In the 1930s and 40s, many Jews escaped persecution in Europe by sailing to Palestine for safety. Palestinians treated them then with open hearts but later the Jewish refugees took arms and attacked Palestinians by committing massacres to drive them out of their lands.
Each year on May 14, Israel celebrates Independence Day and Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day (catastrophe in Arabic). Prior to 1948, Israel has never existed on the map. Israel was planted in the heart of the Arab world by Western imperial powers. I still have a picture of my village taken by a New York Times photographer on May 14, being erased by Jewish terror groups. My village was totally flattened, the only remaining part left intact was part of the village mosque. My village name al-Sumayriyya- السميريه , Akka District, is located about 6 North of Akka and 6 miles south of the Lebanese borders.
My parents were forced to leave with their only child then (1-year-old) at gun point in May 1948, where approximately 400 Palestinian villages and towns were forcibly depopulated during the Nakba. With so many villages being destroyed and left uninhabitable, over 750,000 Palestinians were turned into refugees in other parts of Palestine and/or forced at gunpoint to the neighboring Arab countries. So, the Nakba represents the ongoing forcible displacement, ethnic cleansing, land theft, and systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.
The fact is, Israel was built illegally in 1948 on stolen Palestinian land and on the ruins of nearly 400 Palestinian villages that have been erased from the face of the earth so the native inhabitants will never have a chance to return back home and to what is rightfully theirs. It should be noted that all Palestinians' livestock and personal properties were completely LOOTED and it became property of the "Jewish state."
Above all, the state of Israel was the first to bring nuclear weapons and terrorism into the Middle East. In addition, Israel is the only country in the world since WWII that has bombed/invaded all its neighboring countries and occupied parts or all of their lands.
Since WWII, Israel is the only country in the world that has bombed all its neighboring countries and occupied parts or all of their lands.
Current polls show a staggering 80% of Israeli Jews support the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Last month, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) sent tanks to the refugee camp of Jinen in the northern West Bank for the first time in 20 years forcing Palestinians into being refugees again after the IOF expelled 40,000 inhabitants from Jinen refugee camp.
For the last several weeks, the Israeli Occupation Forces continue (IOF) are demolishing homes in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm and expelled all of the 13,000 residents of the camp. Israel war minister Katz said they are not allowed back to their homes even though the IOF's stated goal was supposed to root out Hamas and PIJ fighters, not the entire population.
Expelling Palestinians from historical Palestine has long been Israel's policy, and now PM Netanyahu's government only wants to wipe out the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Believe it or not, Israel's message to the Palestinians is: Surrender, leave, or die.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelancer for Islamicity.com and ColumbusFreepress.com. He can be reached at elyousseph6@yahoo.com
"Reach out for those who ignored you, give to the one who deprived, and forgive those who oppressed you." ~ Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him)
1948 Palestinian exodus - Wikipedia