History Professor Reads the Colonization History of Palestine

New readings of Palestine’s Nakba 1948  were presented by Al Quds University Modern History Professor Taysir Jabara, in a lecture held in Birzeit University on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of Al Nakba,  on May 14, 2016 at Birzeit University.Using examples from the 19th and 20th century and quotes from British and Zionists leaders, Jabara assured that The Nakba did not begin in 1948 but its origins lie over two centuries ago.Jabara pointed to the narratives that moved throughout history especially with the British Mandate in Palestine, Belfore Declaration and finally the massacres committed in Al Nakba.”“Even before Nakba, Zionists and British leaders had assured in their discourse that their goal is to forcefully displace Palestinians out of their homeland”, Jabara explained.Jabara claimed that defeat from the Nakba was more of a mental defeat rather than a political one. He went on explaining that the Israeli occupation tried to portray Palestinians leaving their homes and villages in 1948 out of fear.Jabara also pointed to the motives behind signing the Balfour Declaration in November 2, 1917: “The Government’s Imperial thinking played a big motive for signing such agreement. The needs of empire and to secure the route to India and guard the Suez Canal. Britain needed a safeguard and a strategic ally in the region.”