A partition decorated in phrases such as “To exist is resist” and “UMD Divest Now” stood tall on McKeldin Mall as students painted olives, Palestinian flags, and resistance slogans on kites and banners. More than 50 students gathered for the Nakba remembrance event organized by the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter Tuesday afternoon.
The word “nakba” meaning catastrophe in Arabic, is used to refer to the mass displacement of around 700,000 to 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 for the creation of Israel.
“Remembering the Nakba, it’s significant because it symbolizes that this issue did not start on October 7 and did not end on October 7,” said Saad Ijaz, who is an SJP member. “This has been 75 years of oppression, of systematic theft, of disenfranchisement, of slaughter [of] the ethnic Palestinians.”
Since Oct. 7 2023, Israel has killed more than 72,000 Palestinian people and displaced at least 1.9 million Gazans after Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to the United Nations and the Associated Press.
According to Ijaz, who is a sophomore government and politics and finance double major, it is the responsibility of students to educate their peers on the “truth” of Palestinian suffering.
“The goal of this event is to remember the people who have been affected, to pay our respects, to honor them, to honor our martyrs, to honor the people who are still alive and still struggling,” said Sara Ahmed, a junior psychology and criminology double major and SJP member.
In addition to the arts and crafts that students could participate in, the event included a halaqah, a gathering for the discussion of Islamic teachings, related to Palestine and stories shared by Palestinian students about their families’ experience in the Nakba.
The event was held on the same day as Israel Fest, an annual celebration of Israel hosted by Maryland Hillel in partnership with Jewish student organizations on campus. Israel Fest has been boycotted by SJP for years, the chapter says.
“Protests are very important in and of themselves, but events like this that focus more on expressing the Palestinian struggle and telling Palestinian stories through the means of arts,” said Mohammad Abukhdeir, a member of SJP. “Bringing people together to appreciate Palestine not just for the struggle that Palestinians face, but for its rich history.”
Abukhdeir’s family hails from a neighborhood in Palestine called Shu’afat. The sophomore bioengineering major’s family was temporarily displaced during the 1948 Nakba. However, upon their return they lost a lot of their land to Israeli settlements. He said that his family had it “relatively easy” compared to what other Palestinians experienced during the Nakba.
“Our people have been dealing with occupation and genocide and ethnic cleansing for many, many decades at this point,” said Abukhdeir. “It’s just important to take that into account before we believe like the Israeli narrative that Palestinians just are hateful or terrorists.”
Image credits: Cover photo by Tasnia Ashraf for Al-Hikmah.
Al-Hikmah 
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