For decades, stories of the Nakba – both personal experiences and an historical accounting of facts – have been systematically hidden, discredited, or ignored. Scholars, both Palestinian and non-Palestinian, have struggled to document and establish that history and challenge the denialism and mythologies – like the myths that “the Arabs” intended to “push the Jews into the sea,” that Palestinians left their homes at the behest of Arab armies, or that pre-1948, Arab residents of Palestine had no shared Palestinian identity or real links to the land – that have flourished in its place. In this context, we have invited three leading scholars of the Nakba to talk about how they approach researching, writing, and teaching this history — and the importance of amplifying personal, individual stories as a critical point of access to understanding nationalism, colonialism, citizenship, and the construction of racial categories in the Middle East.

“Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh ordered Friday to scrap a deal with Israel that would have given the Palestinian Authority about one million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine because many of the inoculations are set to expire soon. The Palestinians said the doses, which Israel began shipping to the West Bank, are too close to expiring and do not meet their standards. In announcing the agreement, Israel had said the vaccines “will expire soon” without specifying the date.”  See also “Government orders cancelation of agreement with Israel concerning Pfizer doses” (WAFA) and “Israel to deliver expiring Covid vaccines to Palestinians in exchange for new Ramallah-destined Pfizer doses”

“The inoculations were set to expire in any case, and the agreement stipulates that a later shipment from Pfizer to the Palestinian Authority will be redirected to Israel in exchange, the joint statement from Prime Minister’s Office, Health Ministry and Defense Ministry said. The statement refers to an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Pfizer, which would see a large shipment arrive in the Palestinian territories in the first quarter of next year. The shipment from Israel will therefore serve as an advance on those vaccines, which will instead be sent to Israel.”

“Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Friday afternoon, amid fears of renewed fighting with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip over the situation in the Holy City….Nine Palestinians were wounded by officers’ sponge-tipped bullets and stun grenades, and at least one from a stone thrown by the crowd, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Three of the wounded were hospitalized, the organization said. Police said they arrested 16 people for throwing stones and rioting. Palestinian worshipers could be seen raising the Palestinian flag following the Friday prayers.” See also “Israeli police shoot journalists, child at Al-Aqsa” (WAFA)

“Israeli forces launched a violent crackdown on Palestinian protesters in the village of Beita in the occupied West Bank on Friday, injuring dozens of people. Large numbers of armed Israeli police descended on the village, which sits south of Nablus, where they used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse the large gatherings of protesters.” See also: “Israeli forces quell anti-settlement rally south of Nablus, dozens injured” (WAFA) and “47 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in West Bank” (Anadolu)

Also from WAFA: 

• Settlers attack vehicles with stones at Jenin-Nablus road
• Occupation forces injure several Palestinians in Kafr Qaddum
• Israeli forces detain six Palestinians from Nablus

“A 15-year-old boy yesterday succumbed to his injuries after being shot with live ammunition by Israeli occupation forces in Beita, a village south of Nablus…As Palestinians continue to hold weekly protests against the building of an illegal Jewish settlement near Beita, the occupation forces have opened fire on demonstrators. Three other residents of Beita were killed by Israeli fire in the last week, including another teenager, 15-year-old Mohammad Hamayel.”

“The military’s nightly raids on West Bank homes to collect intelligence – a practice to which the army put an end this week – are just one of the many tactics Israel uses to track, monitor and gather information about the Palestinians. The methods are legion, and the agencies perpetrating what could be called “permanent espionage directed at all Palestinians” are numerous and diverse. Ending the invasive and aggressive method of “mapping,” as the military calls it, is definitely welcome….But even without these searches, the many-armed espionage apparatus used against Palestinians continues and will continue to operate. Information gathering, surveillance and monitoring are a central axis of Israeli control over the Palestinian people, in Israel proper and in territories conquered in 1967; they are disciplinary tools. Their purpose is to make Palestinians obey and resign themselves to a Jewish takeover of most of their lands in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and Israel proper. It is to acclimatize them to being concentrated in enclaves of limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza, or into detached neighborhoods in Jerusalem or overcrowded towns in Israel, land that has been expropriated over many years and allocated to Jewish communities. When required, when Palestinians show they will not obey or this, surveillance and monitoring are used to intimidate and punish – through arrests, trials and imprisonment by military and civilian courts.”

