On 15 May, we will be commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Nakba: the brutal, premeditated and organised process by which the militias of the Zionist movement, and later the army of the new State of Israel, expelled 800,000 Palestinians — over half of the total Palestinian population — from their towns, villages and land.
The Nakba is a continuous crime against humanity that, for more than 78 years, has resulted in the protracted and ongoing forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
This is not just a memory, as the process of dispossessing the Palestinians of their land and resources and the destruction of their means of livelihood continues in a particularly blatant manner:
- In Gaza, all infrastructure has been destroyed, deadly bombardments continue in violation of the ceasefire, the population lacks everything and lives in inhumane conditions; the ‘yellow line’ established by Israel is reducing, day by day, the territory in which over 2 million Palestinians – 75% of whom are refugees – are crammed together.
- In the West Bank, Israeli settlement expansion and the theft of Palestinian land and resources are continuing at an unprecedented rate; Palestinian residents are confined, prevented from moving around, and subjected to daily attacks by settlers backed by the Israeli army, leading to the expulsion of an increasing number of local Palestinian communities. Refugee camps are particularly targeted, notably in Jenin and Tulkarm, from where the population was expelled more than a year ago.
- In East Jerusalem, residents are being evicted and their homes destroyed; ethnic cleansing is accelerating in many neighbourhoods such as Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
- In Israel, Palestinians are subject to discriminatory laws and face daily threats to their safety and employment. Many were forcibly displaced in 1948, and this process continues in the Naqab.
- In refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, Palestinian refugees are enduring increasingly difficult living conditions.
The Nakba is an ongoing process of dispossession and expulsion of the Palestinian population. Long concealed by the Israeli authorities, who forbade Palestinians in Israel from even mentioning the word, the Nakba is now openly embraced by many Israeli politicians, who affirm their determination to continue this process and to “bring it to its conclusion”.
This determination extends to neighbouring countries: in Syria, beyond the illegally annexed Golan Heights, Israel has expanded the territory under its control. In Lebanon, the Israeli offensive launched on 1 March has killed more than 2,500 people, and over one million residents are now displaced. Israel is emptying southern Lebanon of its population and systematically destroying its villages. Israel, together with the United States, has launched an illegal war against Iran, with consequences of unforeseeable magnitude for the global economy and security.
The Nakba is not just a memory, as the 800,000 people who were expelled in 1948, joined by the 300,000 in 1967, have, together with their descendants, become 5 million refugees and exiles. They all have an inalienable right of return to the land from which their families and ancestors were expelled.
The exercise of this right of return, established by UN Resolution 194 in 1948, was one of the conditions for Israel’s admission to the UN. However, this resolution has never been implemented by Israel.
UNRWA, the UN agency specifically dedicated to Palestinian refugees, continues to provide essential services – education, healthcare and food security – which Israel should be providing as the occupying power. This official UN agency, which has done and continues to do remarkable work, has become a prime target of Israel: smear campaigns to pressure donor countries to cut their funding, a ban within Israel and also in East Jerusalem passed by an overwhelming majority in the Israeli parliament, and the destruction of its headquarters in East Jerusalem. We are indeed talking about an official UN agency, which a member state is openly attacking.
This 15 May 2026 presents a new opportunity to ask ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? Is it a world where the law of the jungle prevails, in which an entire people can be dispossessed, persecuted and expelled, and in which UN resolutions are flouted and its official agencies persecuted? Or is it a world where international law is finally respected and implemented?
If we choose the path of international law, Israel must immediately end its occupation of Palestinian territory, its settlement activities and its apartheid policies; it must cease its attacks on UNRWA; and it must at last allow Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return. The European Union, together with its member states, must show its determination to uphold international law, by immediately suspending the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel, imposing sanctions including a comprehensive military embargo, and arresting Israeli leaders with ICC arrest warrants.
In Europe, as well as in the rest of the world, we call on the public to mobilise en masse on 15 and 16 May to voice these demands.