The decision of the United Nations General Assembly last week to mark the so-called Palestinian Nakba Day ("catastrophe") is actually a decision to mourn the establishment of the State of Israel.
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It not only reflects the Palestinians' worldview and why Israel never succeeded in signing a peace agreement with them but also emphasizes the international community's destructive role in the Middle East.
Contrary to popular belief in the West (and in certain circles in Israel), Nakba Day was not intended to mark the alleged humanitarian disaster that befell the Palestinian people in the 1948 war. They do not mourn the dead, the wounded or the exiled, but the very establishment of the Jewish state. They mourn Jews gaining independence rather than the human cost of the war.
The term nakba was coined by Syrian Arab intellectual Constantin Zureiq in a book he wrote in the summer of 1948 titled "The Meaning of Disaster." Analyzing the Arab response to their failure to prevent the establishment of Israel, he wrote, "Seven Arab states declare war on Zionism in Palestine, stop impotent before it, and turn on their heels."
And this was written even before the echoes of the fighting died down and the number of victims became known. But one thing was already clear: the State of Israel was established. Israel's War of Independence marked the pinnacle of a combined Arab effort to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state. For over half a century, Arab states in the region did everything in their power to prevent the Zionist dream – they tried (and occasionally succeeded) in stopping Jewish immigration, held demonstrations and targeted Jews.
They opposed any and all initiatives to establish a Jewish state, even if only in parts of the land of Israel. They also rejected the UN Partition Plan, which has just turned 75, and went to war.
The thought that 600,000 Jews managed to defeat 60 million Muslim Arabs at the time was and still is unimaginable to the Arabs. This is the greatest humiliation, the source of the frustration, rage, and violence directed toward the State of Israel. This is the true meaning of "nakba", the disaster of the Jews' success to declare a state despite all the efforts by the Arabs to prevent them from doing so.
The fact that Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on May 15 is a clear indication of this. If the occasion was truly meant to remember the casualties among Palestinians, they could have a day that had more meaning loss-wise, such as the fighting in the Deir Yassin village or the day when Arab Haifa fell to the Jews. These events had a great impact on the course of the war, and they reflect a real Palestinian loss.
But on May 15, nothing happened but the very declaration of Israel's independence. The Palestinian demand from the General Assembly to mark Nakba Day, therefore, reflects the Palestinian worldwide, which even 75 years later views the establishment of Israel as a disaster they cannot reconcile with. Many in the Arab world, including the Palestinians, still do not recognize the Jews' right to self-determination and do not accept a sovereign Jewish state with any borders.
Neither Judea and Samaria nor the settlements are at the heart of the conflict. These were not on the agenda at the time of the Partition Plan or the War of Independence, yet the Arabs saw the establishment of Israel as a "nakba". The fact that the Palestinians still commemorate Nakba Day – and now ask the entire international community to do so as well – reflects their worldview. Those who want to understand why the peace negotiations have failed in recent decades, need only listen to the Palestinians: For them, the mourning for the establishment of Israel still continues.
In recent decades, Palestinians have chosen time and time again to continue the struggle against Israel and to reject peace proposals, because that would mean finally recognizing the State of Israel. Even when they were offered an independent Palestinian state, without settlements, with a capital in East Jerusalem, the Palestinians turned it down. The explanation for this is simple: the war for Israel's existence is still ongoing for them.
And yet paradoxically, Palestinian insistence on marking Nakba Day might things easier for Israel in terms of diplomacy, because for years we tried in vain to convince the world that Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel is what stands at the heart of the conflict.
The Palestinians managed to mislead many in the international community (and some in Israel) by claiming that if only Israel withdrew from Judea and Samaria, everything would fall into place in peace. And here they are, admitting that it's not Israel's alleged occupation that is the problem, but its very existence.
But as always, leave it up to the United States to make the wrong conclusions. Instead of sending an unequivocal message to the Palestinians that they must recognize the State of Israel and resolve the conflict with it through compromise, the organization continues to provide support and strengthen Palestinian resistance.
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The very existence of a day of mourning for the establishment of the State of Israel, a member of the United Nations since 1949, is unprecedented and goes against the spirit of the UN charter. The decision to celebrate Nakba Day at the UN headquarters in New York is another link in a long chain of decisions that only prolong the conflict.
The upcoming May 15 is a great opportunity for soul-searching, both for the Palestinians, for their stubborn refusal to recognize the Jews' right to a state, and for the international community that did nothing to confront the Arab worldview. Because only when the Palestinians feel that they have no choice but to recognize the existence of Israel will it be possible to reach a compromise with them. Until then, unfortunately, Israel will have to continue fighting for its place.
