Nakba: 15 May 1948 ‘The Day of Catastrophe’
Nakba Day
‘The Catastrophe’ (1).
The 15th of May is annually observed by the world as ‘Nakba Day.’ The Day of Catastrophe. Rather than representing a singular event in 1948, Nakba Day is a day for us all to reflect on the continued violent and intentional erasure of Palestinian identity, heritage, culture, and land (2).
Historically, the Nakba denotes the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland through the systematic destruction of hundreds of villages and towns, a foundational effort to efface Palestine from existence (3). Though Palestinian national identity long predates 1948, the Nakba became the defining trauma through which that identity has been reconstructed and politically articulated (4). In this sense, Nakba Day is not merely an act of remembrance, but an assertion that the catastrophe has never actually ended. The Nakba endures as a catastrophe not because it was unexpected, but because it was a calculated and systematic assault of ethnic cleansing, mass displacement and destruction that has hardened into a continuous regime of Palestinian dispossession and genocide.
Nakba 1948
The Nakba was set into motion over three decades prior, in 1917, with the Balfour Declaration. Simply put, it was a promise by the British foreign secretary at the time, Arthur Balfour, to establish a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine (5). This intention was further realised by the British Mandate over Palestine between 1920 and 1948, supported by the United Nations after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (6).
To ‘solve’ this new ‘question of Palestine’ that had arisen primarily from the actions of Britain, other Allied powers, Zionist lobbying, and an ineffective United Nations, the General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State (7). This partition was met with fierce disapproval from Arab States as it would give preference to a Jewish minority population to own over half of Palestine (8). The first phase of the 1948 Palestine War began as a result, with Arab and Jewish communities within Mandatory Palestine clashing. On the 14th of May 1948, hours after the British Mandate was removed, the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, declaring the State of Israel (9).
What followed could only be described by Palestinians as the Catastrophe.
The second phase of the 1948 war began, and Israel enacted Plan Dalet, which laid siege to villages, destroyed them and any hint of resistance, and forcefully displaced the Palestinian population (10). Over 750,000 Palestinians, 80% of the population at the time, were forcefully expelled from their homes or fled, with over 15,000 Palestinians killed (11). This was a catastrophe. 80% of the population were systematically stateless refugees, and Israel would not stop there (12). Today, Israel has yet to stop.
Ongoing Nakba
The Nakba is not merely a historical event confined to 1948, but an ongoing structure of domination that continuously attempts to erase Palestinian identity, heritage and presence. It has evolved into a brutally sophisticated regime of oppression, characterised by displacement as its foundational violence, fragmentation as its architecture, and the denial of self-determination as its purpose (13). This regime manifests in the accelerating annexation of the West Bank, supported by US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” (14), the criminalisation of Nakba commemoration (15), and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which Palestinian scholars and human rights bodies have termed the ‘Second Nakba’ (16).
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, established by the Human Rights Council, has determined Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide (17). Over 72,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip between 7 October 2023 and 26 April 2026 (18). These numbers are conservative: a Lancet study estimated that, between 7 October 2023 and 5 January 2025, approximately 91,500 people had died in Gaza, comprising 75,200 violent deaths and 16,300 non-violent deaths, with a further 12,000 people still missing (19). Including indirect deaths from disease and starvation, the toll is projected to be much higher, with some estimates suggesting a total of 186,000 or more, while others indicate a plausible range extending upwards (20). The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for Israel’s genocidal regime, underscoring the gravity of their crimes. The Nakba, the catastrophe of genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and occupation, continues unabated (21).
Australia’s role in this ongoing catastrophe is neither neutral nor passive. Having ratified the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Australia bears a positive obligation to prevent and punish genocide by ceasing support and cooperation with Israel (22). Rather than sanctioning the architects of genocide and standing against it, the government extended state hospitality to Israeli President Isaac Herzog while pursuing domestic legislative agendas of selective free speech (23), ultimately neglecting its duties under international law. Evidently, Australia does not merely witness the ongoing Nakba from afar; it supplies the machinery and diplomatic agenda to preserve it.
What We Can Do
The 15th of May marks a day of immense loss for Palestinians. A loss of land, of homes, of life. But it does not represent a day of surrendered dignity, abandoned culture or erased heritage. While the Nakba may be continuing, Palestinian resolve hardens, and so must our own. As global leaders continue to support Israel’s regime of dispossession through finance, diplomacy, and arms, we must strive to break the Nakba cycle alongside Palestinians, as our freedoms are interconnected, inseparable, and strengthened in collective action.
We must constantly endeavour to collectively stand against injustice in any form, for ‘it is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism’ (24). To interrupt the Nakba’s continuity, we must strive to dismantle complicity in all forms through a collective refusal, against occupation, against genocide and against the silence that sustains it.
