On May 15, 1948, five Arabs armies started a war – and lost. From that time on, many Arabs have called this loss a “nakba” (“catastrophe”). Ever since then, they have been seeking sympathy for losing a war which they began. If they are unhappy, perhaps they should not have started a war in the first place.
On that May 15, forces from Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq “swooped in… just hours after British forces withdrew from Palestine and Israel had declared its independence.” Until then, anyone born there was a Palestinian. Christians were Palestinians, Jews were Palestinians. The “place of birth” on every passport was stamped “Palestine.”
