Bethlehem – Together – Today marks the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, as a result of which thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes, wandering on their faces between suffering and refugee camps, abandoning their homes and possessions, so that the journey of the Palestinian people began on the ship of suffering, heartbreak, and pain, specifically on June 15, 1948, as this date bears witness to The story of a people who were forcibly and unwillingly displaced from their land only to be seized by Israeli gangs by force of arms in light of a terrible international silence.
On May 15 of every year, the Palestinians commemorate the Palestinian Nakba that befell them in 1948, which was represented by the success of the Zionist movement, with the support of the British occupation (mandate), in controlling by force of arms the largest part of Palestine and declaring the establishment of the Israeli entity.
During those events, which were accompanied by Arab military intervention against
the Jewish occupation of Palestine, at least ten thousand Palestinians were martyred in a series of massacres and killings, most of which are still unknown. The Nakba of Palestine is the Nakba of the occupation of the holy sites, the separation of the people from their land, and the expulsion of the people of hundreds of cities and villages from their homes in 1948.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the events of the Nakba and the subsequent displacement constituted a major tragedy for the Palestinian people, given the accompanying expulsion of an entire people and the replacement of groups and individuals from various parts of the world in their place.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicates in a report issued last Sunday that the Nakba resulted in the displacement of more than one million Palestinians out of 1.4 million who resided in 1,300 villages and cities in 1948, to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries, in addition to the internal displacem
ent of thousands of them. Within the territories that were subject to the control of the occupation.
At that time, Israel controlled 774 Palestinian villages and cities, 531 of which were completely destroyed, while the rest were subjected to the occupation and its laws.
According to the report, ‘The cleansing process was accompanied by Zionist gangs committing more than 70 massacres against Palestinians, which led to the martyrdom of more than 15,000 Palestinians.’
During the Nakba, Israel was established on more than 85 percent of the area of ??historical Palestine, which amounts to approximately 27 thousand square kilometers.
The report shows that 134,000 Palestinians and Arabs have been martyred in Palestine since the ‘Nakba’ in 1948, in addition to recording about one million arrests since the ‘Nakba’ in 1967.
Numbers and spread of Palestinians
According to the Central Statistics Authority; ‘The total number of Palestinians in the world reached 14.63 million people at the end of 2023,’ noting that
‘the number of Palestinians has multiplied about 10 times since the events of the Nakba of 1948.’
He explains that the Palestinians are distributed around the world as follows: ‘5 million and 500 thousand in the State of Palestine (the West Bank, including Jerusalem and Gaza), and about one million and 750 thousand in the 1948 territories (Israel), while the number of Palestinians in the Arab countries reached about 6 million and 560.’ One thousand, and about 772 thousand in foreign countries.’
Source: Maan News Agency