The decision of the United Nations General Assembly yesterday to mark Nakba Day this coming May is actually a decision to hold a day of mourning for the establishment of the State of Israel. This decision not only indicates the state of mind of the Palestinians and explains why Israel has never been able to sign a peace agreement with them, but also emphasizes the destructive role of the international community in the conflict in the Middle East.
Contrary to popular belief in the West (and in certain circles in Israel), Nakba Day was not intended to mark a humanitarian disaster that befell the Palestinians during the 1948 war with Israel.
The Palestinians do not mourn the dead, the wounded or the refugees of the war, but rather the very establishment of the Jewish state.
This is a mourning for the political "disaster" of Israel's independence, and not for the human cost of the war.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, photo: E.P
Why exactly May 15?
The first to coin the term "Nakba" ("disaster" in Arabic) was the Syrian intellectual Constantine Zurayk, in a book he wrote during the war of independence, in the summer of 1948, called "The Meaning of Disaster".
He explained there explicitly: "The defeat of the Arabs in Palestine is not a simple lesson... it is a disaster... Seven Arab armies declared war on Zionism in Palestine, and were forced to retrace their steps."
This was even before the echoes of the shells died down, and before the numbers of victims were known.
But one thing was already clear: the State of Israel was established.
The war in 1948 was the culmination of a combined Arab effort to thwart the Jews' intention to establish an independent state in the Land of Israel.
For more than half a century, the Arabs of the region did everything in their power to thwart the Jewish intention - they tried (and even succeeded at times) to stop Jewish immigration, held demonstrations and harmed the Jews.
They opposed any initiative that meant the establishment of a Jewish state, even in part of the Land of Israel.
In the end they also rejected the partition plan, which just this week marked the 75th anniversary of its acceptance at the UN, and went to war.
The thought that 600,000 people, plus Jews, managed to defeat 60 million Muslim Arabs at the time, was and still is unimaginable to Arab eyes.
This is the greatest humiliation, the source of the frustration, rage and violence directed towards the State of Israel.
This is the true meaning of the "Nakba", the disaster in the success of the Jews to establish a state against all the efforts of the Arabs.
Nakba marches near the border of the Gaza Strip (archive), photo: AFP
Palestinian flags are raised during a student gathering for Nakba Day (archive), photo: Gideon Markowitz
The fact that the Palestinians celebrate the "Nakba" day every year on May 15 clearly indicates this.
If this day was intended to mark the human price paid by Palestinian society in the war, another day could have been chosen, when something significant happened on the battlefield;
For example, the day of the battle in the village of Deir Yassin, or the day when Arab Haifa fell to the Jewish settlement.
These events had a great impact on the course of the war, and they reflect a real Palestinian loss.
On the other hand, nothing happened on May 15 except the establishment of the State of Israel the day before.
The Palestinian demand from the General Assembly to mark Nakba Day therefore reflects the Palestinian worldview, which even 75 years after the events still sees the establishment of the State of Israel as a disaster that cannot be reconciled with.
Many in the Arab world, including the Palestinians, still do not recognize the Jews' right to self-determination, and do not accept a sovereign Jewish state within any borders.
Neither Judea and Samaria nor the settlements are at the heart of the conflict.
These were not on the agenda at the time of the Partition Plan or the War of Independence, yet the Arabs saw the establishment of Israel as a "Nakba".
The fact that the Palestinians still celebrate the Nakba, and now also ask the entire international community to join them, is evidence of their world view.
Those who want to understand why the peace negotiations have failed in recent decades, need only listen to the Palestinians: for them, the mourning for the establishment of Israel still continues.
In recent decades, the Palestinians have chosen time and time again to continue the struggle against Israel and to reject peace proposals, because they meant finally recognizing the State of Israel.
Even when they were offered an independent Palestinian state, without settlements, with a capital in East Jerusalem, the Palestinians replied in the negative.
The explanation for this is simple: the war for Israel's existence is still ongoing for them.
Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen. The war still continues, photo: AFP
Nothing to do with the occupation
Paradoxically, the Palestinian demand to mark Nakba Day can actually make it much easier for Israeli diplomacy, which for years has tried in vain to convince world public opinion that the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel is at the heart of the conflict.
The Palestinians managed to mislead many in the international community (and certain circles in Israel), when they claimed that if only Israel would withdraw from Judea and Samaria - everything would fall into place in peace.
And here, they themselves admit that it is not the "occupation" that is the problem, but the very existence of Israel.
As always, the United Nations can be counted on to do exactly the opposite.
Instead of sending an unequivocal message to the Palestinians that they must recognize the State of Israel and resolve the conflict with it through compromise, the United Nations continues to provide support and strengthen Palestinian resistance. The actual existence of a day of mourning for the establishment of the State of Israel, a member of the United Nations since 1949 , is unprecedented and contrary to the spirit of the UN charter. The decision to celebrate Nakba Day in the UN building in New York is another link in a long chain of decisions, which will only prolong the duration of the conflict.
It would be possible to take advantage of the upcoming May 15th to conduct a real soul-searching - both of the Palestinians, for their stubborn refusal to recognize the Jews' right to a state, and of the international community, which did nothing to grab the bull by the horns and directly confront the Arab worldview.
Because, only when the Palestinians feel that they have no choice but to recognize the existence of Israel - will it be possible to reach a compromise with them.
Until then, unfortunately, the Israelis will continue to be forced to fight for their place.
Former UN Secretary General Tryg Lee, (left) and Andrew A.
Cordier, his executive assistant, checking their lists after the vote to establish the State of Israel on November 29, 1947, photo: AP
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