The following are actions we can all take to commemorate the Nakba:
a) Educate yourself using the resources below:
Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement centred on freedom, justice, and equality. The movement calls for withdrawal of support for Israel through boycotts, divestments, and pressuring our governments to sanction Israel
b) Donate to Palestine — donations to trusted charities can lead to real help for Palestinians:
Written by Tazmin Sultana and Maymounah Awad (Social Justice Team)
References as follows:
Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic, with the term “al-Nakba” often referring to the destructive process of establishing the State of Israel in Palestine, Rabea Eghbariah, 'Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept' (2024) 124(4) Columbia Law Review 887.
Ibid 914; Nur Masalha, 'Remembering the Palestinian Nakba: Commemoration, Oral History and Narratives of Memory' (2008) 7(2) Holy Land Studies 123, 149-150.
Anne Paq, 'Meanings of the Nakba', Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (Web Page, 14 May 2016) <https://www.palquest.org/en/highlight/6585/meanings-nakba>; ‘Quick Facts: The Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe)’, Institute for Middle East Understanding (Web Page, 5 April 2023) <https://imeu.org/resources/resources/quick-facts-the-palestinian-nakba-catastrophe/142>.
Nur Masalha, ‘Remembering the Palestinian Nakba: Commemoration, Oral History and Narratives of Memory’ (2008) 7(2) Holy Land Studies 123, 142.
Zena Al Tahhan, ‘More than a century on: The Balfour Declaration explained’, Al Jazeera (online, 2 November 2018) <https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained>; Letter from Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, 2 November 1917 (the 'Balfour Declaration') retrieved from <https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7766/>.
Noah Rayman, ‘Mandatory Palestine: What It Was and Why It Matters’, Time (online, 30 September 2014) <https://time.com/3445003/mandatory-palestine/>.
‘History of the Question of Palestine’, United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (Web Page) <https://www.un.org/unispal/history/>; ‘Palestine plan of partition with economic union – General Assembly resolution 181 (II) Future government of Palestine’, United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (Web Page) <https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185393/>; Zena Al Tahhan, ‘More than a century on: The Balfour Declaration explained’, Al Jazeera (online, 2 November 2018) <https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained>.
‘The UN Partition Plan of 1947: Origins, Debates, and Consequences’, Explaining History Podcast (Web Page, 16 November 2025) <https://explaininghistory.org/2025/11/16/the-un-partition-plan-of-1947-origins-debates-and-consequences/>.
Admission of Israel to membership in the United Nations, GA Res 273(III), UN GAOR, 3rd sess, 207th plen mtg, UN Doc A/RES/273(III) (11 May 1949).
‘Explainer: Plan Dalet & The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’, Institute for Middle East Understanding (Web Page, 8 March 2023) <https://imeu.org/resources/resources/explainer-plan-dalet-the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine/144>.
Mohammed Haddad, ‘Nakba Day: What happened in Palestine in 1948?’, Al Jazeera (online, 15 May 2022) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948>.
Shahd Qannam, ‘Statelessness is the political weapon of a colonial project that fragments and displaces a nation’, StatelessHub (Web Page, September 2025) <https://www.statelesshub.org/country/palestine>.
Rabea Eghbariah, ‘Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept’ (2024) 124(4) Columbia Law Review 887, 894, 897, 975.
Tristan Dunning and Anas Iqtait, ‘Palestine’s Ongoing Nakba’, Australian Institute of International Affairs (online,15 May 2020) <https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/palestines-ongoing-nakba/>.
Nadim Khoury, ‘The Meanings of a Second Nakba’ (2026) 28(2) Journal of Genocide Research 460-475, 470, 472-473.
Ibid 460; Another Nakba: UN Expert Says Gaza Recovery Will Take Generations' AlJazeera (online, 11 October 2025) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/11/another-nakba-un-expert-says-gaza-recovery-will-take-generations>.
Human Rights Council, Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, UN Doc A/HRC/60/CRP.3 (16 September 2025).
‘UNRWA Situation Report #220 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem’, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Web Page, 7 May 2026) <https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-220-humanitarian-crisis-gaza-strip-and-occupied-west-bank>; Michael Spagat et al, ‘Violent and non-violent death tolls for the Gaza conflict: new primary evidence from a population-representative field survey’ (2026) 14(4) The Lancet Global Health e552 (‘Lancet Gaza Death Toll’).
Lancet Gaza Death Toll (n 18).
Ibid.
International Criminal Court, ‘Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant’ (Press Release, 21 November 2024) <https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges>.
Genocide Convention Act 1949 (Cth) s 4.
Jarrett v State of New South Wales [2026] NSWCA 62; Nick Dole, ‘What Israel's President Isaac Herzog has said about Gaza, and why he won't be arrested in Australia’ ABC News (online, 6 February 2026) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-06/herzog-will-be-aware-controversy-wont-be-arrested-in-australia/106311734>.
Angela Y Davis, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement, ed Frank Barat (Haymarket Books, 2016) 58.