2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians known as “the Nakba” or “the Catastrophe”. The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Nakba at UN Headquarters in New York.

For the first time in the history of the UN, this anniversary was commemorated pursuant to the mandate by the General Assembly (A/RES/77/23 of 30 November 2022).

The CEIRPP organized a High-Level Special Meeting on 15 May 2023, in Conference Room 4.  The High-Level event will be conducted in the six official languages.  The High-Level event was presided over by the Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Cheikh Niang. It included a keynote address by the President of the State of Palestine, H.E. Mahmoud Abbas, and statements by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, representatives of Regional Groups and civil society.  The High-Level event was conducted in the six official languages.

Mahmoud Abbas (centre right), President of the State of Palestine, addresses the event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Nakba, held by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa (centre), an “Ambassador of Palestinian heritage”, performs during the special commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba is held in the General Assembly Hall.

A Special Commemorative Event was held in the General Assembly Hall in the evening. The event brought to life the Palestinian journey and aimed at creating an immersive experience of the Nakba through live music, photos, videos, and personal testimonies. This was an occasion to highlight that the noble goals of justice and peace, require recognizing the reality and history of the Palestinian people’s plight and ensuring the fulfillment of their inalienable rights.

The Commemoration featured a performance by Palestinian singer Sanaa Moussa, an “Ambassador of Palestinian heritage.”  

Naseem Alatrash, Grammy Award-nominee cellist, and composer is performing at the UN GA hall

A musical composition around the Nakba entitled “Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas” by Naseem Alatrash, Grammy Award-nominee cellist and composer, accompanied by the New York Arabic Orchestra was directed by Eugene Friesen, four-time Grammy Award Winner. 

These performances were accompanied by audio-visual material.

Heads of State:  Algeria (Arabic); Venezuela (Spanish, English); Indonesia (Indonesian); Senegal (French); Tunisia (Arabic); Türkiye (English, Turkish); Qatar (Arabic); Egypt (Arabic); Jordan (Arabic); Iran (English) 

Heads of Government:   Cuba (Spanish); Kuwait (English and Arabic); Guyana (English); Malaysia (English); Bangladesh (English) 

Ministers for Foreign Affairs:  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Bahrain (Arabic); Namibia (English); Nicaragua (Spanish, English); People’s Republic of China (Chinese, English); Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic); United Arab Emirates (Arabic); Lebanon (Arabic)

Government:   Maldives (English); South Africa (English); Mozambique (English)

International organizations:  African Union (English); League of Arab States (Arabic); The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Arabic), Non-Aligned Movement (English)

The event “Memories of the Nakba and its impact on Palestinians,” a discussion with Nadine Sayegh, author of the book “Oranges from Jaffa” was held on the margins of the 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and was convened virtually, on 15 March 2023, under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP).

Ms. Nadine Sayegh presented her book and explained what encouraged her to write her family story. She mentioned that she wanted to capture the story of her father, a “time witness,” and part of the last generation who could claim to have been born in “Palestine”. The book’s story enhanced her father’s descendants’ pride to be Palestinians. The author also read extracts of her book, which portrayed Palestine before the Nakba as a modern, hard-working, culturally rich and tolerant society. The extracts she read also described how different religions lived side-by-side in Jaffa, and how its inhabitants were proud of the city’s rich heritage. For more details, please click here.

In this photograph, a convoy of trucks carries refugees and their belongings from Gaza to Hebron in the West Bank. © 1949 UN Archives Photographer Unknown

Palestine refugees have been on an epic journey since their catastrophic displacement in 1948 and remain, today, a scattered people, further displaced by conflict, blockaded and living under occupation, marginalized by national legislations, deprived of rights and fervently longing for a resolution of their exile and dispossession. UNRWA, the UN Agency created to bring human development and emergency assistance to Palestine refugees, has been with these Palestinians every step of the way. UNRWA photographers have chronicled the Palestine refugee experience since it started operations in 1950. This photo essay is a snapshot of the extensive UNRWA exhibition of archival photographs inaugurated in November 2013 in Jerusalem entitled, ‘The Long Journey of Palestine Refugees’. The images are drawn from the magnificent and extensive UNRWA archive which was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009, recognizing its historical value. To view the rest of the exhibition, please visit UNRWA website.

• UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/23 of 30 November 2022

• To read more about Nakba, please click here.