The Insight: This month marks the 78th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. What is the Nakba, and what does it represent to the Palestinian people? Ahmed AbuDalfa The Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) is the tragic and defining turning point in the history of the Palestinian people. In 1948, more than 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced as a result of attacks carried out by Zionist militias, the destruction of 531 Palestinian towns and villages, the perpetration of 70 massacres, and the killing of 15,000 Palestinians. This led to the dispersal of the Palestinian people and turned them into refugees in their homeland and across the diaspora, marking the beginning of a long era of displacement and suffering whose effects continue to this day.
The Nakba constitutes a form of ethnic cleansing aimed at uprooting the defenseless Palestinian people from their land and replacing them with other groups as part of an organized plan. For the Palestinian people, the Nakba is not merely a historical memory, but an ongoing reality that persists through policies of forced displacement, settlement expansion, land confiscation, genocide, siege, racist laws, imprisonment, and attempts to erase Palestinian national identity.
This year, our people commemorate this painful anniversary under the slogan: “We Will Not Leave, Our Roots Are Deeper Than Your Destruction,” to reaffirm our attachment to our land and our national rights — foremost among them the right of return, freedom, and independence — and our belief that rights do not expire with the passage of time, no matter how long it takes. The Insight: The Gaza Strip is witnessing unprecedented humanitarian conditions amid the genocidal war launched by the Israeli occupation, accompanied by widespread destruction and numerous number of civilian casualties.
How would you describe the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe there, and what message would you like to convey to the international community? Ahmed AbuDalfa: What our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are enduring is an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe that represents a continuation of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba of the past 78 years.Tens of thousands have been martyred or wounded, thousands remain missing beneath the rubble, and tens of thousands of children have been orphaned, all amid siege, starvation, and widespread destruction that has affected people, infrastructure, and every aspect of life. Gaza has been transformed into a completely devastated city.
Neighborhoods have been flattened to the ground, and hospitals, schools, and shelters have been put out of service, while more than two million Palestinians are living under catastrophic conditions without water, electricity, medicine, or sufficient food. But the tragedy cannot be measured by numbers alone. What has been destroyed is not merely buildings and roads, but the memory of an entire people. Homes are not just concrete walls, but the stories of families, the memories of children, and the dreams and daily lives of ordinary people. Entire families have been exterminated, children killed before they had the chance to grow up, and mothers left searching through the rubble for fragments of photographs or toys belonging to their children.
What has happened and continues to happen in Gaza constitutes a real test for the conscience of the world. Our message to the international community is clear: it is no longer acceptable to merely issue statements of concern. Urgent action is required to compel the occupation to stop its crimes, lift the siege, allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, begin reconstruction efforts, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, hold those responsible for these crimes accountable, and work toward ending the occupation as the root cause of this ongoing tragedy. All attempts by the occupation to push the people of Gaza toward displacement will fail in the face of our people’s steadfastness.
The Insight: In the West Bank, Israeli attacks are escalating through settlement expansion, raids on cities and refugee camps, and settler attacks. How do you view what is happening there?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
What is happening today in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is no longer merely a temporary escalation, but rather the systematic implementation of a racist settler-colonial project aimed at imposing a new reality by force through settlement expansion, the displacement of Palestinians, the fragmentation of Palestinian geography, and the undermining of any possibility for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. We are witnessing an unprecedented escalation in the construction and expansion of illegal settlements. The number of settlements and settlement outposts established on the land of the State of Palestine has risen to approximately 542 settlement sites inhabited by around 780,000 settlers, in blatant violation of international law and United Nations resolutions, which have clearly affirmed that settlements are illegal and legally null and void.
In addition, Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps are subjected to repeated daily raids carried out by Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by killings, arrests, destruction of infrastructure, and the terrorizing of civilians. At the same time, settler gangs carry out organized attacks against Palestinian citizens, their property, places of worship, and agricultural lands under the protection of the Israeli army and with encouragement and political cover from the far-right Israeli government. Therefore, what is happening is not merely “security measures,” as Israel attempts to portray it, but rather a systematic policy of organized terrorism, collective punishment, and gradual ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian existence itself and seeking to impose an apartheid system that discriminates between people on the basis of identity and nationality. The continuation of these policies destroys any opportunity for achieving a just peace, because peace cannot exist under occupation, settlement expansion, land confiscation, and the denial of the rights of the Palestinian people.
Despite all of this, our Palestinian people continue their legendary steadfastness and remain committed to their land, identity, and national rights, proving every day that the will for freedom and justice is stronger than oppression, displacement, and colonialism.
The Insight: The issue of Palestinian prisoners receives wide attention, especially in light of the recent law concerning the execution of prisoners. Could you tell us about the conditions of the prisoners?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
The issue of Palestinian prisoners is not merely a political or human rights issue, but one of the most painful issues in the life of the Palestinian people because it directly affects thousands of Palestinian families that have experienced the bitterness of imprisonment, deprivation, and loss. Hardly a Palestinian family exists without one of its members having experienced detention inside Israeli occupation prisons. These prisoners are prisoners of freedom. Today, more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are being held in Israeli occupation prisons, including hundreds of children and women, in addition to more than 3,500 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, in clear violation of the most basic principles of justice and international law.
There are also 190 prisoners who have spent more than twenty years behind bars, deprived of their most basic human rights and of seeing their families and children. Palestinian prisoners are subjected daily to systematic repressive policies, including torture, deliberate medical negligence, solitary confinement, starvation, as well as physical and psychological abuse and degrading violations of human dignity and rape according to documented international reports, these violations have escalated dangerously in recent times amid the growing rhetoric of extremism and racism within the Israeli government. As for the so-called “Execution of Prisoners Law,” it is an extremely dangerous development that exposes the true face of the occupation’s policies based on revenge and collective punishment.
