Thank you to everyone who participated in The Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony hosted by Combatants for Peace on May 15, 2024.

The Joint Nakba Remembrance Ceremony is a unique opportunity to commemorate the pain and tragedy of the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), when in 1948 more than 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes, became refugees, and had their villages and cities destroyed. In Israel, even mentioning the Nakba is completely taboo, however, Combatants for Peace believes that peace and reconciliation involve a sincere and honest reckoning with this history that didn’t end in 1948 but continues until this day.

In the aftermath of October 7th, a second Nakba has been unfolding in Gaza, with over 34,000 Palestinians killed. Of the 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced and many of their homes have been destroyed by Israel's brutal attacks. Roughly 1.3 million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering in Rafah, a city built to host only 300,000, and over 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity and acute starvation. For Palestinians, the violence and mass displacement brings back memories of 1948 but indeed the Nakba never ended, it has continued for the past 76 years.

This year, we centered the ceremony around the theme of “liberation” - how do we liberate ourselves from occupation, oppression, and violence? What does liberation look like and how do we begin to heal from our past and present trauma?

Thank you to every Palestinian, Israeli, and global supporter who joined the event. Satellite ceremonies took place in Berlin, London, Paris, Israel, Palestine, Italy, and throughout the U.S. and UK. We are deeply grateful for the support of our international community.