Introduction

Abstract

O n May 15, 2012, Palestinians across the world will mark the sixty-fourth anniversary of al-Nakba. The Arabic word Nakba means “catastrophe.” Palestinians use the word to refer to the events that took place in Palestine before, during, and after 1948. These events culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel, but also in the loss of Palestine. The direct outcomes of these events were both the destruction of more than 450 Arab villages and towns—most of which were renamed with Israeli or Hebraized names—and the forced expulsion of more than 780,000 Palestinians who used to reside on 78 percent of the territory of the Palestine Mandate. Today, there are approximately ten million exiled Palestinians. While four million of them are internally displaced in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and inside Israel, the majority of Palestinians are scattered across the Middle East and beyond.¹