This discriminatory law targets Palestinian prisoners alone and clearly entrenches a racist legal system based on double standards and apartheid. The discussion of imposing mandatory death sentences on Palestinian prisoners cannot be separated from the political incitement and hatred promoted by the Israeli government against our people.
The Insight: Many people speak about Israel’s impunity despite the ongoing violations against the Palestinian people. How do you view this issue?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
The continued impunity enjoyed by Israel, despite decades of documented violations and crimes committed against the Palestinian people, constitutes a stain on the conscience of the international community and clearly exposes the extent of double standards in the application of international law. It is unacceptable for a state to remain above accountability despite the genocide, displacement, siege, settlement expansion, and systematic destruction inflicted upon our people, including civilians, children, women, and infrastructure. The absence of genuine international accountability has encouraged Israel to persist in its policies, because any occupying power that feels immune from punishment will continue its violations without deterrence. What the Palestinian people are experiencing today is not merely a political crisis, but an ongoing humanitarian tragedy resulting from international silence and repeated failures to enforce justice.
The Palestinian people are not demanding special privileges, but only the rights guaranteed by international laws and conventions to all peoples of the world: the right to freedom, dignity, protection, and justice. Human rights cannot remain selective, applied in one place while ignored elsewhere according to political calculations and balances of power. The continuation of this policy undermines confidence in the international system and its institutions and sends a dangerous message that the law is applied only against the weak. Therefore, ending the policy of impunity is no longer only a Palestinian necessity, but also a moral and humanitarian necessity to preserve the credibility of international justice itself.
Accordingly, the international community is required to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and take serious and practical steps to ensure accountability, hold those responsible for violations accountable, and put an end to the prolonged suffering of our people.
The Insight: Many speak of double standards in the international community’s treatment of the Palestinian cause compared to other issues around the world. To what extent does this affect the prospects for achieving justice?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
Double standards (pose a serious challenge) to the credibility of the international system, which is founded on the principles of justice and human rights. When international laws are applied selectively, global confidence in the ability of international institutions to protect vulnerable populations and deliver justice to victims is undermined. For decades, the Palestinian people have perceived a clear disparity in how their suffering is addressed compared to other crises, whether in political discourse or practical measures. This reality affects not only Palestinians but also threatens the future of the international system itself. True justice cannot be selective; it must be based on a single standard applied equally to all, without exception.
The Insight: In light of these realities, do you believe peace and security can be achieved?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
Peace and stability are always possible, but they cannot be achieved as long as the Palestinian people remain under occupation and are subjected to killing, displacement, siege, and deprivation of their most basic human and national rights. The Palestinian people are victims of an ongoing settler-colonial occupation that has persisted for decades, as well as victims of settlement policies, aggression, and collective punishment that clearly violate international law and resolutions of international legitimacy. Peace cannot be built on injustice, force, or the denial of the rights of peoples, but rather on justice and respect for international law. Therefore, the true path toward security and stability begins with ending the Israeli occupation and implementing the relevant United Nations resolutions, foremost among them the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return in accordance with Resolution 194.
Experience has proven that ignoring the rights of the Palestinian people for 78 years and failing to hold the occupation accountable for its violations will only lead to more tension and instability. The occupation must understand that enough is enough, and that our people will neither surrender the banner nor submit.
The Insight: How do you respond to some attempts to portray the conflict in the Middle East as a religious conflict?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
Attempts to portray the conflict in the Middle East as religious are misleading and fail to reflect its true roots and causes. The essence of this conflict is not religious, as Netanyahu and his extremist government claim, but rather political—rooted in a settler-colonial occupation that seeks to deprive the Palestinian people of their legitimate national rights. The primary beneficiary of framing the conflict as religious is the extremist right-wing Israeli government led by Netanyahu, which employs this narrative to distort facts and justify the continuation of the occupation by diverting attention from the real core of the issue: the absence of justice and the denial of rights. For centuries, the peoples and religions of the region coexisted without religion being the source of conflict. The conflict began with the establishment of the occupation and the subsequent displacement of the Palestinian people in 1948, followed by ongoing settlement expansion, land confiscation, and the imposition of realities by force.
The Insight: What is the importance of international solidarity with the Palestinian people at this critical stage, and how do you view the Ghanaian position?
Ahmed AbuDalfa:
International solidarity with the Palestinian people carries profound political, humanitarian, and moral significance, especially in light of the difficult circumstances they face today. Such solidarity conveys the message that the Palestinian people are not alone, and that there remain nations, communities, and institutions that uphold justice, freedom, and human rights. True solidarity, however, should not be confined to statements of condemnation or expressions of concern; it must be translated into practical measures that support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, advance efforts to end the occupation, provide international protection, and ensure accountability for
violations.
History has shown that the will of free peoples can bring about change, and that justice, no matter how delayed, will ultimately prevail. I extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the people of Ghana and to the Ghanaian government for their principled and steadfast positions in support of the Palestinian people and their just cause.
Over the decades, Palestine and Ghana have built strong historical ties of friendship founded on mutual respect, trust, and genuine human solidarity. Ghana—its leadership and its people—has consistently been a voice for justice, freedom, and the right of peoples to self-determination, serving as a model of commitment to humanitarian values and the principles of international law. The honorable Ghanaian stance on the Palestinian cause reflects a deep belief in truth and justice, and a rejection of oppression and discrimination wherever they occur.
We deeply value the spirit of solidarity demonstrated by the Ghanaian people toward Palestinian people, as well as the shared values that unite our two nations—values rooted in human dignity, the struggle for freedom, and the belief in the right of peoples to live in peace and independence