Israel Police detain 3 students after clashes erupt at event marking 74th 'Nakba Day'

Fresh clashes erupted between Israelis and Palestinians as the latter coalesced to mark the 74th anniversary of Nakba. On Sunday, a group of Palestinian students gathered at Tel Aviv University to commemorate the 1948 exodus of Arabs, raising flags and chanting slogans. However, soon, members of Israel’s right-wing Im Tirtzu organisation started a counter-demonstration raising pro-zionist slogans in their vicinity. This triggered a scuffle between the warring sides, leading to three Arabs getting detained by Israeli law enforcers. 

Im Tirtzu organisation advocated the arrests stating that three Palestinian protestors “physically assaulted" the group members.  Later, Israel Police said that students “rioted” the site and attacked Jewish protesters. Notably, the Palestinians carried a photograph of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akhleh, whose killing has been blamed on the Israeli administration. On the other hand, Jewish activists waved Israeli flags, chanted pro-Israel slogans and distributed T-shirts displaying a key with a Star of David and carried banners reading 'Nakba non-sense.'

“We cannot afford the luxury of allowing this anti-Israel propaganda to go unchallenged,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg. “We are here sending a clear message that we will not be silent in the face of this deceitful attempt to rewrite history. If the Jewish community in Israel would've lost the war, the Holocaust would have been continued via Haj Amin al-Husseini and his antisemitic thugs. It is important to unapologetically call the Nakba what it is: nonsense," he added, as reported by Jerusalem Post.

What is Nakba?

Nakba refers to Israel’s alleged ethnic cleansing of Palestine and near-total destruction of its society in 1948. Although May 15 is the day that officially marks the Nakba, the cleansing is touted to have started much before, as reported by Al Jazeera, which claimed that by May 15, half of the Palestinians were forcefully expelled from the country. As many as 17 massacres took place, it reported as Israelis took over 75 per cent of Palestinian territories. Zionist groups and pro-Israel fraternities dismiss this claim and reject that a violent exodus took place in the region.

It is pertinent to note that last year, UK’s Labour Party passed a resolution condemning Israel for allegedly perpetrating an “ongoing Nakba in Palestine'' and sabotaging their right to self-determination. The resolution passed at the Labour Party Conference 2021 further accused the Zionists of conducting multiple “assaults” on Gaza and the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as well as forcefully displacing Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah. Notably, the Sheikh Jarrah dispute served as one of the main triggers of the 11-day war in May that led to more than 200 casualties and near-total obliteration of the Gaza Strip. 

(Image: PalFriends2020/Twitter)