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For decades, Ramsey Zeid’s parents have passed down stories about their home village of Bayt Nabala — and its destruction when the State of Israel was created in 1948.

And for just as long, the Palestinian couple, who now live in the Canadian province of Manitoba, had to counter attempts to brush away their experiences during the Nakba — the forcible displacement of about 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland enacted by Zionist paramilitaries and the Israeli military.

“Like any Nakba survivor, they still have their keys, they still have their deeds, they still have their stories. They remember it like [it was] yesterday,” Zeid told Truthout in an interview.

So, when his parents — now aged 83 and 81, respectively — saw stories from the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) on display at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights last month, they were left speechless.

“When they saw the photos on the panels, it just brought back so many memories that they teared up,” Zeid said. “All their lives they’ve been told, ‘No, the Nakba never happened.’ This was almost validation for them. Like, ‘We’re not crazy. This did happen, and what I’ve been telling people wasn’t a lie.’”

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

The Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present exhibit opened in late June at the federally funded museum in Winnipeg, in central Canada.

The result of four years of work, it features artwork, artifacts, and personal testimonies about the Nakba, and explores the ongoing struggle for Palestinian rights. It will run until 2028.

“This is a long overdue exhibit,” said Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba and a member of the Nakba exhibit’s advisory committee.

“We wanted this exhibit in the museum so that people could learn about [the Nakba]. This is something that happened, and we can’t change our past; we can learn from it, and we can change our future.”

Backlash Against the Exhibit

The exhibit comes amid a global push to amplify Palestinian voices during Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which a United Nations commission has described as a genocide.

And while the collection in Winnipeg is limited in size and scope — it measures 12 meters and contains two text panels — observers say its inclusion at a federal museum devoted to human rights is a “tremendous achievement.”

“This is a very rare case of a prominent institution listening to the Palestinian Canadian community … and putting on a project that meets some of their concerns.”

“This is a very rare case of a prominent institution listening to the Palestinian Canadian community … and putting on a project that meets some of their concerns.”

“This is a very rare case of a prominent institution listening to the Palestinian Canadian community … and putting on a project that meets some of their concerns,” said Michael Bueckert, vice president at Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an advocacy........

© Truthout