Nakba Day: We will never forget the ongoing catastrophe in Palestine

Editor’s note: Nakba is an Arabic word meaning catastrophe. Every year on May 15, Nakba Day commemorates the violent displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli War that accompanied the founding of Israel in 1948. To mark this day, the NB Media Co-op is publishing a speech by New Brunswickers for Justice & Peace for Palestine that will be read later today during a peaceful public gathering in Moncton. We stand with the people of Palestine for justice, peace, the right of return, and an end to the ongoing genocide and occupation.

Today’s gathering is a very special one, we are here today to commemorate the Nakba and its victims on its 77th anniversary. On May 15th of 1948, the Zionist military and settlers expelled 750,000 to one million Palestinians from their homes. Over 400 towns and villages were erased. Families were forced out at gunpoint. They shot children, they demolished homes, and they scattered entire communities. That was the Nakba. But it didn’t end.

As of 2021, over 8.3 million Palestinians are refugees because of the Nakba alone. They were displaced out of their homes, generation after generation, without the right to return home. However, the Zionist occupation is still carrying a Nakba out today. In Gaza alone, over 62,600 Palestinians have been brutally murdered since October 2023. 

About 17,500 of them are children, and over 70 per cent of the death toll consists of women and children. Ninety per cent of Gaza’s population is now displaced. Hospitals are bombed. Schools are bombed. They are blocking humanitarian aid bombing aid convoys. Israel is using population starvation as a weapon. This is not war. This is annihilation and genocide.

So, although we are here today to commemorate the Nakba, we must understand the Nakba never stopped. It evolved. What began in 1948 continues with every home demolition in Jerusalem, every child shot in Jenin, every bomb dropped on Rafah, and every siege in Palestine.

We are not here to mourn quietly. We are here to remember, to speak, and to resist. Because silence is complicity. And facts demand action. I would like to end by reminding you all, that this genocide did not start on October 7, 2023; it started on May 15, 1948. Thank you all for joining us again, and we hope to see you at more of NBJPP’s gatherings.