Nakba Day: يوم النكبة Yawm an-Nakba, meaning "Day of the Catastrophe", is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after the Gregorian calendar date for Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut). For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
During the 1948 Palestine War, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled or fled, and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated and destroyed. The vast majority of Palestinian refugees, both those outside the 1949 armistice lines at the conclusion of the war, and those internally displaced, were barred by the newly declared state of Israel.
These refugees and their descendants number several million people today, divided between Jordan (2 million), Lebanon (427,057), Syria (477,700), the West Bank (788,108) and the Gaza Strip (1.1 million), with at least another quarter of a million internally displaced Palestinians in Israel. The displacement, dispossession and dispersal of the Palestinian people is known to them as an-Nakba, meaning "catastrophe" or "disaster”
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| A young man with his face painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag participates in a rally in Gaza City on May 15, 2012 to mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| A Palestinian youth, holding a national flag, flashes the V-sign for victory during a protest in the West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2012 to mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| Palestinian youths burn Israeli flags the east Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Issawiya on May 15, 2012 as Palestinians protested to mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| Palestinian boys throw stones towards Israeli soldiers deployed at the entrance of the al-Aroub Palestinian refugee camp, just north the West Bank town of Hebron on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| A Palestinian boy wears a scarf with the colours of the Palestinian flag during a rally in Gaza City on May 15, 2012 to mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| Palestinian women paint a mural with the word in Arabic that reads, 'We will return' in Gaza City on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians and Arab-Israelis marked Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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A Palestinian woman sits outside her home in the Shati Palestinianrefugee camp in Gaza City on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians and Arab-Israelis marked Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948.
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| A Palestinian woman tries to stop Israeli riot policemen from detaining her son (unseen) in the east Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Issawiya on May 15, 2012 as Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli security forces during demonstrations marking Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli policemen during protests in the east Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Issawiya on May 15, 2012, marking Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| A Palestinian boy readies to throw a flaming molotov cocktail towards Israeli soldiers deployed at the entrance of the al-Aroub Palestinian refugee camp, just north the West Bank town of Hebron on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| A Palestinian man walks past a mural painting on the theme of Nakba in the West Bank city of Jenin on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians and Arab Israelis marked Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. Arabic writing on the wall reads: 'The right of return is sacred'. |
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| An elderly Palestinian man walks past Israeli soldiers deployed at the entrance of the al-Aroub Palestinian refugee camp, just north the West Bank town of Hebron on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians mark Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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| A Palestinian woman paints the word in Arabic that reads, 'Returning' as designs a mural in Gaza City on May 15, 2012, as Palestinians and Arab-Israelis marked Nakba day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. |
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