Residents say settlement expansion and military operations are forcing more communities from their homes
Palestinians mark 78 years since the Nakba on Friday – one of the largest refugee crises in modern history – as expanding Israeli settlements and military operations are again forcing communities from their homes, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reports.
The Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, was triggered by the mass displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948. A 1947 UN partition plan, adopted with backing from the Soviet Union, called for the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states, but only Israel was established.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rooted in competing territorial claims, has fueled decades of unrest and wars in the Middle East.
Activists and local residents told RT that pressure on Palestinians is intensifying across areas under Israeli control.
The UN says around 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the West Bank since early 2025 amid intensified Israeli military operations, demolitions, and settler violence.
Members of Bedouin communities interviewed by RT described repeated attempts to force them from their land.
“When we first came here, they told us this was Area B, Palestinian land. But then they turned around and told us, no, you are not allowed to stay here either,” one resident said. “Every single day, they come after us trying to force us out.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that prospects for the creation of a Palestinian state were being systematically undermined.
“A process is underway to eliminate even the slightest possibility of creating a Palestinian state, in violation of United Nations decisions,” Lavrov told a news conference.
