Jump to content

Nakba

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: nakba

English

[edit]
WOTD – 31 May 2025

Etymology

[edit]
Palestinian refugees leaving Galilee during the 1948 Palestine war.

Borrowed from Arabic نَكْبَة (nakba, “catastrophe, disaster”), from نَكَبَ (nakaba, “to make miserable”).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Proper noun

[edit]

the Nakba

  1. (politics) The dispossession of land and other property, destruction of society, and suppression of culture and political rights experienced by Palestinian Arabs occuring since the 1948 Palestine war and establishment of the State of Israel.
    • 1992, Philip Mattar, “An Overview and Assessment”, in The Mufti of Jerusalem: Al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Palestinian National Movement, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 140:
      That al-Husayni [Amin al-Husseini]'s political career has not received balanced and impartial treatment is, of course, not remarkable in view of the passion his name has always inspired. Some Arab biographers have lauded him and his cause, seeking to absolve him of any responsibility for the 1948 nakba, while Jewish nationalists vilify him and discredit his movement.
    • 2002 January 31 (date received), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, “Written Statement Submitted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a Non-governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status”, in United Nations‎[1], archived from the original on 2023-12-14:
      The ongoing Nakba (the Catastrophe) perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians since 1948 is characterized by a new form of Apartheid, including elements of the crime of Apartheid as defined in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (Apartheid Convention), colonialism and other forms of extreme racism practiced by Israel in the OPTs [Occupied Palestinian Territories].
    • 2007, Sumantra Bose, Contested Lands: Israel–Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus, and Sri Lanka, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 262:
      Indeed, violence broke out in the occupied territories in mid-May 2000 as Palestinians observed the anniversary of the 1948 nakba—these disturbances paled in comparison to the second intifada, which erupted in the autumn.
    • 2008, Nissim Rejwan, “The Difference Israel has Made”, in Arabs in the Mirror: Images and Self-Images from Pre-Islamic to Modern Times, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 149:
      Ever since the 1948 nakba, Arab thinkers and intellectuals have been studying the causes of their condition and recommending ways for changing or improving it.
    • 2010 May 14, Saeb Erakat, quotee, “Erakat: ‘The Catastrophe Continues’ after 62 Years”, in Wafa News Agency‎[2], archived from the original on 2024-12-11:
      Dr. Erakat reiterated that the Palestinian Nakba continues to this day, as Israeli practices and policies of evictions, home demolitions, deportations, settlement activities, wall building, as well as closure and siege in both the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip generate new waves of displaced persons.
    • 2019 July 3, Jess Schwalb, “Red Line Rebellion”, in Jewish Currents‎[3], Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Jewish Currents, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-01-20:
      FNJ [Friday Night Jews at Brown University] began as an informal Shabbat dinner gathering in 2016, as a space for Jewish students who were feeling fed up with Hillel [International]'s limitations regarding Israel/Palestine discourse, after the Brown/RISD Hillel rescinded sponsorship of a film screening by the Israeli nonprofit Zochrot, an organization that educates Jewish Israelis about the Nakba.
    • 2023 October 14, “Residents flee Gaza City in fear”, in FT Weekend, London: Financial Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
      Speaking as he met US secretary of state Anthony Blinken in Jordan, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said a "forced displacement" would amount to a "second Nakba", or catastrophe.

Usage notes

[edit]
  • The term is primarily used by Arabs; some Jews refer to the same event as the “Israeli War of Independence”.
  • The term is sometimes used with the Arabic definite article اَل (al-, “the”), as Al-Nakba, instead of the English definite article the.

Alternative forms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

See also

[edit]
  • 48, 48 Arab (“(Palestinian slang) Arab who resides within Israel”)

Further reading

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]

Turkish

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Arabic نَكْبَة (nakba)

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /ˈnak.ba/
  • Hyphenation: nak‧ba

Proper noun

[edit]

Nakba

  1. Nakba
    Synonym: Nekbe

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Nakba&oldid=85175354"