Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza

By JOSEPH KRAUSS
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It’s an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it as the “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe.” Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 war that followed Israel’s establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return. In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-fourths of the population. Many have once again been displaced, with no idea if or when they will return.