The Nakba in its 72nd year

This year marks the seventy-second anniversary of the usurpation of our beloved Palestine and the anniversary comes as the world is occupied by the coronavirus pandemic and the imposed lockdowns. Therefore, we haven’t seen any gatherings or mass protests to commemorate its painful memory. Instead, everyone is commemorating it in their own way where they are. This memory reminds us of the Zionist gang committing over 80 massacres against Palestinians, the displacement of at least one million Palestinians from their homes and stealing their land.

The seventy-second anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba occurs during a decline in Arab and international interest in the Palestinian issue, placing it in a very dangerous and very critical situation. This is because it is happening after the official announcement of the ‘deal of the century’ and Israel’s intention to annex the West Bank to it. This means that the occupation would impose complete control over all of the Palestinian territories, including the land where the alleged Palestinian state is supposed to be established as part of the two-state project approved by the cursed Oslo Accords, signed by Yasser Arafat in 1992. This agreement granted Israel gains they did not seize in their previous wars, as they achieved, through this “peace agreement”, what they couldn’t achieve in their wars.

It is unfortunate, sad and painful to see that the PA, which was born from the illegitimate womb of the Oslo Accords and entered into suspicious agreements with it, is still in place and has not budged from being a security coordinator for Israel to protect it from the anger and uprising of the real owners of the land, the great Palestinian people. Meanwhile, it does not have any cards to play in order to improve the situation of its people after selling all of its cards for the lowest prices. All the current leadership, represented by Mahmoud Abbas, does is caretaking and responding to what the occupation imposes on the ground by reining in the Palestinian people, preventing them from uprising, pursuing the resistance and handing them over to the occupation because it does not believe in resistance.

Turkey on Nakba: ‘Jerusalem is our red line’

What the Palestinians are currently suffering from and the greatest challenge posed to them is the absence of a sincere and loyal revolutionary Palestinian leadership, prepared and ready to embark on a path of liberation that restores the status of the resistance and there can be no resistance without a rifle. This resistance is legitimatised by all international laws and covenants, and is the only way to thwart this Zionist intrusion imposed by the occupation on the ground.

The successive campaigns by the occupation to control the West Bank is a renewed Nakba and means the Palestinians are forced to live in demographic enclaves surrounded by the occupation, which continues to crack down on them. In addition to this Palestinian displacement, diaspora and exile, the Palestinians are facing difficult challenges with the presence of pressuring economic and social factors, which presses on the Palestinian presence abroad, especially in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan’s camps.

Although the current Palestinian situation is very critical, the Palestinian people are still capable of disrupting the occupation’s equations and they have not and will not wave the white flag in surrender, despite its leadership’s collusion. They are a nation held together by their basic demands that they will never give up. The Palestinian cause is still alive in their hearts after the passing of 72 years since the Nakba and it will not die until the Palestinians regain their land.

The Palestinian people are still on their homeland and are still determined to fight for it, but it is missing a leadership that possesses the vision, will and ability to achieve the unity of the Palestinian people, end the current state of division and understand and learn from the lessons and past experiences.

Israel: 72 years of catastrophe 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.