Approaches to Nakba (Essay Sample)

Approaches to Nakba Name Institution Approaches to Nakba The establishment of Israel in 1948 transformed the landscape of the Middle East, and continues to affect the Palestinian people to date. The general reaction by people in the region was anger and a call to arms, which ultimately ended to defeat. The understanding of the events of 1948 by scholars from the Arab East has been inconsistent with the understanding of the occupation as “al-nakbah” differing from one scholar to the other. Despite the prescribed readings differing in content matter, they both confirm that “al-nakbah” has affected generations since it happened, leaving Palestinians traumatized. In Al-Nakbah in Arab Thought, Anaheed Al-Hardan explains that Palestinians have suffered immensely from al-nakbah and continue to suffer with no resolution in sight. The author makes a sound argument, in this case, because most literature focuses on why al-nakbah occurred without recommending how to help the Palestinian people (Al-Hardan, 2015). Most seem to forget that the occupation of Palestine was the first big blow to the Arab nation after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Al-Hardan also explains that Palestinians should look at al-nakbah introspectively to help relieve the suspended trauma they have suffered for so long. In Surviving Images, Kamran Rastegar explores how the film industry has handled al-nakbah. Issues covered in the films mentioned in the article include the experiences of war, legacies of war on survivors, and redemption (Rastegar, 2015). The Palestinian experience exemplifies a case of suspended trauma, with generations of Palestinians still unable to process what happened in 1948. Rastegar explains that the lack of a resoluti...