On the 77th Anniversary of the Ongoing Nakba: Subjugating the Palestinian People Through Genocide and Settler-Colonial Apartheid

Date: May 15, 2025
Original Language: Arabic

Press Release
On the 77th Anniversary of the Ongoing Nakba: Subjugating the Palestinian People Through Genocide and Settler-Colonial Apartheid

Today, Thursday, May 15, 2025, marks the 77th anniversary of the ongoing Nakba (Catastrophe) of the Palestinian people, which began in 1948. It was perpetrated by Zionist gangs through massacres that claimed the lives of thousands of martyrs and the forced displacement of more than 850,000 Palestinians from their towns and villages. More than 500 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed in a historic crime whose consequences continue to this day.

For the past 77 years, the occupying state has subjected the Palestinian people to all forms of violence, repression, and persecution through the establishment and maintenance of a colonial, settler-based apartheid regime—implemented via laws, policies, and practices designed to reinforce its Zionist colonial project. As a result, Palestinians continue to face forced displacement, the seizure of their properties, exile and refuge, and the denial of their right to return to their homes and lands. They are subjected to a continuous process of domination, institutionalized racial discrimination, military occupation, annexation, population transfer, and settler-colonialism.

This anniversary comes amid an escalation in the genocide and aggression against the Palestinian people. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces continue to commit acts of genocide for the 19th consecutive month since the aggression began on October 7, 2023. This has resulted in more than 65,000 Palestinians killed or missing, around 120,000 injured, approximately 8,500 detained, and the forced displacement of over two million people. The infrastructure has been decimated, with 80% of buildings, economic sectors, and civilian facilities reduced to rubble. Civilians have been repeatedly forced to flee to tents and schools under harsh humanitarian conditions, worsened by policies of starvation and thirst, turning Gaza into a disaster zone unfit for human life.

In the West Bank, 964 Palestinians have been martyred since October 7, 2023, and around 14,000 have been arrested amid a dangerous escalation in illegal settlement policies, forced displacement, systematic land confiscation, and the establishment of new settlement outposts as part of colonial annexation. There have also been repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque.

All of this constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334 (2016), which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements in the 1967-occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. The occupation continues to defy other UN resolutions, especially Resolution 194 concerning the return and compensation of refugees, and Resolution 3236 (November 12, 1974), which affirms the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, independence, and national sovereignty. It also ignores Security Council Resolution 2728 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the facilitation of humanitarian aid, among other relevant resolutions.

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) reaffirms its unwavering belief in the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right of return for refugees. It considers the ongoing events in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, to be a continuation of the original Nakba—carried out in a systematic, ongoing, and brutal manner that reflects the occupation’s repressive, aggressive, and colonial policies. These events also expose the extent of Israel’s defiance of international law and legitimacy, amid a disturbing international silence, disgraceful official Arab inaction, and the failure to hold the occupation accountable or deter its crimes.

Therefore, the ICSPR declares and demands the following:

• ICSPR reaffirms that the right of return is a firm and inherent right for all Palestinians, one that does not expire with time. It is the cornerstone of justice in the Palestinian cause, and any attempt to override it constitutes a blatant violation of international law.

• ICSPR calls on the international community to fulfill its obligations under international law by ending the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, holding Israel accountable for its crimes, and working toward a just and comprehensive solution that respects Palestinian rights and halts the deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

• ICSPR rejects attempts to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and calls for expanding its mandate to protect refugees, enhance its funding, and uphold its role as an international witness and guarantor of the right of return.

• ICSPR urges the UN Security Council and United Nations to take concrete action to enforce international resolutions, and to confront genocide, annexation policies, and efforts to alter the demographic and legal status of the occupied territories.

• ICSPR supports efforts by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice and calls for the rapid implementation of the principle of accountability, including sanctions and boycotts of the Israeli occupying state, as a means of deterrence and justice.

• ICSPR demands the provision of international protection for Palestinians by deploying international protection missions to ensure the opening of humanitarian corridors and the urgent delivery of relief aid to Gaza, protecting civilians from the threat of death by starvation and thirst.

• ICSPR calls on freedom-loving people around the world, human rights organizations, and Arab and Islamic countries to intensify campaigns of support and solidarity with the Palestinian people and to support their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, return, and self-determination