International
Nakba Project

Questions 

Who can I contact if I have a question or a comment?
For technical help contact Talia Fried, taliafried "at" gmail dot com
For planning help contact Hannah Mermelstein, hmermels "at" hotmail dot com

What is the Nakba?
 “Nakba” is a word in Arabic that means “catastrophe” or “cataclysm.” It refers to the totality of the destruction of Palestinian life in the area that became the state of Israel in 1948 – the Palestinian localities, culture, and people. During the Nakba over 500 villages and cities were cleared of their Palestinian residents and destroyed, and about 800 thousand Palestinians were expelled. They and their descendents have grown to become the largest and longest-standing refugee population in the world.

In Jewish and Israeli society, the Nakba is a topic we do not want to hear or talk about. It unsettles the idea of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state” and elicits powerful responses such as guilt, fear, anger, and denial. But because it is so central to the ongoing conflict, it is imperative that the Jewish public be willing to open a dialogue about the Nakba, both with Palestinians and with Jews. To hear the stories of 1948, to acknowledge this history, and ultimately to take part in repairing its ongoing injustice. For the (small but growing) movement of which Zochrot is part, this means promoting, as much as possible, a reconciliation process that is based on justice and equality, including fulfilling the right of the refugees to return.

What is Nakba Day and when is it?
International Nakba Day is commemorated yearly on May 15 in recognition of the tragedy that befell the Palestinian people in 1948. In Israel, Nakba Day is also commemorated on Israeli Independence Day ("Yom Ha'atzmaut"), which follows the Jewish calendar and is usually in late April or early May. Historically, on this day Palestinians whose movement was normally restricted by martial law were permitted to visit the villages they were expelled from. Visiting villages and telling the stories of the Nakba to the younger generation, as well as conducting protests and commemorations, are all customary on Nakba Day.

Who are Zochrot?
Zochrot came into being in 2002 by various individuals – activists, educators, students – who shared a recognition that the central wound of the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Nakba, was not being addressed in the public discourse or even in most frameworks specifically intended to promote dialogue and political change. Zochrot’s first activities were to conduct tours of the Palestinian sites destroyed in 1948 and to post signs at these signs to designate and honor their existence. Zochrot continues to conduct such tours, which have grown to include hundreds of participants each, about every other month for the general public. During such tours gatherers walk through the area, learn about its history before, during, and after the Nakba, and hear testimonies from the Palestinians who were expelled in 1948. For each tour we also publish a special booklet that contains information about the village, oral histories, photographs, maps, archival documents, and personal reflections.

In addition to the signposting tours Zochrot has also expanded its activities to include:

- the establishment in 2005 of a Nakba Learning Center in the heart of Tel Aviv, which houses a book and video library, an art gallery, and where we hold lectures and film screenings once or twice a month on subjects related to the Nakba

- holding by-invitation workshops and seminars for educators, activists, students, and the general public who wish to learn more about the Nakba

- working with schoolteachers to create educational materials for teaching the Nakba to students in the Hebrew-speaking school system in Israel, and compiling these exercises and materials into a school curriculum

- hosting, alongside the Badil refugee rights organization (www.badil.org), a working group to consider ways of implementing the right of return and to deal with the dilemmas and questions that arise from this

- collecting a video archive of oral histories of the Nakba

- operating an online database of maps and information about the Nakba at www.zochrot.org in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Here visitors can, for example, look up a current (Hebrew-named) location on a digital map and learn about the Palestinian localities that existed there before 1948 and what became of them.