May 15 this year marked the 75th year of the Nakba.
The Nakba, far from being a faded remembrance of the past,
remains an ongoing travesty, an enduring state of criminality.
اضافة اعلان
As long as there exists even a single displaced child,
lingering on the thresholds of their exiled abode within the confines of a
refugee camp, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to return to their homeland,
embraced by freedom, justice, and tranquility, the conclusion of this
occupation remains far.
To dismiss the undeniable truth that indigenous Palestinians
possess an inherent entitlement to their rightful lands is to undermine the
legitimacy of any counterclaims made against it.
Reflecting on the relentless struggle for liberation, which
spanned seven and a half decades, certain memories permeate our very existence
and seep into the collective consciousness of generations. Survivors of the
Nakba, including members of my own family, were forcibly uprooted from Jaffa.
Yet, to this day, they preserve indelible recollections of home and expulsion,
etched in every crease adorning their faces, resonating within the very core of
their beings.
Their bodies serve as enduring vessels, forever bearing the
scars of assaults against their autonomy, their inherent dignity as human
beings, and the very essence of their existence. Each remembered grievance
swims in their veins like pieces of hardened shrapnel that never dissolved in
the test of time. And while certain memories may need to be cast aside for the
sake of healing, survival, and progress, we simply cannot relinquish our
inalienable right to nationhood, as that right remains unfulfilled.
An unhealed wound
The survivors of the Nakba harbor memories of innocence
lost, with each succeeding generation bearing the weight of its enduring
wounds, buried deep within their souls.
As long as the last displaced child remains on the doorsteps of their exiled home in the camp, waiting to return to the homeland in freedom, justice, and peace, the end has not neared.
In 1948, a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign resulted in the
forcible displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians, while the emerging
host, in criminal fashion, established what we now recognize as the "State
of Israel," illegitimately erasing the very existence of Palestine, both
past and present.
Today, Israel has transformed from a mere colonial occupying
power into a radical, ultra-religious, fascist regime that vigorously upholds
the notion of Jewish supremacy, unabashedly enforcing apartheid measures
against non-Jews. It adheres to the biblical narrative of the Kingdom of
Israel, all at the expense of its rightful owners, Palestinians.
Ongoing occupation
I recount these massacres not to trigger the gruesome
details of unspeakable horrors or to draw attention to the mutilated bodies,
the innocent children slain, and the egregious theft that transpired. Instead,
I write as a reminder that these massacres and forced displacements have yet to
reach their conclusion.
Seventy-five years later, the stone remnants of 458
Palestinian villages, systematically demolished, continue to stand defiantly in
close proximity to the "Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum," a shrine where
every known victim of the Nazi genocide is currently recorded.
The remains stand as haunting reminders of the atrocities
that forever tarnish the conscience of those who turned a blind eye and failed
to intervene in ending 75 years of ongoing Nakba. This protracted suffering of
my people persists through the implementation of apartheid policies,
colonization, annexation, and the daily occurrence of cold-blooded killings.
In this current year alone, one Palestinian is killed daily,
on average. Moreover, the collective arrests and the myriad violations of
international law and UN resolutions committed by Israel, the colonial
occupying power, render any remaining prospects for peace, security, and the
establishment of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital,
increasingly untenable.
The international consensus on a two-state solution stands
as the only viable path towards stability and peace in the region, alongside
the imperative of implementing the right to self-determination for my people in
our usurped homeland, as stipulated by UN resolution 194.
This consensus, accepted by us Palestinians and embraced by
the sole representative, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, offers a
vision whereby an independent, sovereign Palestinian state is formed, occupying
a mere 22 percent of Palestine's historic lands. However, this solution now
appears illusory, undermined by the illegal presence of 750,000 colonial Jewish
settlers residing in over 240 colonial settlements, established on the
territory occupied in 1967.
Today, Israel is not just a colonial occupation power, but a radical fascist ultra-religious regime that implements the idea Jewish supremacy deserves to uphold an apartheid state against non-Jews
These territories continue to be subjected to ethnic
cleansing through draconian measures imposed by the occupying regime. Its
persistent refusal to implement the aforementioned solution in the land it
deems the "Greater Israel" or the "Kingdom of Israel,"
where colonization and apartheid reign supreme, propels us toward an
inescapable reality — a single apartheid state encompassing all of historic
Palestine, defined by Jewish supremacy.
International apathy
The silence of the international community, turning a blind
eye and deaf ear to these injustices, further compounds this grievous outcome,
failing to uphold its ethical, political, and legal responsibilities in
rectifying the historical injustice that commenced 75 years ago, when we were
forcefully uprooted from our ancestral homeland.
Consequently, this colonial Zionist enterprise, cultivated
with the support of Western colonial powers to serve their interests within our
region, at the expense of resolving the Jewish question in its original
communities and at the expense of our people and our national rights, must be
overcome. Its defeat paves the path towards a just peace, democratic values,
and justice for all the inhabitants of our region.
To expedite these essential international political
transformations, and to safeguard the principles of democracy and human rights,
for which the peoples of Europe have paid a great price throughout their
history, it is imperative for Europe to liberate itself from the clutches of
savage American foreign policies, which consistently prioritize the
sustainability of Israeli colonial occupation.
Europe must prioritize its own political and economic
interests and the prosperity of its people. These concerns are of no
consequence to the US, whose insatiable desire for unipolar dominance places
Europe at risk of enduring another devastating ordeal, much like the
cataclysmic events witnessed during World War II, wherein the US remained
unscathed, with not a single pane of glass shattered on its soil.
Moreover, it is incumbent upon us to incite a widespread,
grassroots European progressive movement, dedicated to confronting American
proxy wars and the resurgence of repugnant neo-Nazi movements, which have begun
to proliferate with the backing of the US and Israel, as they meddle in various
corners of the globe, encroaching upon democracy, national sovereignty, and the
inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.
This year, in a historic display, the UN, in its
commemoration of the Nakba, has brought to the forefront an increased awareness
of this catastrophic event, and affirmed the international rights entwined with
the pursuit of national independence within and for our homeland.
Marwan Emil Toubassi is the former ambassador of Palestine to Athens.
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