The war between Israel and Hamas part of what is literally a “great catastrophe” for the Arab world, which is what ‘nakba’ means. The term and the day of protest were coined by the historic Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. You have to go back 75 years to find its origin: on May 14, 1948, Israel proclaimed itself as a State, with the support—on the basis—of a United Nations plan.

It happened in an area that Israel considered the land of its ancestors and just one day later, a coalition of five Arab countries declared war. But it was defeated the following year.

Survivors of the Israeli siege say that entire families were gunned down at dawn by the Israelis. A people like the Jews, who had never had their own territory or political entity, expelled the Palestinians who were their historical majority inhabitants. More than 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes and they had to flee.

Since then, two other major wars, one started by each side, and multiple outbreaks of violence and military operations have turned the initial map upside down. The Israelis have been appropriating more and more territory through illegal settlements, mostly, and constantly putting pressure on the Palestinians who remain there and who have always denounced a ruthless ethnic cleansing.