Every year on 15 May, Palestinian people observe Nakba Day. Nakba means ‘catastrophe’ and marks the anniversary of the day in 1948 which saw the mass displacement of Palestinians from their homes and the beginning of the destruction of the Palestinian homeland.
The Nakba did not end in 1948. Over the past 77 years, the Palestinian people have continued to be oppressed and dispossessed.
Israel’s 18 months of bombardment on Gaza has killed 18,000 children and damaged and destroyed more than 90 per cent of all homes in the Gaza Strip. Starved and under siege, no food, water, fuel or humanitarian aid has entered Gaza for a third month.
The Israeli Security Minister has stated that Gaza will soon be “completely destroyed” and emptied of the millions of Palestinians still living there.
Israel is not only destroying the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians, but their futures too. UN experts have described the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system as a ‘scholasticide’.
Education has been at a complete halt in Gaza for its 685,000 students since October 2023, and 95% of all schools have been damaged or destroyed. In the occupied West Bank, 57 schools are under threat of demolition.
Israeli authorities have issued closure orders for six UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem – affecting 800 Palestinian students and putting at risk the education of over 47,000 Palestinian refugee children enrolled in 96 UNRWA schools in the West Bank.
The NEU calls for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza and the end to the blockade to ensure the safe access of aid and humanitarian agencies. We further call on the UK Government to implement a full arms embargo with Israel until such time as these conditions prevail.