The Nakba did not start or end in 1948

A date etched into Palestinian memory for generations. Palestinians refer to it as Al Nakba, which literally translates to ‘The Catastrophe’. It refers to the mass exodus of at least 750,000 Palestinians from Palestine.

Although many believe this event began in 1948, Al Nakba had, in fact, started decades earlier. Long before the 1917 Balfour Declaration, when the British government promised Zionist leaders support for the establishment of a homeland in Palestine, Arabs in the region were being massacred and dispossessed.

In November 1947, the United Nations decided to partition British-mandated Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. The UN-designated Jewish state still contained a substantial Palestinian minority, despite increased immigration from Europe to Palestine under British rule.

In a premeditated military campaign in May 1948, Zionist militias killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, destroyed hundreds of villages, forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and captured 78% of historic Palestine. The remaining 22% of Palestine was divided into areas now known as the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the besieged Gaza Strip.

As a result, 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of refugees who were expelled from their homeland in 1948 and forced to live in large refugee camps. Some Palestinians who survived the 1948 Nakba are now reliving it amid the war in Gaza.

The images of distressed Palestinians living in makeshift tents today, walking miles to escape bombardment while carrying what remains of their belongings, mirror the enduring images embedded in Palestinian collective memory, of Nakba, diaspora, refugee camps and displacement.

Despite UN Resolution 194 affirming the right of return for Palestinian refugees, they were never allowed to return. Instead, they were left in limbo, struggling with statelessness while holding onto the keys of their stolen homes.

Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 until today, Israel has continued to seize large areas of Palestinian land, designating them as military zones, state land, or under other classifications. In 1950, the Israeli government formalised this process of confiscation and state possession.

In 1967, following Israel’s annexation of additional Palestinian territories, military rule and apartheid-like policies became institutionalised over Palestinian land and people. Increasing land expropriation forced Palestinians into continuous displacement and fragmented enclaves, creating what many describe as an open-air prison in the Gaza Strip and a

system of checkpoint-controlled areas throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Significantly, in 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements, an end to forced evictions and a halt to the transfer of Palestinian land to Israeli settlements. Nevertheless, Israeli military incursions during 2025 displaced more than 37,000 Palestinians from their homes in the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm and Jerusalem.

For the past two and a half years, the world has witnessed Israel committing genocide in Gaza. Despite the ceasefire brokered last October, Israel continues to attack and kill Palestinians in Gaza while blocking humanitarian aid through what many describe as a deliberate policy of starvation.

The world has witnessed Israel committing genocide in Gaza

Recently, Israel has expanded its borders and seized more land from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank, with Israeli officials describing the territories they occupy as “buffer zones”. In Gaza, more than half of the Strip’s territory is now under Israeli control. During a recent military offensive in Lebanon, the Israeli military killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions and seized over 16% of Lebanon’s territory under military control.

In February 2026, Israel’s cabinet introduced several legal and administrative measures to further entrench its six-decade-long military occupation and settlement enterprise. These measures placed Palestinians’ lives under the full control of Israeli authorities.

According to the legal opinion of the International Court of Justice, these actions amount to Israel’s de facto annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories. These measures undermine all peaceful accords, further diminish Palestinians’ hold on their land and erode hopes for a two-state solution.

Israeli military forces continue to detain Palestinians under inhumane and degrading conditions. Since October 2023, more than 20,000 Palestinians have reportedly been detained in harsh conditions. During this period, at least 110 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody. Currently, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) is holding approximately 9,900 Palestinians, of whom 3,532 are held without charge and around 350 are children.

On March 30, 2026, the Israeli Knesset passed an apartheid death penalty law. Under this law, unanimity among judges is no longer required because a death sentence can be imposed by a simple majority. Executions are to be fast-tracked within 90 days of a final decision.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers, often under military protection, continue attacks on Palestinian communities, burning homes and farmland with little accountability, while settlements continue expanding deeper into Palestinian territories and further displacing Palestinians from their land.

Despite countless hardships, Palestinians remain deeply rooted in their land, sustained by their longing to return and their unbreakable connection to their heritage.

As we gather in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people tomorrow, at the Council of Europe Gardens in Gżira, we call for the right of return. A key priority is ending EU military aid to Israel and applying effective pressure on the Netanyahu government to comply with international human rights law and UN resolutions.

We call for an immediate end to Israel’s violations of ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. We also call on states to prohibit the sale and transfer of lethal weapons to Israel, in line with recent decisions in Italy and Spain to block shipments of military supplies, bombs and weapons to Israel.

We urge Malta to join the growing number of states supporting UN Resolution 194, which upholds “the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland”, while supporting peaceful coexistence between

Palestinians and Israelis and working towards ending systems of discrimination and apartheid.

Dania Haddad and Yana Mintoff are activists with Ġustizzja għall-Palestina.