15 May 2025 marks the 77th anniversary of the Nakba that befell the Palestinian people in 1948, widely regarded as one of the gravest and most enduring tragedies in modern human history, perpetrated by Zionist armed groups and resulted in the mass displacement, dispossession, and expulsion of the Palestinian population. It set into motion a harrowing saga of genocide, forced migration, and ethnic cleansing which continue to this day.
Millions of Palestinians have become refugees or internally displaced, both within or outside of their homeland. This collective trauma constitutes an unprecedented form of historical injustice—an enduring oppression unmatched in its scope and duration.
This anniversary is commemorated amidst an ongoing, brutal war that the occupying power, Israel, has waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for over 19 consecutive months. This protracted war has led to the death, injury, or disappearance of over 200,000 individuals—predominantly women and children. The entire population of Gaza, numbering more than two million, has been displaced, with all essential means of life systematically destroyed. Humanitarian aid has been obstructed, and the Strip remains under a lethal blockade, resulting in catastrophic shortages of water, food, and medicine.
These acts constitute war crimes of unparalleled severity in the region's history and unfold in the face of an alarming international silence that has emboldened the occupying Israeli authorities to commit massacres, target United Nations facilities, hospitals, medical personnel, and members of the press in flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and basic moral principles.
This ongoing aggression defies the collective will of the international community, which continues to call for an end to the massacres. It violates all divine, moral, and legal values and stands in stark contradiction to the spirit and letter of international law and the numerous United Nations resolutions demanding an immediate cessation of the brutal war which has turned the Gaza Strip to a stage of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Among the most appalling aspects of this continuing aggression is the recurrence of mass forced displacement—evoking stark parallels to the first Nakba of 1948, when Palestinians were driven from their homes, towns, and villages. Today, this tragic spectacle is unfolding once again, but in an even more brutal form—without refuge, without safe humanitarian corridors, and without any assurances of return.
This anniversary serves as a painful reminder that the Nakba is not a historical event consigned to the past—it is a living reality, renewed daily in the lives of millions of Palestinians who continue to suffer under occupation, siege, and exile.
In the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, the situation remains equally dire, as the Palestinians endure an unprecedented escalation of daily assaults by Israeli occupation forces and armed settlers, all under the official protection and incitement of the extremist Israeli government. The frequency and intensity of military incursions into Palestinian refugee camps, towns, and cities have dramatically increased, accompanied by extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, the demolition of homes, and the imposition of blockades on entire villages. This policy is aimed at subjugating the Palestinian people and dismantling their social and national cohesion.
Simultaneously, the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque continues to face repeated incursions intended to impose a new de facto reality at the Holy Sanctuary. These provocative violations represent a blatant breach of the historic and legal status quo and contravene all relevant international conventions and obligations.
On this anniversary, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States extends its highest salutations to the resilient Palestinian people—those steadfast in their homeland and the diaspora. It pays tribute to their unwavering struggle and immense sacrifices in pursuit of their inalienable rights, chief among them the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The General Secretariat reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the ongoing Israeli war of aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, which has now continued for over 585 days. It strongly denounces the occupying power's persistent defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions that call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unimpeded entry of humanitarian assistance. It equally condemns Israel's refusal to comply with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice concerning provisional measures aimed at halting acts of genocide.
The atrocities inflicted upon the Palestinian people—whether in Gaza or across the occupied Palestinian territories—demand urgent action from all those who uphold justice, freedom, and human dignity. The Palestinian cause remains the most just and morally compelling issue of our time, as affirmed by international law and universal human values.
The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States reaffirms the vital importance of the international justice system, including all relevant human rights institutions—international, regional, national, and civil society actors—in confronting this defining moment in history. It calls upon these entities to uphold their responsibilities and work resolutely to ensure justice for the Palestinian people and support their legitimate rights, foremost among which are their right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the borders of 4 June 1967.
