The "Nakhba" or "catastrophe" narrative, coupled with its settler colonial corollary, dominates frameworks attacking Israel, aiming to demonize it and undermine its legitimacy as a sovereign Jewish state. This narrative, the author argues, selectively and incorrectly uses Jewish history, hindering conflict resolution. Historically, Jews have an unbroken 3,000-year record in the Middle East, with the majority residing there for over 95% of Jewish history.
Only for a brief 150 years (1800-1945) did a majority live in Europe, a demographic shift linked to potato cultivation and subsequent decline after 1881 and the Holocaust. Modern Jewish nationalism, Zionism, is presented as akin to other nationalisms emerging from the decline of the Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires. Unlike other nations, Jews lost their territorial "hardcore" after the Third Jewish-Roman War in 136 CE, when Rome killed 580,000 to one million Jews. The article contrasts the Greek-Turkish population exchange, where refugees were integrated, with the Palestinian refugee situation, suggesting a deliberate policy to perpetuate conflict.
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