Nakba, what is the forced exodus of the Palestinians in 1948

Nakba is the term that indicates the day of the Palestinian exodusforced exodus of 700 thousand people May 15, 1948, after the birth, the previous day, of the State of Israel. Literally the Arabic term means catastrophe. This exodus took place over a period of months, but the symbolic date was chosen, that of the day following the founding of Israel.

Explain the encyclopedia Treccani that this is the name «which indicates, in contemporary Arab historiography, the forced exodus of approximately 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from the territories occupied by Israel during the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the civil war that preceded it».

The UN had drawn up a partition plan according to which 56 percent of the territory was to be granted to the Jews and the rest to the Palestinians. With their respective areas of influence already existing as a guide and Jerusalem neutral and governed directly by the UN. Israel accepted the proposal, the Palestinians did not.

According to the reconstruction of the encyclopedia, Israel prevented the exercise of the right to return, sanctioned by the United Nations resolution 194while the refugees were placed in camps managed by the host Arab countries and international organizations.

At the Lausanne Conference of 1949, Israel proposed the return of 100,000 refugees, in exchange for Arab recognition of the borders established by the war. The rest of the Palestinians should have remained in the Arab states. This proposal was rejected for moral and political reasons, with the partial exception of Jordan, and the refugees were not recognized as citizens of the states in which the camps were located. “The defense of the right of return has since then been a cornerstone of Palestinian political demands in peace talks with Israel.” Israel's territory was larger than those envisaged by the UN plan: territories close to the border with Lebanon, the Negev desert in the south of the country and a strip between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The symbol of the Nakba, the Palestinian exodus, is the key. Many families keep the key to the house abandoned between 1948 and 1949 and pass it from father to son. The sculpture of a key was placed above the entrance arch of the Aida refugee camp, near Bethlehem. They are always there during demonstrations.

On this day, demonstrations are planned in numerous Italian universities, those where the tents of pro-Palestine students have been stationed for days. High alert from the police who hypothesize infiltrators inside the protest. The Palestinian Youth movement in Italy asked «the Italian universities, through and in the context of the Crui, to denounce the Israeli military aggression on the population of the Gaza Strip as well as express solidarity with the Palestinian population» and «the immediate resolution of all university agreements with universities and companies located in Israel and the total boycott of the Israeli academic system”. Requests also reached the Italian government and the Ministry of the University.