London, 15th May 2026 – Today, we join Palestinians across the world in commemorating the 78th Nakba Day. The catastrophe of 1948 marked the beginning of the mass displacement, destruction, and dispossession of Palestinians and their land that accompanied the creation of Israel. An estimated 700,000 to 800,000 Palestinians were displaced, paving the way for the eventual implementation of a brutal apartheid regime administered by Israel.
Referring to the Nakba in the past tense is both inaccurate and misleading. It frames the Nakba as an event confined to history, rather than recognising it as the lived reality of the ongoing displacement, dispossession, and continuous violations of Palestinian human rights since 1948.
This reality is tainted by brutality and dehumanisation. Palestinian detainees continue to report appalling conditions and abuses within detention facilities, while administrative detention and collective punishment remain normalised practices. At the same time, we are witnessing increasingly discriminatory legislation and political discourse that further entrenches inequality and impunity. Israel’s recent death penalty legislation, explicitly framed to apply against Palestinians, reflects a dangerous escalation in a system that already treats Palestinian life as expendable.
The beginning of the Nakba not only led to the destruction and deliberate fragmentation of Palestinian society, but also enabled the establishment of a regime of racial domination and oppression over the Palestinian people that persists to this day.
Dania Abul Haj, ICJP’s Senior Legal Officer, said:
“From families in the diaspora still preserving the keys and deeds to the homes they were displaced from, to Palestinians in Gaza enduring a live-streamed genocide, to those in the West Bank and Jerusalem facing relentless land confiscation, home demolitions, settler violence, military raids, arbitrary detention, and forced displacement, the Nakba was never a singular moment in history, but an ongoing system of dispossession and domination.
It is a reality shaped by prolonged occupation, settler colonialism, and the growing extremism of policies and rhetoric directed against Palestinians
What is perhaps most devastating is not only the violence itself, but the international failure to act meaningfully in the face of it. Palestinians have spent generations forced to justify our humanity, defend our existence, and appeal for rights already guaranteed under international law. Yet despite overwhelming documentation of violations, there remains entrenched impunity reflecting a failure by states to fulfil their legal obligations to ensure respect for international law, prevent serious violations, and hold perpetrators accountable. Palestinians are not asking for exceptional treatment; we are asking for the enforcement of the very legal order states themselves have created and are bound to uphold.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
- For more information, to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at [email protected].
Image: Ashraf Amra via Wikimedia Commons
