The Nakba at 78:
Creating, Re-Creating, and Erasing the Palestinian Refugee Issue
Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents in an UNRWA school in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 8 May 2026. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90
Today, Palestinians mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, the forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians and the destruction of over 500 towns and villages in 1948 to establish the State of Israel. The Nakba is not merely a historical event; it is an ongoing reality. Palestinians continue to face forced displacement, denial of their right of return, and systematic attacks on the institutions, places, and collective memory that sustain their identity and rights as refugees.
Over the past several years, Israel has intensified its policies toward Palestinian refugees along three interconnected tracks: (1) creating new refugees, (2) re-creating displacement for existing refugee communities, (3) and erasing the Palestinian refugee issue itself. In Israel, Bedouin communities in the Naqab are facing forced removals from their unrecognized villages into temporary “displacement camps” without permanent housing solutions. Simultaneously, state-backed development projects, such as the planned hotels and tourism complex at Tantura in the north of Israel threaten to build over mass graves and cemeteries in a depopulated, destroyed Palestinian village, obscuring evidence of the Nakba and erasing the history of expelled refugee communities.
In the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), Israeli military operations in the refugee camps in the West Bank have forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians; many of those uprooted are refugees from 1948 and their descendants. Israel has also escalated its assault on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the principal international institution mandated to support Palestinian refugees. Through anti-UNRWA legislation, the destruction of UNRWA facilities and the closure of six schools in East Jerusalem, Israel is seeking not only to dismantle essential humanitarian, educational, and health services, but also to undermine international recognition of the rights and status of Palestinian refugees themselves.
From Tantura to the Naqab:
Erasing History, Creating New Refugees
In April 2026, Adalah and Bimkom –Planning and Human Rights sent a legal letter on behalf of the displaced community of Tantura, urging Israeli authorities to halt permits for a tourism project at Dor Beach—located on the site of Tantura— that would desecrate cemeteries and mass graves dating back to the 1948 expulsion and massacre in the village. The letter cites findings by Forensic Architecture and documents from the Israeli military archives that identify multiple mass graves and cemeteries within the planned development area. The organizations called on the authorities to refrain from issuing any permits that would desecrate the graves, to mark the burial sites and to include representatives of the displaced community in determining their exact locations.
Displacement of Bedouins in the Naqab
A state-initiated master plan authorizes the construction of temporary caravan compounds inside planned Bedouin towns for families displaced from unrecognized villages in the Naqab, without guaranteeing permanent housing or adequate infrastructure. Adalah, Bimkom, the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages and other partner organizations challenged the plan before the Be’er Sheva District Court, arguing that it effectively creates state-sanctioned displacement camps. Although the petition was dismissed and unprecedented punitive legal fees imposed, Adalah and partners appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court (SCT) in February 2026; the case remains pending.
Adalah also continues to represent hundreds of Bedouin families facing forced evacuation by the state in the unrecognized villages of Ras Jrabah, Al-Bqea’ah, and Umm Badoun. In November 2025, the SCT approved the eviction of approximately 500 residents of Ras Jrabah within 90 days despite a lower court ruling that cancelled a plan cited to justify the displacement. Following further legal action by Adalah, the SCT temporarily froze the eviction order in March 2026 pending further review. The cases of Al-Bqea’ah and Umm Badoun remain pending in courts.
OPT: Re-Creating Refugeehood
and Erasing Refugee Rights
Israeli military bulldozers demolish a building in Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank, 31 December 2025. Photo by Flash90
Mass Displacement and Destruction of Refugee Camps
Since January 2025, large-scale Israeli military operations in the Palestinian refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams in the occupied West Bank have destroyed extensive residential areas and forcibly displaced around 40,000 Palestinians. Hundreds of homes have been demolished, while military restrictions continue to prevent residents from returning. Adalah petitioned the SCT throughout 2025, arguing that these actions violate fundamental rights to housing, property, dignity, and due process and cannot be justified by alleged claims of military necessity. The Court, however, accepted the military’s security arguments. In December 2025, Adalah sought the recision of military orders that block displaced residents from the Tulkarem refugee camp from returning to their homes; the military rejected that request.
The Assault on UNRWA
In January 2025, Adalah and Gisha petitioned the SCT against laws aimed at terminating UNRWA’s operations. After the Court declined to intervene, Israeli police raided and shut down six UNRWA schools in occupied East Jerusalem, denying nearly 800 refugee children access to education.
The assault intensified following the passage of additional legislation in December 2025 authorizing the confiscation of UNRWA property and the severing of essential services. Israeli authorities subsequently cut water and electricity to UNRWA facilities in East Jerusalem, while bulldozers nearly completely destroyed the agency’s headquarters there in January 2026. An SCT hearing on petitions against the anti-UNRWA laws are set for 27 May 2026, after numerous delays.
Despite mounting restrictions, UNRWA continues to provide limited humanitarian assistance in East Jerusalem and Gaza, support that remains critically important amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crisis throughout the OPT.
Together, these severe developments demonstrate how the Palestinian refugee issue continues to be shaped by policies of displacement, exclusion, and erasure. Through urgent litigation and other legal interventions, land planning objections, and advocacy, Adalah continues to challenge these measures to defend Palestinians’ rights to remain on their land, return to their homes, preserve the memory of the Nakba, and sustain the institutions that support refugee communities.
During these dark times, your support for Adalah’s crucial work in defending Palestinians’ human rights is needed more than ever
