'An attempt to erase Palestinian memory': Palestinians react to Israel's 'independence day'

Israel's celebration of its 75th anniversary since its forcible establishment is "an attempt to erase the Palestinian memory", Palestinians remarked to The New Arab on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Israel launched its 'independence day' celebrations which will culminate on 15 May, marking the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of Israel in 1948 on the eve of the British withdrawal from Palestine, triggering the first Arab-Israeli war which ended in March 1949.

For Palestinians, the date marks the climatic point in the expulsion of most of the Palestinian population by Zionist forces, which was had been happening since December 1947 and resuled in the destruction of half of Palestine's villages and towns. Some 750.000 Palestinians became refugees, losing their homes and property, and Palestine as a recognised country ceased to exist.

"Israel celebrates its founding and independence knowing it’s doing so on the back, life, property, liberty, land and dignity of another nation."

Article by @gideonle in @haaretzcom https://t.co/AFoQB91cJm

— Palestine Deep Dive (@PDeepdive) April 27, 2023

Palestinians refer to these events as the "Nakba" (Arabic for "catastrophe"). A central event in Palestinian nationalism, which Palestinians commemorate on the same day of Israel's 'independence' celebrations as a day of mourning.

"Israelis are in fact holding their celebrations on the rubble of our homes, towns and villages, trying to erase the Palestinian tragedy from history," Jamal Jumaa, coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots campaign against Israel's wall and settlements, told TNA.

"It is an attempt to re-write history that repeats itself every year, dancing on Palestinian bodies and destruction," said Jumaa. "Israel celebrates its so-called independence as if it was a distant event of the past, but the fact is that the Nakba is an ongoing process that never ended, and we, the Palestinian people, continue to resist it."

A feeling shared by Ali Awad, a 25-year-old resident and activist in Masfer Yatta, who told TNA, "Whenever I hear about Israel's 'independence' celebrations, I understand it to be the celebration of the Palestinian Nakba. When I think of the Nakba, I don't think only of the events of 1948, I think of my home community in Masafer Yatta in 2023."

Anti-Zionist activists raise Palestinian flags in protest against the anniversary of the so-called Israel's 'Independence Day' that is compatible with the Palestinian Nakba and the forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians by the Zionist militias. pic.twitter.com/6trZmG6ZZ7

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 27, 2023

Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, a conglomeration of 12 Palestinian villages in the southern Hebron hills in the occupied West Bank have been facing several attempts by Israelis of expulsion since 1980, when the Israeli army declared the area a "military firing zone". Currently, the majority of the 1,200 Palestinians in Masafer Yatta face the threat of being removed from their homes.

"I came to understand the Nakba, which Israelis call their ‘independence,’ through the story of my family," said Awad. "In 1999, my parents were among hundreds of families who were forced out of their homes in Masafer Yatta when I was only a one-year-old."

"Although we were allowed back later, I've lived through the attempts of expulsion all my life, including the last Israeli court ruling allowing our expulsion in May of last year. The Nakba is my personal story and my everyday present," he added.

The idea of the continuity and ongoing relevance of the Nakba is also expressed by young Palestinians descendants of 1948-refugee families, like 25-year-old Hadi Tarsha, who said to TNA, "Israeli celebrations of the Nakba are an attempt to replace us, Palestinians, in history and memory, just like Israel tries to replace us on the ground since 1948."

Thousands of Palestinians take part in the March of Return at the village of Al Lajoun, which was destroyed during the 1948 Nakba. #Nakba75 pic.twitter.com/WU4ILxkQ0X

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 26, 2023

Tarsha's  grandfather was forced out of the village of Innaba, east of Ramleh, in 1948. Tarsha considers himself the "third generation of the Nakba".

"Israel tries every year to replace our narrative, our memory, and our plight, with their narrative and celebrations," said Tarsha. "In the Jalazone refugee camp, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where my family has lived since 1948, everything reminds us of the continuity of the Nakba."

"The life conditions of the camp, the density of population on a small surface, the pictures of prisoners and martyrs on the walls, every single detail is a reminder that we continue to be refugees and that this situation that has lasted for 75 years is not a natural and it has to end one day," he said.

Several Palestinians expressed a more analytical view of Israel's 'independence' celebrations, like Khaled Odetallah, a colonial studies professor and director of the Palestinian Popular University project, for whom Israeli celebrations are "an important part of building the Israeli narrative and identity".

GO DEEPER: "The depopulation of Palestine carried on for months; in fact, years after the Nakba was supposedly concluded. But the Nakba has never actually concluded."

Article by @RamzyBaroud in @PalestineChron https://t.co/DqeE0cto4h pic.twitter.com/jXYOcPoHnW

— Palestine Deep Dive (@PDeepdive) April 27, 2023

"This is part of the ongoing process of building an identity capable of merging together all different components of Israeli society, which is today more divided than ever," said Odetallah. "At the same time, it is an attempt to portray colonial settlers as natives, claiming that status from Palestinians, which is a practice repeated in all settler colonialism experiments in history."

"Naming the commemorated event 'independence' is an example of this attempt to claim the status of natives, presenting the colonisation of Palestine as a national liberation movement," he noted.

"However, the fact that Israel celebrates its existence as a state as an extraordinary accomplishment, speaks to the deep consciousness by the Israeli establishment that the Zionist project has not achieved its ultimate goal," remarked Odetallah. "The goal of becoming a natural part of the region by ending the Palestinian opposition to it."

"Yet today, Israel is still fighting over the same fundamental issues that it fought over during its establishment, 75 years ago," he added.