“Nakba” is the Arabic word for “catastrophe”. It is the term used to describe the movement (forcibly or otherwise) of approximately 700,000 Palestinians from the land currently known as the State of Israel in 1948. It is also increasingly used as a term to describe everything that has happened in the Middle East since the European powers (and in particular France and Great Britain) began to exert varying degrees of influence and control during the 20th century in that part of the world, culminating in the British League of Nations Mandate over Palestine between the end of World War I and 1948, when the British pulled out, leading to the proclaimed creation of the State of Israel covering a large part of that land. The term is additionally used to refer to the situation that the displaced Palestinians and their descendants have faced since they have left pre-Israel Palestine, whether they are currently in the parts of Palestine now known as the West Bank or Gaza, or whether they are living elsewhere.

Of course, the Jews have had their own Nakba, known to themselves and the world as the Holocaust, where approximately 6,000,000 lost their lives not in Israel or the Middle East, but in Europe. With basically nowhere to go, the surviving Jews began to pressure Britain to let them into Palestine, their ancient place of residence and their biblical homeland, and to permit the establishment of a political state for the Jews.

At the time, there was much uninhabited, or underinhabited, land in Palestine, even though there were a substantial number of Arabs living there. Some of these Arabs had been there for generations, and some had recently migrated there during the first part of the 20th century. Some were farmers, some city dwellers, and some nomadic.

The United Nations proposed a partitioning of the land, creating both an Arab and a Jewish state. The Jews accepted the partition, the Arabs did not, the Jews declared independence on the part of the land allocated to them by the partition, and seven neighboring Arab states attacked the new Jewish, resulting in a war in 1948. This war was won by the Jews. As in all wars, there were atrocities perpetrated by both sides, and about half of the Arabs who had been living in what became the Jewish state left on their own, were tricked into leaving (sometimes by Arab armies promising them they could return upon victory), or were kicked out by the Israeli military.

After the war was over, some of the Arabs wanted to return; the Jews said “no”, and their homes and lands were confiscated. Rather than say “ok, you won, we lost”, the Arabs have maintained their right of return ever since, have declared not only the 700,000 displaced Palestinians but their 5 million descendants today as refugees, and have continued to affirm that Israel is an illegitimate state and the the Arabs have the right to the land from the (Mediterranean) Sea to the (Jordan) River.

The Nazi-caused Nakba (the Holocaust) is not, however, the only catastrophe faced by the Jews. In 1948, there were about 750,000 Jews living in Muslim countries – particularly in Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. About 700,000 of them were kicked out of these countries. Most made their way to Israel, some to Europe. But virtually all of these countries are today Juden-frei, and their displaced Jews are not considered by any of these countries or by any international organization to have a right to return, even if they wanted to return. Meanwhile, by the way, 2,000,000 Arabs – largely descendants of those Arabs who stayed in Israel in 1948 – still live in Israel as welcome citizens.

There have been subsequent wars. Perhaps the most significant was in 1967, when Israel again won, and took over a lot of territory not included within the boundaries of the state in 1948. Since 1967, some of this land as been annexed by Israel (the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem), some has been returned (Sinai), some has been abandoned (Gaza), and some remains under occupation (the West Bank). Over a half million Jews have moved into the part of the land still under occupation, with pressure to expand even further into “Palestinian” territory.

The Palestinian Arabs who have remained in Gaza and the West Bank have been unable or unwilling to declare themselves an independent state, and the question of what the boundaries of such a state would be is still an open one.

As the current war between Hamas in Gaza and Israel rages, it is tempting to say that the only solution is a two state solution. And this is probably correct. But it is also probably correct to say that the two “states” involved – Palestine and Israel – will be unable to achieve this solution. Perhaps the only way the two state solution can be achieved is with all of the moderate Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, the Abraham Accord states and Saudi Arabia) pressing a solution on the Palestinians, one that Israel will agree to, one that will provide ways for the 2+ million who live in Gaza to be able to move around the world as they wish, and one that will guarantee security (perhaps with the help of the US and the UN) over a long term. Israel would want to ensure security and no “right of return”. Other than that, I would assume everything would be open.

Giving up the right of return would be difficult for the Palestinians, as so much of their psychological makeup seems to be based on the illegitimacy of Israel altogether. Creating a secure situation for Israel without having Israel wielding direct military power in a new Palestinian country will be difficult for Israel, trusting no one other than itself (and maybe not even itself today). But what other choices will there be?

Both sides will have to repress historical fear from their national psyches. Israel will have to realize that it will need to live within the boundaries assigned to it by whatever agreement is made. Palestine will have to agree that its state would be limited to the boundaries assigned to it by that same agreement.

Prior to 1948, there was no Israeli state, and there was no Palestinian state. All of the land was part of the British mandate and, prior to that, all was part of the Ottoman Empire, a Turkish state. For the past 75 years, there has been an Israeli state, but the Palestinians have failed or refused to create their own state.

How a Palestinian state would be organized is another question, especially on an interim basis. Israel cannot dictate it, the U.S. and other western nations cannot dictate it. This is why the moderate Arab states must come to the rescue.

For good or for bad, we will see how all of this plays out.