The recent spread of the “Nakba” narrative – Jewish aggressors, Palestinian victims — can be traced to 1998, and a clever propaganda move by Yasser Arafat. More on this can be found here: “The Nakba Narrative: A History of Deception,” by Chaim Lax, Honest Reporting, May 8, 2023:
…Even with the advantage gained by the emergence of the “new historians” in the 1980s, the Nakba narrative would not possess the prominence it does today were it not for Yasser Arafat’s declaration of Nakba Day in 1998.
In 1998, as Israel was celebrating its 50th independence day, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared May 15 (the day after Israel’s independence) to be “Nakba Day.”
As part of his announcement, Arafat declared that the ultimate goal was the return of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel and the establishment of an “independent Palestinian state on our land.”…
The first Nakba Day was marked by violence, as four Palestinians were killed and 71 were injured in clashes that Israel claims were encouraged by the Palestinian Authority….
Since the establishment of Nakba Day in 1998, the Nakba narrative has gained greater prominence in both the Israeli and Palestinian discourses as well as on the international stage. In 2001, the Arab youth organization Baladna was founded in Israel. It promotes a worldview steeped in this narrative and promotes the Palestinian right of return.
Similarly, in 2002, the highly-politicized Israeli NGO Zochrot (Remembering) was founded. Zochrot aims to “raise public awareness of the Palestinian Nakba” and promotes the Palestinian right of return. In 2014, Zochrot released “iNakba,” a smartphone application that provides users with a map and photos of Palestinian Arab villages that were depopulated in 1948….
Since 1998, the acceptance of this narrative has also spread within Western academic institutions as well as the global media.
This trend is easily observable through a search of both library catalogs and newspaper archives.
A search of the WorldCat catalog of library materials shows that before 1998, there were only three English-language books that had the term “Nakba” in their title. Since 1998, that number has ballooned to over 100.
For the army of Israel-haters, the myth of the “Nakba” has been taken up with a vengeance: from 3 English-language books with “Nakba” in the title just before Arafat declared “Nakba Day” in 1998, to more than 100 books with “Nakba” in the title after 1998. It’s an easy, one-word way to sum up the Palestinian “tragedy” at the hands of the villainous Zionists.
Similarly, a search of The New York Times archives shows that between 1948 and 1997, the term “Nakba” only appeared once in an article. Since 1998, it has appeared over 200 times in a wide variety of pieces.
Clearly, Yasser Arafat’s declaration of “Nakba Day” in 1998 has had a far-reaching effect, not only solidifying the Nakba narrative within the Palestinian Authority, but also legitimizing it and institutionalizing it on the international stage.
In recent years, both Israeli and global Jewish leaders have begun to commemorate what is termed the “Jewish Nakba.”
The “Jewish Nakba” refers to the persecution and displacement of 850,000 Jews from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa. It also memorializes the Jewish areas in the Land of Israel that were depopulated by Arab forces in 1948.
The term “Jewish Nakba” is meant to rectify the historical record by disproving the narrative that Palestinian Arabs were the sole victims of the events of 1948, as well as to convey the complexity of the situation that arose with Israel’s independence (as opposed to the simplicity of the Nakba narrative).
However, some oppose the use of the term “Jewish Nakba” as it legitimizes the use of the term “Nakba” and also seems to equate the persecution of Jews living in far-flung Arab and Muslim lands with the consequences of Arab rejectionism and the subsequent invasion of the nascent Jewish state.
Nevertheless, the fact that some feel the need to rectify the historical record by resorting to the terminology of the Palestinian narrative proves how successful and influential the Palestinian propaganda machine has become in the Western world over the past 25 years.
The “Nakba” narrative of Jewish (Zionist) aggressors and Palestinian Arab victims has had a long and successful run, but if we refuse to unthinkingly accept it, and when the word is used we stop to hold the word up for critical examination, and take the occasion to remind the world of who attacked whom with annihilationist intent in 1948, that examination can prompt a discussion about what really went on just before, during, and after, the 1948 war.
The phrase “Jewish Nakba” should be used as often as possible, to appropriate the Palestinian terminology in order to inform people that many more Jews left Arab lands than Arabs left Palestine. And while the Jews fled persecution, dispossession, and deadly pogroms, almost all of the Arabs who left Palestine did so because they were urged to do so, not by Jews but by Arab leaders outside Mandatory Palestine who told them to leave so as to get out of the way of the invading Arab armies, assuring them that they would soon be returning with those same, but now triumphant, Arab armies.
That outcome was not to be. Too bad for the Arabs. Against all odds, the outnumbered and outgunned Jews won the 1948 war. Should the Jews now apologize for having emerged victorious from an assault on the life of their newborn state?
mg says
The ‘Nakba’ started in 632 when Mohammed had 600-900 Jewish men and boys heads cut off for not stating that their is no god but allah and mohammad is his messenger
That was the real Nakba, and it began for Jews and all others then. That I think is the real message and should be used to create a better meaning for the use of the term Nakba