the Arab defeat in the Six Day War?
This day of mourning for Palestinians actually started in 1998 when PLO head and terrorist Yasser Arafat kicked it off. Following Arafat's declaration of recognition for the day, over one million Arabs participate in marches and other events on this day each year.
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| Palestinian children observing Nabka Day |
The significance of this day is further explained on the Virtual Jerusalem website:
The 1948 Palestinian exodus, also known as Nakba, meaning the "disaster", "catastrophe", or "cataclysm", occurred when approximately 725,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during this bitter war.Those who support a full return of the refugees to Israel forget that this would mean the end of Israel since the number of returnees would spell the end of the Zionist project population-wise. The Palestinians right of return to Israeli territory is an impossibility as they would outnumber and overtake the Israeli population.
If you look up NAKBA online, the search returns numerous Palestinian websites claiming to explain this phenomenon in Palestinian history and eliciting sympathy and even financial donations for the numerous Palestinian refugees in the Arab countries who are descendants of the original refugees from Israel's 1948 War of Independence.
To understand the hostility towards Israel contained in Nakba Day, one needs only observe one of the customs that occur in Palestine on this day. Again, I quote Bard on a Nakba Day custom: "traffic stopped and people stood straight and silent as sirens of mourning sounded, intentionally mimicking the Israeli practice on Holocaust Remembrance Day" (pg. 257).
In this custom Palestinians are comparing the creation of Israel with the Holocaust!
I challenge Palestinian Christians to confront this satanically inspired attitude of their Palestinian brothers towards Israel. I want to know if Sami Awad and others who are part of his non-violent movement and his organization Holy Land Trust, also equate Israel's creation as a catastrophe on the par with the Holocaust? What do these non-violent Palestinian Christians do on Nakba Day?
Is the evangelical world, influenced by liberation theology and embracing Palestinians as the underdog, any more enlightened than the anti-Zionist secular politicians? With the theological hostility spawned by the likes of Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge, conservative Christians are falling into the anti-Christian Zionism camp and are being deceived into supporting a terrorist mentality fostered by the PA that refuses to accept the legitimacy of the state of Israel.
The real question is what have the Palestinians done to foster peace in the Middle East?
In a column in the Jewish Journal David Suissa brilliantly argues that Israel, despite all its attempts to make peace with the Palestinian is "sitting isolated and hated, while the uncompromising Palestinians, who . . . joined forces with the terrorist group Hamas, [are] sitting pretty in top of the diplomatic world - and delegitimizing the Jewish state at every turn."
In every attempt by the Israelis to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians one issue is always a major stumbling block - for Palestine to affirm Israel's right to exist as a nation. This dream will never happen as long as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abba describes Israel's decision to to create a Jewish state in 1948 as a "crime" (Jerusalem Post May 15, 2005).
Jewish Journal writer Suissa declares we need to see the naked truth about the Middle East conflict,
The reason there is no peace has little to do with Israel's refusal to make more concessions, and everything to do with the Palestinian refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state -- settlements or no settlements.
The speech [Obama's June speech about Israel] forced us to confront the worst-kept secret in the Middle East: Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a mirage. The conflict is about existence, not borders. The Palestinians would have had their own state 63 years ago if they could make peace with the Jews. But how could they make peace with those they have been taught only to hate?
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