Palestine

The history of Palestine is inevitably linked to resistance and suffering in the face of Israel's occupation and forced displacement. In 1947, the United Nations Plan for the partition of Palestine divided the territory into a Jewish and an Arab state. This led to the creation of Israel in 1948, an event Palestinians call the Nakba ('catastrophe'), which involved the forced displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians and the destruction of hundreds of Arab villages.

In the years that followed, Israel occupied 77% of the original territory, including West Jerusalem, while the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control and the West Bank under Jordanian rule. The Israeli occupation intensified after the Six-Day War in 1967, with the annexation of East Jerusalem and the expansion of illegal settlements in contravention of international law. To this day, settlers continue to commit crimes of all kinds to appropriate Palestinian land and property.

In Gaza, the bombardment and blockade have created catastrophic conditions, exacerbating civilian suffering. The International Court of Justice has called on Israel to "avert" the genocide by which it is restricting basic rights and essential services in this region.

Palestine remains a symbol of the struggle for the right of return and self-determination in the face of decades of oppression, occupation, war crimes and crimes against humanity.