“Israeli jets launched airstrikes on Gaza overnight Thursday to Friday, after balloons from the besieged enclave were sent into southern Israel.” See also “Hamas tests new Israeli government by resuming incendiary balloons” (Al Monitor)

“Israel responded by launching air strikes on Gaza overnight Wednesday and Thursday, allegedly targeting Hamas training sites, and stoking fears that rocket exchanges could resume less than a month after they halted. Palestinian factions, led by Hamas, warned Israel against continuing violations against Palestinians in Jerusalem, which sparked May’s escalation. But they did not respond to Israeli strikes despite those being a violation of the ceasefire agreement…Analysts say that Hamas is not interested in firing rockets again from the Gaza Strip, which would likely trigger a heavy Israeli response and more Palestinian deaths, preferring instead to give mediators the chance to try to change conditions in the territory post-bombardment.”

“Israel has found a new mechanism for transferring Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Channel 12 reported Thursday. The mechanism will allow the transfer of “Qatari and other funds to Gaza through the United Nations, and not through bags, as was the case in the past,” it said. “This will be a factor leading to strengthening the calm between the Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel,” the channel added.”

“Since the first day of the war on Gaza on May 10, Israel has prevented paper mail from leaving the West Bank or entering Gaza. Passport transactions in Gaza are approved and issued by the Palestinian government in the West Bank. Mahmoud Faraj, director of the Marrakech Express freight and cargo company in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, “Since May 11, thousands of passport and visa transactions have been piling up at our company due to the closure of the Erez crossing, and many people are prevented from traveling, be it through Egypt or Israel.”…Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization, and the Al-Mezan Palestinian human rights center based in Gaza have jointly estimated that more than 6,000 Palestinian requests for new/renewed passports, including those with visas for third countries, are being blocked, as well as official documents and regular mail due to the current Israeli restrictions.”

See also: 

• “Gaza Reconstruction: More than a Humanitarian Project,” (FMEP Webinar on 6/15/21 ft. Tania Hary of Gisha, Issam Younis of Al-Mezan, and Lara Friedman)
• “Gaza recycles rubble as Israel upholds ban on construction goods” (Al Jazeera)

“In the latest effort by Turkey to woo Egypt after years of political tension, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested on June 10 that Ankara and Cairo cooperate together on the Palestinian issue. Cavusoglu told state television that his country’s relations with Egypt were improving, adding that talks between the two sides could develop with a meeting of the Turkish and Egyptian foreign ministers and the mutual appointment of ambassadors.”

“In the weeks since the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which also featured grave violence in Israel’s mixed cities home to both Jews and Arabs, the Israeli police have conducted a major arrest operation throughout the country. According to the police, more than 2,100 people have been arrested, and at least 280 have been indicted. Of these, 91 percent are Arab citizens of Israel, a group that makes up about 20 percent of the population….Haaretz spoke to three Arab Israeli teenagers and one community activist who were all arrested at or near protests. They described harsh treatment by the police and said they were arrested despite not doing anything illegal or violent. The police told Haaretz that these arrests were made at places where violent rioting occurred.” 

Also see: 

• “Court extends arrest of Lod imam suspected of inciting violence” (Times of Israel)
• “Israel’s Mass Arrest & Collective Punishment of Palestinian Citizens of Israel” (FMEP podcast with Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi of Adalah)

“Documents stored in safes in the Prime Minister’s Office were shredded on Sunday, in violation of the law, shortly before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office. People who worked at the office under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was he who ordered the documents shredded. It was not immediately clear which documents were destroyed or how many.”

“Six days after the swearing-in ceremony of the new government and of new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, on June 13, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and their son Yair still live at the official residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. Reports earlier this week said Netanyahu will not leave the official residence for another several weeks at least.”

“The Joint List, an alliance of mainly Palestinian political parties in Israel, has called on several embassies to intervene and stop the highly provocative rallies held by far-right Israeli groups. Letters were sent to the US, UK, German and French consulates amongst others, today, the Jerusalem Post reported, warning of “bloodshed” if pressure was not applied on the Israeli government to stop the marches which over the past few months have been a source of major controversy.”

“Licensed civilian gun bearers in Israel, predominantly Jewish men, are openly encouraged by the state to shoot to kill alleged or perceived Palestinian attackers….In recent years, state policies on small arms have taken an ominous, aggressive turn. Multiple administrations have ensured the mass armament of Jewish civilians, on claims that this should help stem terror and provide security. The current, sharp spike in license applications is a direct result of these policies, as well as a response to the recent eruption of violence. According to data obtained by Gun Free Kitchen Tables (GFKT), a coalition of civil society organisations aiming to disarm homes and streets and to tighten gun controls, in the past five years, gun licensing authorities have issued more than 100,000 new civilian licences. This trend has been strongly protested by the coalition which has also contested it in Israel’s Supreme Court….Meanwhile, Israel’s successive governments and police have been both over- and under-policing Palestinian cities and towns inside Israel for decades. They have made disproportionate numbers of often arbitrary arrests, while knowingly enabling the stockpiling of unlicensed firearms. According to GFKT’s research, these are mostly procured from military and other licensed sources, and they increasingly arm criminal groups.”

