Dr. Ardi Imseis: “The Nakba is a Structure, Not an Event. Its Authors Openly Admit its Aims”

United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee

A statement delivered by Dr. Ardi Imseis on May 17, 2024, at a panel discussion titled “1948-2024: The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba” convened by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. In his intervention, Dr. Ardi Imseis discusses the historical and ongoing impact of the Nakba, describing it as a “long-festering wound” on the conscience of the international community. He critiques the role of settler colonialism in Palestine and the continuous efforts to erase Palestinian national and collective existence. The statement emphasizes the responsibility of the international community, particularly the United Nations, in addressing and resolving the plight of the Palestinian people, arguing that the #Nakba is not merely a historical event but an ongoing structure of oppression and injustice.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People convened a commemorative Panel Discussion “1948-2024: The Ongoing Palestinian Nakba” on 17 May 2024 (10 a.m. – 1 p.m.) in the ECOSOC Chamber, at United Nations Headquarters.

By holding a commemoration of the Nakba, the Committee intended to continue highlighting this historical event marking the plight of the Palestinian people, following the 2023 Commemorations mandated by the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/77/23 of 30 November 2022.

The panelists included Phyllis Bennis, Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Washington, D.C.; Ardi Imseis, Assistant Professor of Law at Queen’s University, Ottawa, and Karameh Kuemmerle, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Poems were recited by Palestinian poet Zeina Azzam.

00:13:00 – Statement by Ambassador Riyad Mansour, representative of the State of Palestine. 00:21:30

– Poetry reading by Zeina Azzam

00:26:10 – Zeina Azzam read “Write my name on my leg, Mama” poem

00:37:32 – Presentation by Ardi Imseis, Assistant Professor of Law at Queen’s University, Ottawa

01:00:01 – Presentation by Karameh Kuemmerle, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School

01:13:16 – Presentation by Phyllis Bennis, Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Washington, D.C.