Yawm el Nakba
Yawm el Nakba / Yom ha Atzma’ut by Ronen Steinberg
The Arabic term Yawm el Nakba means the day of disaster or the day of the catastrophe. Yom ha Atzma’ut in Hebrew means Indepedence Day. Both terms refer to the dramatic events of 1948, the year in which, on the one hand, the State of Israel came into existence and, on the other hand, the Palestinian Arab community, which had lived on this land for centuries, ceased to exist as a viable political and social entity. Yawm el Nakba is the day of commemoration of this disastrous event in Palestinian history, while Yom ha Atzma’ut is the day on which the State of Israel celebrates its foundation.
On May 14, 1948 the Zionist leadership, headed by David Ben-Gurion, unilaterally declared the foundation of the Jewish State of Israel. For Zionists, national independence was perceived as the realization of the dream of Jews returning to their biblical land. Yom ha Atzma’ut is the national holiday marking this event, and is celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar, on the fifth day in the month of Iyar. A formal ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem opens the celebrations. Outdoor festivities take place across the country, there are fireworks displays, and many Israelis present the national flag in their windows or on their cars. The day however is tinged with sorrow, for it is preceded by the National Memorial Day for those who died in the wars of Israel. In this way, national mourning turns into national celebration on the eve of Yom Ha Atzma’ut.
Yawm el Nakba is the day on which Palestinians all over the world commemorate the catastrophe that befell their nation in 1948, the year in which the Palestinian population was brutally uprooted from its homeland. In 1948 most Palestinians lost their homes and lands, whether as a result of fleeing the battle zones of the Arab-Israeli War or as a result of deportation by Jewish forces.
These events turned the Palestinian national experience into one of exile, and the Palestinians into refugees. While a rich body of literature about the Nakba has been a part of Palestinian culture since 1948, Palestinians began commemorating these events in an organized manner only in the mid-1990s, and in 1998 Yasser Arafat inaugorated an official Nakba Day. Most Palestinians mark Nakba Day on May 14, the Gregorian date for the foundation of the State of Israel. Palestinian Israelis, together with some Israeli Jewish activists, organize visits to the sites of their former villages and towns, while in other parts of the world they stage protests and partake in other forms of remembrance. Until the mid 1990s, most Israeli Jews were oblivious to the term Nakba, while Palestinians were painfully aware of the Israeli celebration of independence. Today, few Israelis are ignorant of this part of Palestinian history.
This indicates a remarkable success on the part of Palestinians in positing a counter-memory to the Zionist version of events. An Israeli celebration of homecoming, triumph, and national resurrection versus a Palestinian day of mourning and anger over exile, defeat and national demise: Yawm el Nakba and Yom ha Atzma’ut are key stakes in the narrative wars waged between the two peoples.
Ronen Steinberg, Historien Universität Chicago
Yom Haatzmaut – by Esther Eillam
I had different kinds of Yom Haatzmaut in my life. In the first years I used, as a girl, to go out with my friends and participate in the celebrations. At some point it became unpleasant because people threw on you sticky, unpleasant foam, and hit on your head with plastic hammers. Besides that, I do not feel proud of what is going on in Israeli politics, As a matter of fact, I feel very far from it. This why in the last 20 years I prefer to stay at home that day.
Nakba - by Esther Eillam
A term I was not aware of till the first Intifada.
Esther Eillam / one of the founding mothers of the feminist movement in Israel.
