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Palestinians around the world are marking Nakba Day, 78 years after their forced mass displacement led to the establishment of the Jewish-majority state of Israel. Decades later, Palestinians still face widespread oppression and violence from the Israeli state as it continues its expansionary project. “Israel tried, since 1948 until today, to destroy us as a people, as a group, and they failed at it. Our people are still there, resilient,” says Palestinian writer Muhammad Shehada, who was born in Gaza and now lives in Denmark. Shehada discusses the ongoing process of the Nakba, including its latest intensification after October 7, 2023. “Now this veneer of civility has fallen off. The mask was taken off. And now it’s a matter of national pride in Israel to brag about annihilating Palestinians.”

Shehada also describes current conditions in Gaza — still under Israeli blockade and occupation — and what he calls the “disarmament trap” of unfairly weighted negotiations designed to strip Palestinians of political autonomy. “The ‘realistic’ proposal that Israel is putting on the table is surrender, capitulate, become fully defenseless, weaponless, and entrust the very army that carried out a genocide against you to be merciful towards you once you are an easier target than you ever were before.”

Finally, he responds to the Israeli government’s recent threat to file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, after the paper published a column by longtime opinion writer Nicholas Kristof about systemic sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. “It’s the newspaper of record. It’ll be spread and disseminated widely to an American audience,” says Shehada about the allegations levied in Kristof’s piece. “So we see, basically, an Israeli panic attack in return.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Today, Palestinians in Gaza and around the world are commemorating what Palestinians refer to as Nakba Day. Nakba means “the catastrophe” in Arabic. It was 78 years ago that some 750,000 Palestinians were violently displaced and dispossessed from hundreds of towns and villages in Palestine, thousands more killed, during the creation of the state of Israel. In Gaza, Palestinians marked the grim anniversary amidst reports that Israel dramatically increased its attacks on Gaza during April, despite a U.S-brokered ceasefire last October. In the occupied West Bank, UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund, said Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 70 Palestinian children since early last year, amounting to around one child killed per week. Another 850 children were injured by Israeli attacks during this past year.

For Palestinians, the Nakba Isn’t Just History. It’s Also Our Present.

In 1948, Mustafa Al-Jazzar was just 5 years old when he had to flee his village of Yibna, now Yavne, in Israel. He’s now 83 and lives in a tent in Khan Younis, Gaza.

MUSTAFA AL-JAZZAR: [translated] In 1948, I was psychologically at ease in my land, in my home, with my neighbors, my siblings, my parents. Our life was comfortable, comfortable and not miserable. When we were displaced from Yibna in 1948, we entered hell, searching for water and food until the United Nations Refugee Agency set up tents and houses for us. But even then, we had some kind of stability, not like today. Today, until this very hour, is harder, much harder than our displacement in 1948, a thousand times harder.

MUSTAFA AL-JAZZAR: [translated] In 1948, I was psychologically at ease in my land, in my home, with my neighbors, my siblings, my parents. Our life was comfortable, comfortable and not miserable. When we were displaced from Yibna in 1948, we entered hell, searching for water and food until the United Nations Refugee Agency set up tents and houses for us. But even then, we had some kind of stability, not like today. Today, until this very hour, is harder, much harder than our displacement in 1948, a thousand times harder.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that Israel is now occupying 60% of the Gaza Strip.

The future of Gaza and its people rests now with the international so-called Board of Peace, which was created and is chaired by President Trump and has been recognized by the U.N.. The Board of Peace lead envoy for Gaza said earlier this week that the phased ceasefire deal was stalled over Hamas not yet disarming, but that Hamas could still have a political role in Gaza.

For more, we’re joined by Muhammad Shehada, writer and analyst from Gaza, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His recent piece for 972 Magazine is headlined “Gaza’s disarmament trap.”

Muhammad, thank you so much for being with us. Can you talk about the significance of this day, and then go into what you call “Gaza’s disarmament trap”?

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Thank you so much, Amy, for having me back.

So, the significance of today is twofold. Number one, Israel made a bit a gamble that what they call the old of Palestinians will die, and the young will forget. They will move on. And today marks that in Palestinian memory this day is still alive. We know our villages, exactly where are our homes that we were uprooted from, and we can locate all of it on a map. We still hold to even the keys of the homes from which we were expelled and our properties that were stolen by Israel. You see, basically, Israel tried, since 1948 until today, to destroy us as a people, as a........

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