Nakba Day

Wednesday 15 May 2024

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:44): Every day, particularly on 15 May, I, along with many others, including the members for Light and Adelaide, mourn for Palestine. We mourn for the lives and lands, hopes and dreams, that were lost during the Nakba, the great catastrophe that followed the partitioning of Palestine on this day in 1948.

On this day 76 years ago, the seizure of Palestinian homes, businesses and agricultural lands had begun. Around 80 per cent of the Palestinians living on occupied areas, some 750,000 people, were driven out or fled in fear. Over the next two years, hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were forcibly taken over, killing around 15,000 Palestinians, as those who attempted to return to their homes were shot and killed.

In the decades that have followed, Palestinian people have been made second-class citizens in their own country. Human Rights Watch tells us that the Palestinian people are subjected to crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. In the past six to seven months, more than 35,000 Palestinian people have been killed. That is the equivalent of two packed-out games at Coopers Stadium plus a thousand or so more, in well less than a year.

Our community is rightfully appalled at the death and destruction which quickly became almost impossible to fully grasp or comprehend, but as we feel powerless watching from afar our strength is in our solidarity. History has shown and continues to show that despite desperate attempts to the contrary the spirit of the Palestinian people has not waned.