“But Raam has crossed all the traditional “red lines” for an Arab party. The absence of a focus on national Palestinian issues, long a thorn in the side of right-wing Jewish parties that used it as a way to cast doubt on Arab parties’ loyalty to Israel, makes Raam more acceptable to the Jewish majority as a whole, Professor Smooha argues. “It sharpens the distinction between a ‘good Arab’ and a ‘bad Arab,” he says. “A ‘bad Arab’ is seen as subversive for having a Palestinian identity, and can even be seen as a traitor.””

“Gen. Mark Milley, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday he intends to present to Congress a budget request to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Milley’s statement comes a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Appropriations Committee that the Pentagon would be sending Congress a budget request for more Iron Dome interceptor missiles.”

““It feels very much the same,” Kurz told Jewish Insider in a recent interview from her vacation home in Bethany Beach, Del. “We didn’t have social media, but you had the nightly news… I can’t even begin to relate what it was like to watch every single night, on the nightly news, these pictures of bombed-out hospitals and schools in Beirut, and what the Israelis had done and the devastation and the critique that came out from some of the mainstream media to the nightly news to top opinion makers, The New York Times, I mean, you name it, you had a stream of the most hostile verbiage against Israel.””

“Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who drew attention last month for his criticism of Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip, brushed off recent speculation that he had shifted his position on Israel during last month’s conflict.”

“Former US secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin is opening an office in Tel Aviv of his new investment fund Liberty Strategic, to be led by former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman. “We’re opening an office here because of the extraordinary technology, especially in cybersecurity and fintech, which are major areas of interest for us,” Mnuchin said, from a conference room in a Tel Aviv hi-rise overlooking the city with a sea view….Mnuchin said he plans to open several offices across the Middle East, including in some of the countries that established diplomatic ties with Israel in the past year through the Abraham Accords. Friedman visited the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in recent weeks to that end, as well as for a documentary film he is preparing about the accords. “Given our relationships here, the opportunity to bridge the economic transactions between different Abraham Accords member states is also a tremendous opportunity for us,” Mnuchin said. “The technology that is being developed here [in Israel] creates tremendous opportunities throughout the Middle East, and tremendous growth in the economy here as the result of the Abraham Accords doing business with other countries.”

“Israeli companies like NSO Group and Cellebrite market equipment to government and law enforcement agencies to fight crime, yet as CPJ has noted, journalists are vulnerable to the same sophisticated tools if they fall into the hands of repressive governments. NSO’s Pegasus spyware can remotely control a cell phone and its contents, while police say they use Cellebrite’s forensics products to extract the contents of devices seized during interrogation, potentially exposing journalists’ colleagues, family members, and sources to monitoring or reprisals. When Mack learns that such technology is being used to commit abuses — against journalists or others — he tries to stop its export by petitioning the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The ministry is essentially in control of the industry, he said, through its marketing and license export regime; Mack petitions the ministry to withdraw the relevant license….CPJ spoke with Mack about his efforts to stop exports of the equipment and bring transparency to an otherwise secretive industry.”

“If realpolitik, the discarding of international law and the absence of accountability have brought us speeding past the last exit to a two state solution, then shouldn’t the next attempt to re-launch a serious peace process be anchored instead in the agreed-upon national and individual rights of both Palestinians and Israelis? Such an approach would recognize the grossly asymmetrical balance of power on the ground, and it would seek to reward not the occupying power that has further annexation in its sights, but to aid instead the subjugated population whose quest for freedom on its own land has been perpetually thwarted. It would accept that the Israeli leadership will not alter its defiant course unless and until the international community, acting in common, imposes an escalating economic and political cost on Israel for the occupation’s continuation. The enduring advantage of pursuing a rights-based framework to find a lasting solution in Israel and Palestine is not only that it enjoys an overwhelming international consensus, but that its values – including equality, accountability and the rule of law – are the robust pillars that would offer the best chance for a shared, democratic, secure and beneficial future. Only a peace process anchored in the aspirational reach of these fundamental principles can address the realism of the irreducible facts on the ground.”