DOING THE TWIST -- NAKBA: Part 3 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

Following is a dissection of the term NAKBA, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic, and so present-day Arabs mourn the creation of the Jewish State of Israel as their “national catastrophe.” The real catastrophe for the Arabs was not the creation of Israel, but the ignominious failure of the Arab armies to drive the Jews into the sea. By the way, this was not the original “nakba” the Arabs experienced. It is worth citing Steven Plaut’s excellent article “How ‘Nakba’ proves there’s no Palestinian nation,”

“The term was not invented in 1948 but rather in 1920. And it was coined not because of Palestinians suddenly getting nationalistic but because Arabs living in Palestine regarded themselves as Syrians and were enraged at being cut off from their Syrian homeland…. The original “nakba” had nothing to do with Jews, and nothing to do with demands by Palestinian Arabs for self-determination, independence and statehood. To the contrary, it had everything to do with the fact that the Palestinian Arabs saw themselves as Syrians. They rioted at this nakba - at this catastrophe - because they found deeply offensive the very idea that they should be independent from Syria and Syrians.”^*

^* http://www.thejewishpress.com/pageroute.do/31503