Palestinians in Israel also face a Nakba
Palestinians in Israel protest outside the Megiddo Prison in northern Israel on 22August 2021, to demand the release of prisoners from their community jailed following clashes with Jewish Israelis in May 2021
Mohamad Kadan writes in Aljazeera:
In the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on October 7, Israel embarked on a violent, bloody campaign against the Palestinian people. The residents of Gaza have borne the brunt of it, with more than 14,000 people killed by indiscriminate Israeli bombardment, including more than 5,500 children.
The onslaught has extended to the West Bank as well, where the Israeli army and settlers are carrying out raids and killing civilians daily; more than 200 have been murdered, thousands detained and scores tortured. Palestinian citizens of Israel, too, have been subjected to arrests, harassment, and economic retribution, through dismissals from jobs.
But the ongoing violence is not meant to quench the thirst for “vengeance”, as some have suggested. It is systematically moving towards a long-term goal: the complete erasure of Palestinian existence within historic Palestine. This plan was in the workings already even before October 7; it has now simply been accelerated.
On Gaza, Israeli officials have been more than clear. There will be a full expulsion of the population. As Minister of Agriculture Avi Dichter stated on November 11: “We are practically repeating the Nakba if you will, this is the Nakba of Gaza.” A leaked internal document from the Ministry of Intelligence has confirmed that the Israeli government is aiming to make good on these threats.
Israeli plans for a Nakba in the West Bank are also coming to the fore. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said there need to be “belts” around the illegal Israeli settlements that “Arabs” will be banned from entering. Earlier this year, he also outlined plans to ensure territorial continuity for the Israeli settlements, which would effectively amount to more expulsions of Palestinians from their land and its annexation.
For the Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, who make up 21 percent of the Israeli population, the plan may not be that publicised, but it is there. They too face a Nakba and it too has been long in the making.