Palestine and the Nakba

Nakba Day signifies the date of the beginning of the forced Palestinian mass exodus from their land in 1948 by Israel. In Arabic, the word Nakba literally means "disaster", "catastrophe", or "cataclysm". This occurred when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs—about half of pre-war Palestine's Arab population—fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war. Between 400 and 600 Palestinian villages were sacked during the war, while urban Palestine was almost entirely extinguished. "Nakba" also refers to the period of the war itself and events affecting Palestinians from December 1947 to January 1949.

The precise number of refugees, many of whom settled in refugee camps in neighbouring states, is still unknown. It can be safely assumed, however, that around 80 percent of the Arab inhabitants of what became Israel (half of the Arab total of Mandatory Palestine) left or were expelled from their homes. About 250,000-300,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled before the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May 1948.

Factors involved in the exodus include Jewish military advances, destruction of Arab villages, psychological warfare, and fears of another massacre by Zionist militias after the Deir Yassin massacre which caused many to leave out of panic. Other factors include direct expulsion orders by Israeli authorities, voluntary self-removal of the wealthier classes, absence of an organised Palestinian leadership at that time, and an unwillingness to live under Jewish control. Any student of history will recall that the unprovoked Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 120 fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi killed hundreds of Palestinian Arabs in Deir Yassin, a village of roughly 600 residents near Jerusalem.

Subsequently, a series of laws passed by the first Israeli government prevented Arabs who had left from returning to their homes or claiming their property. Consequently, they and many of their descendants remain refugees till this day. The expulsion of the Palestinians has since been described by many historians as ethnic cleansing. The status of the refugees, and in particular Israel's continuous and obstinate refusal to grant them their legitimate right to return to their homes or to be compensated, are key issues in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The events of 1948 are commemorated by Palestinians both in Palestine and elsewhere on May 15—now known as Nakba Day—the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli independence (May 14, 1948) or Yom Ha'atzmaut in Hebrew. Nakba Day was inaugurated by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1998. The Palestinian conflict is arguably the longest running instance of injustice and human tragedy in modern history.

While many vested quarters would want to push any discourse on this conflict into the background, for the people of Bangladesh, it has a special place in their hearts. The support and solidarity of Bangladeshis for their Palestinian brothers and sisters in their struggle for justice and statehood are steeped in history. Since its very birth in 1971 as an independent state, people in Bangladesh have all along stood steadfastly with the just cause of the Palestinians. Bangladesh has not for once wavered in its stance, which is built on the universal principles of democracy, human rights, liberty, history and justice, the same values on which the glorious Bangladesh War of Liberation was based. So deep is the commitment of Bangladesh to the just cause of Palestine and its people that even Israeli offers of assistance to Bangladesh during our war of independence in 1971 were summarily rejected by the Bangladeshi government-in-exile. The country staunchly supported the Palestinians against Israel during the Yom Kippur war in 1973 and dispatched a medical team and relief supplies for Palestinians even when the country itself was recovering from the ravages of the 1971 war. Firmly believing that the Palestinian struggle is also our struggle, about 8,000 Bangladeshi youths reportedly fought alongside the Palestinian people and sacrificed lives. Bangladesh recognised Palestine as a state very early on and maintains a warm and friendly relationship with it. In 1978, Bangladesh was elected by the OIC as the Vice President of the Al-Quds Committee.

Over time, hardliner Israeli leaders have sought to distort history and alter geography. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was formally indicted on corruption charges earlier this year, is the latest incarnation of this toxic mind-set. Sadly, he has sympathisers in the outside world as well. The powerful Zionist lobby ensures that. The most recent manifestation of that is the "dead on arrival" so-called Deal of the Century that validates aggression, illegal occupation and annexation coming out of the Trump administration. Even many Jews in Israel and outside laugh it off as a cruel joke.

Bangladesh does not maintain any diplomatic relations with Israel and has consistently reiterated that it will not have diplomatic relations with Israel until there is an independent Palestine along the pre-1967-war border. While Bangladesh does not deny Israel's right to exist as an independent state, it maintains that such a state can exist alongside an independent Palestine, in other words, Bangladesh stands for a two-state solution. A September 2011 statement published in the Jerusalem Post by an Israeli government spokesperson said, "We have no conflict with Bangladesh. We want dialogue. We want people-to-people relations." Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded firmly, "We have been continuing our support to the Palestinians, and occupation of their land by the Israelis is never acceptable." This is where Bangladesh stands and will continue to stand until such time as a just solution, ensuring the establishment of a Palestinian state acceptable to the people of Palestine, is found.

Shamsher M Chowdhury, BB, is a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh.