VIDEO: For Palestinians, the Nakba Never Ended
On May 17, Phyllis Bennis delivered powerful remarks to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York as part of a formal commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba.
Nakba is the Arabic word for “catastrophe,” and May 15, 1948 is observed as the start of a period of forced removal, detention, and violence against Palestinians who were displaced during the creation of the state of Israel — and who still experience violent displacement today.
The Nakba never truly ended, Phyllis pointed out. “Perhaps commemoration is not the right word, as it implies something of the past, not something that continues,” she said, describing the corrosive effect that the ongoing displacement and segregation has had on international law. “1948 saw the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention against Genocide,” she said, “but also the rise of apartheid in South Africa and the Nabka in Palestine.”
Phyllis also called for urgent global action to stop the genocide that international courts have warned is underway in Gaza. In particular, she highlighted the role of the U.S. government in refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire in a series of violent Israeli incursions into the territory. “In 2018, in 2021, and now again, the United States has said, ‘We don’t need a ceasefire yet.’ What do they mean — not enough people have been killed yet? Not enough children have been killed yet?”
However, Phyllis also spoke to the immense power of collective action to pressure states to act, drawing a parallel between the global solidarity movement to end Apartheid in South Africa and the movement demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza now. There is still time for nations to act, she urged. It is time to “unite with the United Nations to fight against genocide and for the rights of Palestinians.”
The video of Phyllis Bennis’s full remarks at the U.N. headquarters has been viewed and shared tens of thousands of times. You can watch it here:
