Nakba

See also: nakba

English

Alternative forms

• Naqba, Nacba, nakba
• Al-Nakba (with the Arabic definite article)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːkbə/

Proper noun

the Nakba

1. The fracturing, dispossession and displacement of Palestinian society, following the declaration of Israel on what had been most of Mandatory Palestine, including the flight or expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian Arabs (some 700,000) and the destruction of their homes.
   • 2002, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Written statement,

     The ongoing Nakba […] 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 […] [Apartheid Convention], colonialism and other forms of extreme racism practiced by Israel[.]

   • 2010 May 13, Saeb Erekat, “The Nakba continues”, in Ma'an News‎^[1]:

     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^[2]:

     Brown University's Friday Night Jews (FNJ) […] began as an informal Shabbat dinner gathering in 2016, as a space for Jewish students who were feeling fed up with Hillel’s limitations regarding Israel/Palestine discourse, after the Brown/RISD Hillel rescinded sponsorship of a film screening by the Israeli nonprofit Zochrot, an organization that educates Jewish Israelis about the Nakba.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, 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

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

Derived terms

• Nakba Day
• Nakba denial

Translations

Nakba

• Arabic: نَكْبَة f (nakba), اَلنَّكْبَة f (an-nakba)
• Belarusian: на́кба f (nákba)
• Bengali: নকবা (nokba)
• French: nakba (fr) f
• German: Nakba f
• Greek: νάκμπα f (nákmpa)
• Hebrew: הנכבה f (ha-nákba)
• Hindi: नक्बत f (nakbat), नक्बा (nakbā)
• Japanese: ナクバ (nakuba)
• Korean: 나크바 (nakeuba)
• Persian: نَکْبَت (fa) (nakbat)
• Russian: на́кба f (nákba)
• Spanish: nakba f
• Tajik: накбат (nakbat)
• Ukrainian: на́кба f (nákba)
• Urdu: نَکْبَت f (nakbat)

See also

• 48, 48 Arab (Palestinian slang term referring to Arabs who reside within Israel)

Anagrams

• Kanab