This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Zeq (talk | contribs) at 04:26, 11 May 2006 (This what Itried to do in previous edit: No text change just moved around one sentence to simplify). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 04:26, 11 May 2006 by Zeq (talk | contribs) (This what Itried to do in previous edit: No text change just moved around one sentence to simplify)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Nakba Day (Arabic: Yawm al-nakba — 15 May) is the annual day of commemoration by the Palestinian people of the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Events in the British Mandate of Palestine prior to Israel's declaration of independence, the invasion of the armies of the Arab states into Israel, and the consequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War, resulted in the flight or expulsion of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians refugees from Israel, and the abandonment and destruction of Arab villages. The Palestinians call these events al-Nakba ("the catastrophe").
Israel's independence was declared on the evening of May 14, 1948, and the next day, May 15, armies of five Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, and Lebanon) invaded the Jewish state. Every year, on the 5th of Iyyar of the Hebrew calendar (which can fall between 15 April and 15 May) Israelis celebrate Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzma'ut). While Nakba Day is commemorated on May 15 in keeping with the Gregorian calendar, Palestinians and their supporters around the world coordinate some Nakba Day events to coincide with the celebrations of the independence of Israel. Because of the differences between the Jewish and the Gregorian calendars Independence Day and Nakba Day only coincide every 19 years.
The event is often marked by speeches and rallies in the West Bank, Gaza and in Arab states. In 2006, Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Dr. Azmi Bishara expressed the Palestinian reaction to celebrations marking Independence Day and the formation of Israel in the newspaper Maariv: "Independence Day is your holiday, not ours, for us this is the day of our disaster".
The day has been inaugurated in 1998 by Yasser Arafat, and is marked each year since 1998 by violence and protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and in 2003 and 2004, by demonstrations in London and New York.
See also
References
- 58th anniversary of the Palestinian Catastrophe, Al Bawaba, 3 May, 2006.
- "In pictures: 'Catastrophe Day' protests". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2006-05-08.
- Morris, Benny (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009677, p. 604.
- Khalidi, Walid (Ed.). (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0887282245.
- Sheleg, Yair 'Day of the citizen instead of day of the catastrophe', Haaretz, 3 May, 2006.
- Jewish Festivals in Israel, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accessed 3 May, 2006.
- Palestinians to mourn Israel's founding by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, May 12, 2005.
- Palestinians mourn Israel's founding y by Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, May 16, 2005.
- Weekly Review of the Arab Press in Israel, Arab Association for Human Rights, April 30, 2001.
- Hertz-Larowitz, Rachel (2003). Arab and Jewish Youth in Israel: Voicing National Injustice on Campus. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 51-66.
- Bowker, Robert (2003). Palestinian Refugees: Mythology, Identity, and the Search for Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 1588262022, p. 96.
- Maariv article (in Hebrew).
- 'The Palestinian nakba at 58', Bahrain News Agency, 1 May, 2006.
- Rubin, Barry and Rubin, Judith Colp (2003). Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195166892, p. 187.