The discourse of the "Nakba" and the "return" among some Westerners was present during the riots last May in the cities involved, whether in the background of the events or as their direct cause of the riots - according to a study by the undersigned, published in a study file of the Jerusalem Center for Public and State Affairs.
The studies examined the depth factors for the May events.
The findings of the study revealed that along with visible factors, such as "the defense of al-Aqsa" or "the friction between Jews and Arabs in the Sheikh Jarrah-Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood", these deep currents are also related to the "Nakba" memory - "the establishment of the State of Israel" , According to the Palestinians, and the demand for the exercise of the "right of return" as its derivative - played a key role in the events.
Between the Negev and California
The study shows that a significant number of Israeli Westerners no longer regard the Nakba and the Shiva as a theoretical legacy, or as a purely cognitive-educational matter, but as a real hope, and as a practical commitment to be realized in the future.
During and after the days of riots, hundreds of statements were made by public figures and activists, by ordinary Arabs and by the rioters themselves, on the ground and in the networks, which indicate this.
Thus, for example, a young Bedouin woman recently said at a Bedouin demonstration in Jerusalem: "I have a message for Prime Minister Bennett.
I am a native of the Negev.
You will return to San Francisco. "Muhammad Bracha, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of Israeli Arabs, clarified that the Arab protest is civil and national, and explained:" Jerusalem has dear sisters: Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Lod and Ramla ... Last May, during the last intifada (Thus originally; N.S.), the focus of resistance against the forces of Zionist repression was especially in these cities, which they tried to eulogize, distort and remove from the map of Palestine.
These cities revolted as if to say: 'Here is Palestine.
It used to be called Palestine, and it is called Palestine once again. "
Ongoing return conversation
Aya Zinati, a native of Lod, now a resident of Haifa and active in Zochrot, clarified that when she talks about the occupation she means "occupation in Jaffa, Lod and Acre", adding: "I explain to my children that they are not from Haifa, but from the village of Maalul opal".
Another Arab-Israeli, named Allah, tweeted: "The Israelis are writing about us, the Palestinians of 1948, whom we betrayed. The donkeys do not know that our loyalty has not been theirs for a long time. Only now have they discovered this. What have we done to them that they have ignored."
The study shows that the return discourse has been conducted for many years, mainly in the Palestinian diaspora and in the territories of Judea and Samaria and Gaza, but since the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee published the "Future Vision Documents for Palestinian Arabs in Israel" in 2006, it has grown significantly among Israeli Arabs.
Mass demonstration in Umm al-Fahm.
Carrying Palestinian flags // Photo: Michelle dot com // Mass demonstration in Umm al-Fahm.
Carrying Palestinian flags,
More Arab-Israelis than in the past have exaggerated the definition of their self-identity, omitted the Israeli component from it, and they choose to emphasize and refine Palestinian identity.
Some of them emphasize that they are not Arab-Israelis, but Arabs living in Israel.
Meaning - belonging is to the place, and less to the state.
The full article on the study will be published tomorrow in the "Israel Hashavua" supplement.
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