The territory of Palestine has been home to people for thousands of years, and archaeological evidence shows that people have lived there since the Ancient Stone Age. Ancient Assyrian documents and the obelisk of Adrimi, King of Alkha, both refer to it as Kan'an land. Around 800 B.C., Assyrian documents use the word Palestine itself as "Philsta." Herodotus, a Greek historian, called the territory "Palestinian Syria," which included the region from Phoenicia south to the Egyptian boundaries. Roman writers such as Strabo, Diodorus, and Agathar Chides also used this term. Under Hadrian, "Palestine" became officially recognised as the name of the holy land throughout the Roman era, and the Church and Christian pilgrims often used it. During Islamic rule, Palestine was part of Bilad Al-Sham, a larger region that included Syria and Lebanon.
The word Nakba means "catastrophe" in Arabic. It refers to what happened in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. Around 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes. Over 500 villages and towns were destroyed.
The idea behind the Nakba goes back to the early Zionist movement. Some leaders wanted to build a Jewish state in Palestine, but Palestinians were already living there. To make that vision real, they planned to remove the native population.
Long before 1948, Zionist ideology created a vision of a land "without a people for a people without a land" and sought to create an ethnically and religiously homogeneous state. Theodor Herzl, an early Zionist leader, talked about quietly pushing poor Palestinians out. In 1940, Yosef Weitz, a senior official in the Jewish National Fund, said Jews and Arabs couldn’t live together and that Arabs should be moved to other countries.
The British government released the Balfour Declaration in 1917, during World War I. It advocated for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. However, Britain did not seek the opinions of the majority, the Palestinians.
During the Mandate, or British authority, which lasted from 1923 to 1948, rules were modified to assist Jewish settlers in purchasing land. Palestinians protested and went on strike, but their efforts were disregarded. This paved the way for the next events.
In March 1948, before Israel was officially declared a state, Zionist leaders launched Plan Dalet. This was a military strategy to remove Palestinians from their homes and villages.
One of the worst attacks happened in Deir Yasin, where about 250 Palestinian civilians—mostly women and children—were killed. By the end of the war, over 750,000 Palestinians had been expelled, and more than 500 towns and villages were destroyed.
Many people call this ethnic cleansing. Others argue that it fits the definition of genocide. Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide, said it means more than killing people. It’s also about destroying a group’s culture, identity, and way of life. Historian Ilan Pappé calls what happened “memoricide”—the erasing of Palestinian history and place names.
Some scholars say expelling a people and replacing their culture with another isn’t just ethnic cleansing; it’s a form of genocide. Yet, many big institutions and governments avoid calling it that.
For Palestinians, the Nakba never ended. It just took new forms, including:
On October 7, armed groups like Hamas attacked Israel. Over 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. At least 240 hostages were taken into Gaza. Reports show that gender-based violence happened during the attacks. These acts were widely condemned as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nothing excuses attacking civilians. But this violence didn’t come out of nowhere. It happened after decades of Israeli occupation, a 16-year blockade on Gaza, and growing policies of exclusion and supremacy in Israel.
After the October 7 attacks, Israel launched an intense military campaign in Gaza. In just two months:
Many Israeli officials used dehumanising language after October 7. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Palestinians “human animals.” Prime Minister Netanyahu quoted a Bible story about wiping out an entire people. President Herzog said all of Gaza was responsible for the Hamas attack. According to scholars, this kind of speech matches what has been seen in past genocides like in Rwanda and Armenia.