By Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM)
The Nakbah -- literally "The Catastrophe" -- marks the forced expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians from their ancestral homes in 1948.
May 15, 2025, 77 years later, the catastrophe has not ended. It continues, with devastating intensity, and has now descended into one of the gravest humanitarian crises of our time.
The world, after nearly eight decades, has failed shamefully to uphold justice, enforce international law, or implement a single binding UN resolution in defense of the Palestinian people.
In the wake of the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza, the term "Nakbah" is no longer a historical reference -- it is a living, breathing reality.
Gaza is under siege. More than 35,000 lives have been lost in the latest Israeli onslaught. Famine, mass displacement, and targeted destruction of hospitals, schools, and places of worship reflect a strategy of ethnic cleansing in real time.
Yet, the so-called international community stands paralysed.
A Global Complicity of Silence
Where is the enforcement of the Geneva Conventions? Where is the application of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court? Where is the weight of the hundreds of UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions calling for the rights of the Palestinians to be respected?
The answer is bitter: nowhere.
The institutions that were supposed to protect human dignity and prevent the recurrence of genocides have become toothless. Worse, they have been manipulated by the powers that aid and abet Israel’s colonial aggression.
The United States continues to pour billions of dollars into Israel’s war machinery. The UK, Germany, and others speak of peace, while supplying arms and providing diplomatic cover.
The UN: A House of Broken Promises
Resolution 194 (1948) promised the right of return to Palestinian refugees. Resolution 242 (1967) called for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories. Resolution 2334 (2016) condemned settlement expansion.
Yet Israel has violated each one with impunity. Not once has it been sanctioned, isolated, or held accountable in the way other states have been. The UN, in the case of Palestine, has been reduced to issuing statements while allowing a member state to flout its authority and human rights law.
Palestinians have been betrayed -- not just by the occupier, but by the very world order that was supposed to protect the oppressed and hold the oppressor to account.
Foto credits: thehypertexts.com
Nakbah is Not a Past Event -- It is the Present
The suffering of the Palestinians is not just about history -- it is the daily reality of checkpoints, raids, home demolitions, land confiscation, illegal settlements, settler violence, imprisonment without trial, and now, total war.
The Nakbah continues through:
- The forced eviction in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
- The siege and starvation of Gaza.
- The assassination of journalists and medics.
- The imprisonment of children.
The criminalisation of any form of resistance
77 years on, the people of Palestine still live without a state, without security, without rights. Their olive trees are uprooted, their homes bulldozed, their voices silenced. Yet they stand. They resist. They refuse to be erased.
Moral Bankruptcy of the World Powers
What kind of world order allows an apartheid state to operate freely while resistance is labelled as terrorism? What kind of justice system permits the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, and UN schools in the name of “self-defense”?
The international system has become a moral farce, failing to act even in the face of clear evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The hypocrisy is glaring. Ukraine is armed and celebrated. Gaza is besieged and blamed. The difference? Race, religion, and geopolitical interest.
Photo credits: thehypertexts.com
The Muslim World Must Rise
It is no longer acceptable for the Muslim world to issue ceremonial statements and hollow condemnations. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Arab League, and regional blocs must take decisive steps:
- Mobilise economic sanctions against Israel and its allies.
- Suspend diplomatic ties.
- Support international legal action against Israeli war criminals.
- Create a unified defense of Al-Quds and Palestinian sovereignty.
- Channel humanitarian and resistance support unconditionally to Gaza and the West Bank.
A Call to the Global South and People of Conscience
The Global South, especially nations that suffered from colonialism, must not betray Palestine. This is not just a Palestinian struggle -- it is a universal one. It is a test of whether humanity still exists in global governance.
MAPIM calls on civil society, labour unions, faith communities, and youth movements to escalate the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The apartheid regime must be economically and culturally isolated, as was done to South Africa.
Photo credits: thehypertexts.com
Photo credits: BBC UK
Conclusion: The Time is Now
Nakbah 2025 is a global indictment. It is a mirror of our failure as a human community to act in the face of genocide and dispossession. But it is also a call to conscience -- a moment to reignite the global struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Palestine will be free -- not by the mercy of the occupier or the silence of complicit states -- but by the steadfastness of its people and the solidarity of a global resistance.
"The Nakbah will end only when justice is restored, when the refugees return, when the occupation is dismantled, and when Palestine is free from the river to the sea."
Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid is the President of Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM). This article is author's opinion.
