What Is Nakba Day? Michel Moushabeck This speech was given by Michel Moushabeck on May 15, 2018, at a rally organized by Jewish Voice for Peace in front of the Town Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts. The event was organized to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of al-Nakba and show solidarity with the protesters in Gaza. The Pioneer Valley has been my second home for the past twenty-six years. I am very grateful to be part of this wonderful community. But I say the Valley is my second home, because my first home is Jerusalem and my homeland is Palestine. In 1948, my family was expelled from its home in West Jerusalem during the Nakba at the hands of the invading Zionist forces. They were forced to abandon everything, while still carrying the key to our house. My family is now scattered all over the world, constantly moving from one nonplace to another. If I were to meet any of you in a pub or a bar and you asked me to describe my family's story in one sentence, I would say: exile and starting over; exile and starting over; and exile and starting over. I would probably add a clarification: that I did not repeat those words three times because I had too many beers. But my family's experience of multiple exiles—from Qatamon to East Jerusalem; to Amman, Jordan; to Beirut, Lebanon; to New York—is not unique; it is but one of the many sad episodes of "being Palestinian." Our stories of exile, displacement, and injustice will live on, as will all our beautiful memories of our homeland. Before my father died, he handed me the key to our house in Jerusalem. My memory of that day is as vivid and bright as a silver coin in the sun. I will always remember it. He looked at me with his kind eyes and said: "This is the key to our house in Qatamon; the house belonged to my father and now it belongs to you, your children, and grandchildren." Of course, my father was not naïve. He knew all too well that our house in Palestine is gone—forever. But he wanted to make sure that I tell my children, so that they will tell their children, about our Jerusalem home. [End Page 827] ________ Seventy years ago today, the State of Israel was established and the Palestinian state of despair and homelessness began. Palestinians refer to this day as "al-Nakba," the catastrophe that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of nearly 750,000 natives and the destruction of more than 500 Palestinian villages and towns. May 15, 1948, is a date forever etched in our collective memory. No one can forget what happened in the run-up to that fateful day. During that time, the world witnessed one of the largest forced migrations in modern history. Today, Israel's founding strategy of the forcible removal of the indigenous population continues. For decades Palestinians have been prevented from exercising their rights to freedom and self-determination; for decades they have endured horrific conditions of apartheid and brutal military occupation; and after decades, the hope of recovering even a small portion of their historic homeland has slipped away. And Palestinians know that the worst is yet to come, especially under the Trump administration and the ultra-right, extremist government of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu. ________ Yesterday, as the United States and Israel grotesquely celebrated the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, at least sixy Palestinian protesters who stood up to demand their rights never made it home. They never made it home. They were killed by high-velocity Israeli sniper bullets. Those killed were not mere numbers. They have names. They are men; they are women; and they are children. They have families; they have loved ones waiting for them; they have memories. They never made it home. They also had dreams and aspirations of freedom and equality. In Gaza nearly two million Palestinians have been stuck in one of the planet's most wretched and most densely populated areas, denied freedom of movement, denied the ability to sustain a...