Nakba

[ nok-buh; Arabic nak-bah ]

noun

1. the mass expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians from the partitioned state of Palestine by Jewish militia and Israeli military forces between 1947 and 1949.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Nakba¹

First recorded in 1960–65; from Arabic: literally, “catastrophe, disaster”

Example Sentences

But her views began to change after she befriended a Palestinian and learned in college about the Nakba, or the permanent expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes by nascent Israeli forces from 1947 to 1949.

From Slate

Raja Shehadeh, the celebrated Palestinian writer and human rights campaigner believes that Israel wanted to make another Nakba – another catastrophe: in his latest book What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? he writes “as the war progressed I could see that they meant every word and did not care about civilians, including children. In their eyes, as well as the eyes of most Israelis, all Gazans were guilty”.

From BBC

Mohammad is the grandchild of Palestinian Nakba survivors who remain refugees, she said; she is also an outspoken Democrat.

From Slate

Some fled to Jordan or Lebanon, or to refugee camps in Gaza, a period referred to as the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe.

From Seattle Times

In a letter sent to student editors Tuesday and shared with The Associated Press, the board of directors said it was concerned that the article, titled “Nakba as a Legal Concept,” had not gone through the “usual processes of review or selection for articles at the Law Review, and in particular that a number of student editors had been unaware of its existence.”

From Seattle Times