Remembering the Nakba in quiet contemplation
Saturday, May 14th 11am to 4pm
Cornerstones, Dalton Square. (Sulyard St.) “ thru the café ”
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– AN INSTALLATION TO PROVOKE THOUGHT AND FEELING IN A QUIET SPACE –
Every year Palestinians mark the Nakba – “catastrophe” in English – when in 1948 around 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel. Some 500 villages were destroyed in a premeditated campaign, and their inhabitants never allowed to return. Zionist militias, who later became the Israeli Defence Force, committed massacres in Deir Yassin, Lydda, Tantura and dozens of other Palestinian communities.
A critical understanding of the Nakba is essential as it continues to shape Palestinians’ experience. Palestinian society was all but destroyed, with refugees scattered around neighbouring states and across the world. These refugees and their descendants number over 5 million people today, and are divided between Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, The West Bank, Gaza and internally in Israel.
Jordan 2 million
Lebanon 427,057
Syria* 477,700
The West Bank 788,108
Gaza 1.1 million
with at least another 250,000 internally displaced Palestinians in Israel.
*Many Syrian refugees are in fact Plaestinian – displaced once more by the war in Syria
The displacement, dispossession and dispersal of the Palestinian people is known to them as an-Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” or “disaster”.
Israel continues to deny Palestinians their fundamental rights, including, crucially, the right of return. While Israel’s Law of Return entitles automatic citizenship to Jews born anywhere in the world, Palestinian refugees are denied the right to return to their homes and land, from which they were expelled
There will be a collection for MAP
We will be selling some Hadeel Palestinian made crafts – and other crafts made to raise funds for MAP