Nakba

[nok-buh, nak-bah]

noun

1. the mass expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians from the partitioned state of Palestine by Jewish militia and Israeli military forces between 1947 and 1949.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Nakba¹

First recorded in 1960–65; from Arabic: literally, “catastrophe, disaster”

Example Sentences

That displacement would be on a scale even larger than the Nakba, or mass displacement, that occurred in Palestine during the late 1940s.

Read more on Salon

At the same time, “the catastrophe of the last two years far exceeds that of the Nakba.”

Read more on Salon

Palestinians know it as the Nakba — the Catastrophe.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Indeed, when I invited scholars to verify and assess the files, we concluded that the Bseiso family archive is the largest known collection of original documents from a single Palestinian family, detailing legal land ownership before the 1948 Nakba.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

May 15 marks the 77th anniversary of the Nakba.

Read more on Los Angeles Times