Britain and the Nakba: A history of betrayal- An unbroken thread of duplicity, mendacity and chicanery connects British foreign policy from Balfour to the Nakba to the present day

A demonstrator holding an umbrella with colours of the Palestinian flag stands by an Israeli flag during a protest against a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 24 March 2023 (Reuters)

Avi Shlaim

10 May 2023

Britain created the conditions that made the Palestinian Nakba possible.

In 1948, the Palestinians experienced a collective catastrophe of monumental proportions: some 530 villages were destroyed; more than 62,000 homes were demolished; about 13,000 Palestinians were killed; and 750,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of the Arab population of the country were driven out of their homes and became refugees.

This was the climax of the Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

In its essence, Zionism had always been a settler-colonial movement. Its ultimate aim was to build an independent Jewish state in Palestine on as much of the land as possible and with as few Arabs within its borders as possible. Zionist spokesmen constantly reiterated that they meant no harm to the Arab inhabitants of the country, that they wanted to develop the country for the benefit of both communities.

But this was largely rhetoric, kalam fadi in Arabic, empty talk.... READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/nakba-britain-history-betrayal 

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Old Photos & maps of Gaza ... An ancient place where people have lived longer than recorded history: It is often forgotten that Gaza was once the richest port in the Eastern Mediterranean, super wealthy from the export of Arabian incense and Indian spices.

Palestinian Sheikh from Gaza, 1870 (Photo by Félix Bonfils, University of Pennsylvania Collection)

 

Gaza, Palestine circa c1900.

Early 1900's photo of watermelon vendors in Gaza, Palestine

Gaza in 1905, from the terrace of the Latin presbytery, next to the Catholic church of Gaza, recently bombed by the IDF

Gaza in 1922 Seen from Tell Harubah, the heart of ancient Gaza and occupied consistently since the Bronze Age

 

1920, Gaza, Palestine.

 

The ancient Byzantine Church of St Porphyrios, Gaza. Founded 425CE. Photographed by the Ecole Biblique 1922.  Bombed by the IDF 2024.

 

Gaza after surrender to the British after WWI.

 

Crusader-era oculus from the al-Umari mosque, Gaza Taken 1920

 

Crusader-era doorway from Gaza Photographed 1920 The trade connections of ancient Gaza From the exhibition Trésors sauvés de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire at L'Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.

Palestine... Gaza pottery merchants taking wares to market...Circa 1930's

Palestine... Unloading a great fish-net, Gaza. 1937

 

Palestine.... A camel-load of tibbin going to Gaza... Circa 1930s

 

1939, Gaza, Palestine:  Palestinian mounted police on one of the city’s streets.

 

1935, Aircraft Hanno, Imperial Airways, Gaza, Palestine 🇵🇸   The airfield was constructed in 1917 and one of the first to be built in Palestine.

 

Gaza's beach 1943

 

Gaza - The Main Road 1947

The trade connections of ancient Gaza  It is often forgotten that Gaza was once the richest port in the Eastern Mediterranean, super wealthy from the export of Arabian incense and Indian spices.

Map of Mesopotamia - The Cradle of Civilization  

The trade connections of ancient Gaza mosaics- From the exhibition Trésors sauvés de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire at L'Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris

  

10 December 1948 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights 

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Palestine refugees at Khan Yunus camp in Gaza, near the Egyptian border. Nearly 200,000 refugees, mostly women and children were placed in the Gaza area, of a total of some 750,000 in camps and assembly centres throughout Palestine UN Photo Dec 1 1948  https://www.un.org/en

 

Palestinian refugees  in Gaza   1948

 

An old man looks yearningly toward his home through the barbed wire fence of the "Rimal and Beach Camp" which is the home of 17,000 Arab refugees on the shores of the Mediterranean just outside Gaza City. 1956 photo by INS Charles Arnot

 

A Palestinian refugee woman cross-stitching traditional Palestinian embroidery, Gaza, 1967. © UNRWA Photo Archives.  https://www.unrwa.org/

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Before & After 

 

 

 

Gaza Airport destroyed by Israel in 2001

Beaches in Gaza's seaside before Oct. 7.  2023 (AFP_File)

 

Gaza-AlHusaynaMosque-Before-After-Jan2024-MOHAMMEDABED-AFP

We are adding "yellow blocks" as a weapon on genocide dot live, to categorize videos, and we are rolling out a yellow blocks app on

@gazamaps

to track the movement of the blocks over time.

