Scrutinizing Israel’s narrative about the Nakba

As the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, is marked on Monday at the United Nations, pro-Israel advocates have been pushing an alternative version of historical events that positions Israel as the victim and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as self-inflicted. This Israeli narrative contends that as soon as David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the Jewish state on 14 May 1948 five major Arab armies invaded historic Palestine to wage – along with the Palestinians – a “war of annihilation” against Israel and “push Jews into the ocean”. The outnumbered Israelis defended themselves and won the war, and in the process, Palestinians fled their homes. “These are foundational narratives for Israeli Jews and also Diaspora Jews – they are taken as obvious truth,” Dr Yair Wallach, historian, and senior lecturer in Israeli studies at SOAS, told The New Arab. “Pro-Israel advocates have been pushing an alternative version of historical events that positions…