Erasure vs. Sumud: How the Nakba Came to Define the Collective Palestinian Identity

On May 15, 2023, the Palestinian Nakba will be 75 years old.  Palestinians all over the world will commemorate the tragic occasion, known as the ‘Catastrophe’, when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees and nearly 500 towns and villages were ethnically cleansed of their inhabitants in historic Palestine between late 1947 and mid-1948.  The depopulation of Palestine carried on for months; in fact, years after the Nakba was supposedly concluded. But the Nakba has never actually concluded. Until this day, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, in the southern Hebron hills, in the Naqab Desert and elsewhere, are still suffering the consequences of Israel’s quest for demographic supremacy. And, of course, millions of refugees remain stateless, denied basic political and human rights.