 

Guardian Screenshot- go to link  https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2025/dec/17/how-israel-yellow-line-dividing-gaza-deadly-consequences-video-explainer

 

Visualizing Palestine  https://visualizingpalestine.org/visual/gaza-stripped/

 

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Long-term effects of Gaza war could quadruple Palestinian death toll, warn UK doctors Surgeons who worked in Gaza fear disease, malnutrition and eradication of healthcare will reverberate for decades: The total deaths from Israel’s war on Gaza could ultimately be as high as 186,000.

"British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who worked in al-Shifa and al-Ahli Arab hospitals in Gaza City shortly after the war began, said levels of malnutrition there were so acute that many children would “never recover”

....  & “Certain specialities have been eviscerated,” he said. “There are no more nephrologists [a doctor specialising in kidney care] left. They’ve all been killed. There are no more board-certified emergency medicine physicians.”"

Doctors said it was likely that irreversible damage had already been done to large numbers of children. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

"Last month, the UN estimated that more than 60,000 children in Gaza would need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2025. Some had already died, said the organisation."

 "Scientists have estimated that the total deaths from Israel’s war on Gaza could ultimately be as high as 186,000. The figure is almost four times higher than the 46,700 deaths that Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry have reported."

Long-term effects of Gaza war could quadruple Palestinian death toll, warn UK doctors

Surgeons who worked in Gaza fear disease, malnutrition and eradication of healthcare will reverberate for decades

British doctors who worked in Gaza during the war have issued dire predictions over the long-term health of Palestinian civillians, warning that large numbers will continue to die.... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/feb/22/gaza-wars-aftereffects-palestinian-death-toll-warn-uk-doctors-disease-malnutrition-healthcare

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Maps illustrating Israel (& Palestine)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54116567

 

Map of the Partition of Israel and Palestine 

https://worldhistorycommons.org/map-partition-israel-and-palestine

This map shows in green the areas that Israel has had under military occupation since 1967. As noted in the previous map, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egyptian control by 1982.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This detailed map shows the fragmentation of the West Bank in 2002. Over a decade later, the settlement areas and their populations have greatly expanded. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

This map shows the planned route of the Separation Wall, also called the Separation Barrier, the Security Fence and the Apartheid Wall. Israel began building the Wall in 2002, and it is not finished https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

The locations of checkpoints, roadblocks, agricultural gates and other obstacles have changed periodically over the years of occupation, but there continue to be hundreds of such hindrances to Palestinian’s essential freedom of movement.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

Gaza is part of the territories under military occupation by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967. Although Israeli settlers and troops were withdrawn from Gaza in 2005, it is still considered occupied territory under international law because Israel still controls the lives of the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel maintains a blockade by land and sea https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This map give a detailed picture of the land around Jerusalem that Israel is annexing with the Separation Wall. The solid black line shows the portion of the Wall that has been completed and the solid red line that extends from that black line shows the route of the Wall that remains to be built. All of the light blue area is Palestinian territory trapped between the Wall to the east and the border of Israel to the west, the seam zone. All of the green area is occupied Palestinian territory beyond the Wall.

The dark blue areas are settlements, both east and west of the Wall. The orange areas are Palestinian communities, both east and west of the Wall. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-jerusalem/

 

Remembering Tom Hurndall 1981-2004 Killed by an Israeli Snipper as he carried Palestinian Children to safety

What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven't done.

— Tom Hurndall

They shot our son but they can't kill his spirit.

— Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall

Thomas Hurndall (27 November 1981 – 13 January 2004) was a British photography student, a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and an activist against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. On 11 April 2003, he was shot in the head in the Gaza Strip by a (IDF) sniper, Taysir Hayb. Hurndall was left in a coma and died nine months later.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hurndall

See Also

Rachel Corrie 1979-2003 – American ISM volunteer killed by Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, 16 March 2003: On March 16, 2003, the IDF was engaged in an operation involving the demolition of Palestinian houses in Rafah. Corrie was part of a group of three British and four American ISM activists attempting to disrupt the IDF operation. Corrie placed herself in the path of a Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer in the area and was run over by the bulldozer and fatally injured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie

palsolidarity.org  The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles. Founded in August 2001, ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian popular resistance by being immediately alongside Palestinians in olive groves, on school runs, at demonstrations, within villages being attacked, by houses being demolished or where Palestinians are subject to consistent harassment or attacks from soldiers and settlers as well as numerous other situations.  READ MORE https://palsolidarity.org/about/
 

& from Wikipedia

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM; Arabic: حركة التضامن العالمية) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.^[1]