In Arabic, the word "nakba" means catastrophe or disaster. In reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the term Nakba or al-Nakba refers to the Palestinians' loss of their homeland between 1947 and 1949, before Israel's declaration of independence, as well as during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

It's thought that around 700,000 people in what is now Israel either fled or were forced from their homes. Many Palestinian refugees remain stateless to this day.

May 15, 1948, was the beginning of the Arab-Israeli war and has long been a day on which Palestinians take to the streets to protest against their displacement. Many bear Palestinian flags, bring the keys of their former homes or carry banners with the symbols of keys, illustrating the hope of returning home and what the community sees as their right to return.

In the past, some protests have turned into violent clashes. Israel has accused Hamas and other organizations that are categorized by the EU, the US and certain other countries as terror organizations of using the day to further their causes.

The term Nakba Day was coined in 1998 by then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He set the date as the official day for the commemoration of the loss of the Palestinian homeland.

Until the end of World War I, Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. It then fell under British control and was called the Mandate for Palestine. As antisemitism grew in Europe, an increasing number of Jews moved to what many saw as their ancestral homeland: Eretz Israel, the Promised Land, where Jews had always lived, albeit in much smaller numbers.

After the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, in which 6 million Jews........

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