War fuels Palestinians' fear of second expulsion

War fuels Palestinians' fear of second expulsion

Dalal al-Naji experienced the "Nakba" as a child. The catastrophe, as Palestinians call the flight and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people during the war following the founding of the Israeli state in 1948. The now 86-year-old from Dair al-Balah in the Gaza Strip recounts how she walked with her parents and two siblings from her birthplace, Dschulis, around 30 kilometers north-east of Gaza to what is now the Gaza Strip. Almost nothing but ruins remained in Dschulis, which today lies in the Israeli heartland. So close and yet so far away.

Since fleeing as a child, the mother of five has witnessed many more bloody wars in the region. However, the current one is "the worst of all", says the old woman. She is afraid that Israel could force the Palestinians in the embattled Gaza Strip to flee to Egypt - afraid of a second "Nakba".

Flight of civilians with white flags brings back memories

Her younger sister Naema al-Naji has taken in many internally displaced persons from the north of the Gaza Strip in her house in Dair al-Balah. This is where the fighting and Israeli attacks are most intense. The video footage of thousands of civilians with white flags, who have been walking for days through a humanitarian corridor declared by Israel from the north to the south, evokes associations with the "Nakba" for many. "Israel wants to drive us out again and again and end the Palestinian cause forever," believes 72-year-old Al-Naji.

Israel repeatedly emphasizes that the evacuation of the more than one million inhabitants of the northern part of the coastal strip is for their own safety. Officially, Israel also says that it does not want to reoccupy the Gaza Strip permanently, but only to end the rule of the Islamist Hamas. This can no longer be tolerated after the bloody massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis by Hamas terrorists and others on October 7.

Radical statements fuel fears

However, radical statements by Israeli politicians continue to fuel the fears of many Gaza residents. Ariel Kallner, a member of parliament from the right-wing conservative Likud party, demanded in an X-Post on the day of the massacre: "A Nakba for the enemy, now!" A "new Nakba that dwarfs that of 48".

Israeli ground troops hoisted a blue and white Israeli flag on Gaza beach and sang the Israeli national anthem. Israeli settler leaders are already voicing their aspirations to rebuild the settlements evacuated during the Israeli army's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Alleged ideas to temporarily house refugees from the Gaza Strip in North Sinai in Egypt are also reviving a trauma among Palestinians that spans generations. During the "Nakba" in 1948, around 700,000 people fled historic Palestine, which had previously been under British mandate. Hundreds of thousands more followed in the 1967 Six-Day War, now known as the "Naksa" (setback).

Palestinian families are now moving in droves along the "corridor" for evacuations that Israel's army has opened for civilians in Gaza - according to UN figures, around 72,000 people since Sunday alone. Israel is continuing its "forced displacement", wrote the Egyptian state news website "Al-Ahram". It is a "new Nakba with a different flavor, live on television", according to an opinion piece in the Jordanian newspaper "Al-Ghad".

Arab countries not open to more refugees

For Egypt, which controls the only non-Israeli border crossing to Gaza, the refugee scenario is linked to a whole range of concerns. The security situation in Sinai remains tense following fighting against extremists. Head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - shortly before a presidential election in Egypt - is also unlikely to want to be seen as a supporter if the "Palestinian brothers" have to leave their homeland again. The Sinai could also become a "base for terrorist operations against Israel" for groups such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad, said al-Sisi. Attacks by Israel in Sinai in retaliation could not be ruled out.

Because it is unclear who will control Gaza, refugees are left with the eternal fear that they will not be able to return once the war is over. In Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, where many of the almost six million registered Palestinian refugees live, there is neither the political will nor the capacity to take in any more.

The fate of millions of refugees seems unsolvable

Although there is still great support for the Palestinians among the population of the Arab world, as mass protests have shown, there is also a checkered history. In Jordan, Palestinian militias shook the sovereignty of the state in 1970 in the so-called Black September, before the army drove them out by force. In Lebanon, fighters from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were a catalyst in the civil war (1975-1990). Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait in 1991 - triggered by the fact that the PLO had supported the Iraqi occupation in Kuwait.

The status of the millions of Palestinians scattered in neighboring countries is probably the longest unresolved refugee issue in modern history. Overall, they are probably the largest community of people who are considered stateless or whose nationality is unclear.

Israel accuses the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and other organizations of artificially perpetuating the problem - by effectively "inheriting" refugee status. When the agency began its work in 1950, it said it was looking after 750,000 refugees. Today, 5.9 million Palestinians are eligible for UNRWA assistance. Israel rejects the Palestinians' demand to return to their old homeland because this would destroy the Jewish state. The dispute over a return remains one of the most difficult issues in the conflict between the two peoples.

A political solution, which many in the region are longing for, now seems more distant than ever. However, the sisters from Dir el Balah believe that the responsibility for the catastrophic situation lies not only with Israel, but also with Hamas, which has had sole control of the Gaza Strip since 2007. "We want to live in safety and peace, but neither Israel nor Hamas want to find a solution that allows us to live a normal life," complains the older sister.

1. The current conflict in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, is causing concerns among Palestinians, as they fear another mass displacement akin to the "Nakba" of 1948, also known as the catastrophe.
2. The potential displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the suggestion of housing them in North Sinai, Egypt, brings back traumatic memories of the 1948 displacement and fuels fears of a second "Nakba".

Source: www.dpa.com