Dear Friend,

I invite you to join us tomorrow for the Nakba Remembrance Ceremony, where we come together to remember the lives, homes, and communities lost in 1948, and to acknowledge the reality that Palestinians continue to face today.

I am a descendant of Palestinian refugees who were expelled from their homes in Haifa in 1948. I grew up with stories of loss and displacement, and I carried that painful history with me. My grandparents were made refugees in their own homeland, and they lived their entire lives longing for home. They spoke of having to leave everything behind, including their memories from there.

For us as Palestinians, the Nakba is not just a moment in history. It is an ongoing reality, as we continue to face injustice today.

My Israeli friend and member of the Nakba Remembrance Ceremony Committee, Nimrod, told me that when his grandmother arrived in Haifa from Europe in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust, she heard trucks early in the morning and the voices of men, women, and children outside. She could not bring herself to look out the window. Only later did she realize that the people being loaded onto the trucks and taken from the city were Palestinians. Coming to terms with that was deeply difficult for someone who had survived the Holocaust - just as it is difficult for many Israelis to recognize that the Nakba is also part of Israel’s history.

As Palestinians and Israelis standing together, we believe that facing hard truths together matters. Remembering the Nakba is not only about the past - it is about recognizing the human cost of ongoing violence and holding onto the possibility of a future built on freedom, dignity, and equality for everyone living here.

I hope you will register below to join us.