Palestine between the Nakba of 1948 and the genocide, displacement, and Judaization of 2026

Every year on May 15, the Palestinian people commemorate the Nakba that befell them in 1948, when Zionist militias and gangs forcibly displaced over 900,000 Palestinians from their cities and villages, completely destroyed approximately 531 villages, and committed more than 70 massacres in which over 15,000 people were killed. Seventy eight years later, the Israeli war machine is reproducing the same scene—but with far deadlier tools, and amidst a shameful international silence and unjustifiable inaction.

The 1948 Nakba – Founding Through Genocide and Displacement

The 1948 Nakba was not a passing war. It was the culmination of a colonial settler project that began taking shape in the late nineteenth century. Backed by colonial powers, Zionist gangs expelled between 780,000 and 957,000 Palestinians. Their society was destroyed, and they were displaced to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and neighboring Arab countries. The Arab identity of the land was erased: Palestinian villages and towns were wiped off the map and renamed with Hebrew names.

The land was lost, the people scattered, and “Israel” was born on the ruins of a nation and a people who continue to live the Nakba and its horrors. The settler colonial project did not stop there, as it continued through decades of occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza, steadily creating colonial facts on the ground and obliterating the Arab and Islamic identity of Palestine.

2026 – Genocide and Forced Displacement in Gaza

Today, seventy eight years after the Nakba, Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing a “second Nakba”—by far the worst. Since the outbreak of the genocidal war in October 2023, the Israeli war machine has committed mass atrocities. By May 2026, the number of martyrs had surpassed 73,000, including more than 20,000 children and 12,000 women. Over 102,000 buildings have been completely destroyed, and 330,000 housing units have been damaged.

As for displacement, about 2.4 million Palestinians have been forcibly uprooted within the Gaza Strip, now living in tents and makeshift shelters with none of the basic necessities of life. This genocide is a reenactment of the 1948 Nakba—only faster, more brutal, and infinitely worse because the world has watched it live, unlike the 1948 Nakba, whose horrors we have only a few documents and testimonies of.

The West Bank – Annexation, Judaization, and Ethnic Cleansing

The catastrophe has not been confined to Gaza. It has spread to the occupied West Bank, which is witnessing a systematic and dangerous escalation.

According to UN reports, the number of settlers in the West Bank has exceeded 778,000, distributed across 151 settlements and 350 settler outposts.

Sources indicate that about 45,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in the northern West Bank, and more than 36,000 have been displaced in a single year. The UN has described this as “forced displacement on an unprecedented scale” that may amount to “ethnic cleansing.”

Just recently in the past few days, two dangerous developments took place by the Israeli government to entrench its occupation and colonial-settlement over the West Bank. The Knesset has recently passed a law establishing the so-called “Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority Bill” to take control of archaeological sites in the West Bank—a dangerous step that paves the way for the effective erasure of Palestinian history and identity that has existed on the land for centuries and millennia. The Israeli police have also created a new position, called “Head of the Farms Administration,” to give official cover to settler outposts. UN experts have confirmed that what is happening amounts to an “accelerated campaign of ethnic cleansing and annexation.”

An Integrated Judaization Plan

What connects the 1948 Nakba with what is happening today in Gaza and the West Bank is a single plan: the Judaization of Palestine and the elimination of Palestinian existence, whether through genocide in Gaza or ethnic cleansing and annexation in the West Bank.

With the backing of its Western allies, Israel is reproducing the same colonial settler project in new forms and with new methods.

This plan is not hidden or accidental. It is openly discussed, legislated, and implemented through successive Israeli governments—from the 1948 massacres and village demolitions, to the 1967 occupation and settlement construction, to the current genocidal war on Gaza and the creeping annexation of the West Bank. Each phase builds on the previous one, with the same goal: a Palestine without Palestinians, or at least with as few of them as possible, confined to isolated and impoverished enclaves under full Israeli control.

Conclusion

On the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, the Palestinian people face the most dangerous phase yet of physical and political liquidation. This demands urgent action from the international community, the United Nations, and human rights institutions to stop the ongoing genocide and creeping annexation. It also requires tangible support for Palestinian steadfastness on their land, protection for prisoners and holy sites, and the maintenance of global popular momentum in solidarity with Palestine—including the growing boycott campaigns that have proven to be an effective tool in making the occupation heavy, costly, and unsustainable.

Failure to act will only allow the Zionist project to creep forward, advancing not only in Palestine but across the entire region.

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