Right of Return
The Nakba: A Day of Catastrophe for Palestinians
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين, Filastin) is a country located in the middle east, it borders Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Currently, it is being occupied by the state of Israel, a jewish ethnostate established by Zionists in 1948. Till this day Israel continues to illegally annex palesitninan land and exacerbate systematic human rights violations against Palestinians, depriving them of their right to education, health, and humanitarian access.
In 1948, Israel expelled and exiled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. During this period, Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint. This is known as the ‘Nakba’ which means catastrophe in arabic.
By May of 1948, almost half the palestinian population were removed from their homes; many were forced into refugee camps, and many were forced to move to neighbouring countries such as Jordan or Lebanon. This resulted in one of the worst refugee crisis, with over 7 million palestinian refugees in the following decades. Most of these palestinians are not allowed to return home, the 'right of return' refers to the basic human right of palestinians to return to their homes but israel continues to deny them this right till today!!! Palestinians have kept the keys to their homes that they were forced to exile in hopes of returning to their homes one day. The key symbolizes the inherent relationship between Palestinians and the land that they cultivate and nurture.
The more than three million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem (capital of Palestine) face home demolitions, arbitrary arrests, and displacement as Israel expands the 100-plus Jewish-only colonies and steals Palestinian land to do so. Palestinian movement is restricted by military checkpoints and the Separation Wall that has obstructed their ability to travel freely. IDF (Israel Defense Forces) continues to conduct hundreds of raids throughout different villages to arrest Palestinians, usually at their homes at night. They unlawfully detain thousands of Palestinians, holding hundreds in administrative detention without charge or trial. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees are used and are typically committed with impunity.