Marking the Nakba and the Battle of Existence

The issuance of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 laid the groundwork for the Nakba (Catastrophe) from the moment it was announced. It promised the establishment of a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine, followed by the British Mandate over the land, which enabled the Zionist movement to seize vast areas, and encouraged Zionist institutions to organize and expand their control over all aspects of life.

Britain entered Palestine with a firm commitment to implementing the Balfour Declaration, actively encouraging Jewish immigration, supplying them with various weapons, and training them to use them. At the same time, it imposed all forms of oppression, brutality, and persecution against the Palestinians, restricting their freedoms, chasing and executing their activists who defended their homeland.

The term Nakba is a modern one, referring to the humanitarian tragedy of displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and the destruction of their political, economic, and social structures in 1948. During that year, Zionist gangs committed over 70 massacres, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians, and forcibly expelling the population from their homeland. Zionist propaganda played a key role in scaring people into fleeing to protect their families, and then prevented their return, leading to their dispersal across the globe.

It is certain that the British Mandate was the covert and indirect face of the occupation. On the midnight of May 14, 1948, the British government announced the end of its presence in Palestine. Just hours before the mandate officially ended, the Jewish Council in Tel Aviv declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine—without even defining the borders of this state.

It is clear that the Zionist strategy to expel Palestinians from their homes and lands was not spontaneous, but part of a long-planned, well-coordinated operation—facilitated by the British government. Later events confirmed that this entity is a settler-colonial regime, built on forced displacement, destruction of towns and villages, and changing names and landmarks, affirming the nature of its mindset and its aggressive ideology.

The 77th anniversary of the Nakba arrives amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza, forced displacement of its population and those in the West Bank, and the formalization of Israel’s identity as a "Jewish state" in its Knesset. This all proves that the enemy does not accept any other presence on a land that was never originally theirs. It is a criminal settler-colonial project, seeing its existence as the only one that matters, while portraying the rightful owners of the land as void, illusion, or non-existent. And if their existence is acknowledged, it is only for the occupier's benefit, and within its framework, instructions, and control—as seen in the catastrophe of the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinians did not surrender to this imposed reality. From the days of the British Mandate, they showed heroic resistance despite British and Zionist brutality. Their struggle continued beyond the Nakba, and they still cling to their right of return and self-determination. They did not become passive refugees relying on aid and assistance, but instead contributed—and still contribute—to the development and prosperity of the lands they settled in. They built their identity around resistance, passing it down to new generations committed to return.

The Palestinians who were expelled from their homes took their house keys with them, believing firmly that they would return one day. These keys are still inherited by generation after generation, symbolizing their stolen homes and reinforcing their unwavering right to return.

The legendary steadfastness of Gaza—its land, its people, and its resistance—reaffirms what has always been true: that Palestine, from the river to the sea, is indivisible. The occupier is temporary and must return to where it came from. The right of return is non-negotiable.

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Author: Munir Rashid

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