Al Naksa: Commemorating 48 years of
Palestinian dispossession and displacement

Today
is a significant date in the history of the Palestinian refugees: 5 June is al
Naksa, otherwise known as ‘the Setback’, the day on which Palestinians
commemorate the displacement and dispossession which occurred during and
following Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory in the June 1967
war.

• In what is called the ‘six day war’ between Israel and neighbouring Arab nations, over  300,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, causing more people to flock to the refugee camps established after 1948.

 

• Half of these refugees were originally displaced in 1948, finding themselves refugees for the second time.

 

• Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), displacing half the population of Palestine outside their borders and expropriating 80% of their land.

 

• Israel also began its settlement building after 1967, beginning a movement to steal more land from Palestinians and ghettoise Palestinians in their cities and villages.

 

• 48 years on there are over 500,000 Israeli settlers on Palestinian land, thousands of checkpoints and a separation wall.