Framing events in Gaza in the colonial context is vital for understanding the nature of the violence, argues author.
Ben White
While it is common knowledge that a majority of
the population of the Gaza Strip are refugees, it is less well
understood where they came from. The shocking reality is that many of
the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are a few miles away from the land of
their ethnically cleansed former villages, across the border fence in
southern Israel. Like so much else with Palestine, you can't understand
Gaza if you don't understand the Nakba.
To give a few examples. In 1948, most of the
Palestinians of al-Majdal had fled in fear by the time the Israeli army
took the town. In November of that year, around 500 were expelled to
Gaza. But during 1949, a good number of Palestinians managed to return.
Those remaining Palestinians were "concentrated and sealed off with
barbed wire and IDF guards in a small, built-up area commonly known as
the 'ghetto'".
The ethnic cleansing of al-Majdal was completed
between June and October 1950. And if you haven't heard of al-Majdal
before, I'm sure you know the Israeli port city built in its place:
Ashkelon.
Or take the village of Najd, whose inhabitants
cultivated citrus, bananas, cereals and orchards. They were expelled by
Israeli forces in May 1948 and you can find Palestinians from Najd in
Jabaliya refugee camp. The Israeli city of Sderot was founded on its
land.
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