Assault on Rafah Latest Evidence That the Palestinian Nakba Did Not End in 1948

By Samah Jabr

The recent annihilation of Rafah is but another link in the chain of Israeli burglaries of Palestine. The intensive, heavy-handed targeting of high-ranking Palestinian political leaders, the not-so-long-ago destruction of Jenin, the construction of the separation wall—on both sides of which Israelis will continue living—and the daily theft of Palestinian land, life and property over the past 56 years of occupation are but a few examples.

Contrary to Israeli claims, moreover, its actions culminating in the Nakba of 1948 were neither reactive, spontaneous nor unintentional. Instead, the killing, destruction, terror and expulsions were carefully designed to inflict the maximum horror and dread in the hearts of Palestinians, so as to steal the most possible land with the fewest possible Palestinians still living on it.

The original Nakba, however, with its mass killing and expulsion of Palestinians and the destruction and appropriation of their homes, cities and villages, was just the beginning of the Palestinian catastrophe. As the world passively watches, it is being relived every day, its implications mounting and deepening with each additional day of Israel’s continuous occupation of Palestine.

If imposing an occupation can be achieved only by committing crimes against the occupied, the rational conclusion is that persistent crimes like those Israel committed in Rafah are integral to its occupation. The May 2004 deaths of two young brothers who were feeding doves on the roof of their house—villed when Israeli soldiers in Rafah randomly shelled peaceful demonstrators protesting the demolition of their homes—is but part of the continuum with the 1948 killing and drowning in their village well of Dervishes in the Hebron suburb of al-Dawaymeh. The Sufi worshippers had been seeking protection in their place of worship from Jewish Hagana and Stern Gang terrorists. Both atrocities exemplify what it takes to ensure the existence of the Israeli State.

Those who are knowledgeable about Palestinian history and are aware of our present situation might agree that we have arrived at a point which is probably worse than where we began. It is poignant and outrageous that the Nakba took place at all, of course. Even more ominous, however, is that its pernicious spirit remains at large in our region—and will continue to do so until the full range of complicity in the Nakba is thoroughly analyzed—and altered.

Never have the Israelis acknowledged the wrongs they committed against the Palestinians. There was no Palestinian Nuremburg Trial, no committees of confession and reconciliation. To the contrary, the history of the Nakba is ignored or refuted by mainstream Israelis. Unlike American efforts to “reform” Palestinian school curricula to omit the concepts of jihad and martyrdom from the Palestinian education system in preparation for the “age of peace,” there has been no initiative to teach Israeli students about the Palestinian Nakba. Those who made viewing “Schindler’s List” compulsory in German schools, and established Holocaust museums in the path of the European tragedy, obviously understood the moral, psychological and educational values of keeping that horror before their eyes. To date, however, there is no single Nakba museum, locally or abroad, to transmit to future generations the lesson learned from another example of “man’s inhumanity to man.” Instead, Israeli politicians officially discuss the “transfer” of Palestinians, while “demographic management strategies” to address the “Palestinian fertility danger” is public news.

Israeli policies are evidence of a complete lack of a sense of right and wrong, and of shame. Even the Israeli peace camp, unfortunately, exhibits these same defects when it comes to the Palestinian Nakba and the 1948 land. If it begins with the premise that an exclusive Jewish state has the right to exist on another people’s land, that means an implicit approval of the original Nakba and a license for its continuation.

Indeed, the Palestinian Nakba is ongoing. The international community has neither denounced nor rectified the 1948 ethnic cleansing of three-quarters of a million Palestinians carried out against a largely helpless population. This history lesson has yet to be imprinted on the world’s conscience. From Sykes-Picot to the Balfour Declaration to the Oslo accords, up to the latest promises to and full U.S. support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon—all have provided a broad base for the continuing oppression and injustice so easily meted out to the Palestinians.

Even more startling, if possible, is the world’s attitude of courtesy and consideration toward the party that has the bigger gun—which, in this case, certainly is not the Palestinians! Washington condemns in the harshest possible terms the Palestinian killing of Israeli occupation soldiers in Gaza, while expressing a vague, false “concern” when an American helicopter operated by an Israeli fires missiles at unarmed, exposed Palestinian civilians. Such reactions demonstrate a complete absence of nobility or compassion on the part of U.S. officials. One can only assume that they support a new Middle East in which Palestinians live in camps like the reservations provided for Native American Indians.

The international media blackout of this contemporary Nakba, and of Palestinians’ human stories, perspective, facts and figures, is more proof that the parameters of complicity are wider than the mere occupation of land.

Equally disappointing has been the Arab political response to the Palestinian crisis. We heard from our grandfathers how the Arab army took weapons from their hands and prevented them from fighting in 1948. “You’ll go back to your homes in a few days,” they were assured—a promise that has been confirmed by more than one United Nation resolution, none of which have been implemented.

Today, as the Nakba continues in Rafah and other Palestinian areas, we notice the reluctance of our Egyptian big brothers to halt the Israeli exploitation of Palestinians—Instead recently facilitating and mediating the return of Israeli soldiers’ remains. We hear the king of Jordan, echoing the barks of Israelis and Americans, advising Yasser Arafat to take a long, hard look in the mirror and decide whether or not his presence in the government is beneficial to the Palestinian cause. We Palestinians have been bleeding for four continuous years, yet not a single Arab state has broken diplomatic and economic ties with Israel. Except for the mild verbal reprimand and the occasional, conditional financial donation, they lift not one finger to stop our horror. Arab courage and moral stamina is especially lacking at this point in history.

Even we Palestinians play a part in our oppression. We must shoulder our responsibilities and question our shortcomings in our reactions to the past and present Nakbas. I am referring, in particular, to those Palestinian officials who have abandoned the right to resist, and subsequently accepted a dwarfed geographical present that bears no relation to our historical homeland. Then there’s the Palestinian engagement in the process of normalizing relationships with those who don’t even admit, or attempt to apologize for, the Nakba. And, finally, the initiative of some official Palestinian political figures who are all too willing to relinquish the refugees’ right of return just to promote themselves as moderate, pragmatic and realistic leaders.

This is not to forget the passive role of some Palestinians who are watching from a safe distance, living in the lap of luxury while doing nothing, or too little, to oppose the occupier’s attempts to eliminate the Palestinians. These same passive bystanders aren’t even willing to assist Palestinians’ resoluteness in the face of such merciless surroundings and circumstances.

The scenario is always the same: Israeli helicopters and tanks appear suddenly and launch heavy U.S. artillery in order to devastate their intended targets, then disappear as suddenly as they arrived—leaving behind endless destruction, terror and pain. In shock, Palestinian crowds march in the streets, inflamed and outraged, before once again sinking into massive depression and despair. Then come the rote reactions—faint, pale, inadequate to the horror of the incident: verbal official Arab condemnation, European perplexity or silence, and subtle or frank American approval. And, once more, the Palestinians are left alone, with neither protection nor condolence, angry at the world, trying to rise above their loss and misery and just move on, against all odds, in their difficult lives, tired, dispirited, terrified, while anticipating the whens and wheres of Israel’s next heinous crime.

The Palestinian intifada is our people’s call for humanity to reject the ideologies and practices of occupation and extermination, to recognize our legitimate plight, and insist on fairness, the acknowledgement of wrongs, and the application of human rights. Whether or not the Palestinian revolution against tyranny succeeds in preventing a future Nakba, it will be our contribution to the future of Palestine and of humanity itself.

Samah Jabr, a native of Jerusalem, is a medical doctor currently studying in Paris.