Addressing the Ongoing Effects of the Nakba: Experiences and Challenges that Israel’s Arab Social Workers Face

Abstract

Abstract The Nakba (‘catastrophe’ in Arabic) began in 1948 with the displacement and dispossession of many Palestinians, leaving a lasting impact on Palestinian society and individual identity. To this day Palestinian social workers must address the difficulties of Palestinians deriving from the Nakba whilst they themselves contend with its ramifications. This descriptive qualitative study, conducted in 2021 using in-depth semi-structured interviews, explored the personal experiences of eighteen Palestinian Arab social workers in Israel who are members of the third generation of the Nakba. Four main themes emerged from the data analysis: ongoing pain, the struggle for justice, the comparison of the Nakba to the Holocaust and perseverance following trauma. However, participants from financially and socially established families in villages whose inhabitants were not displaced reported experiencing growth and resilience. The recommendations include creating safe spaces for Israel’s Arab social workers, where their perspectives can be heard and valued; action by national and international social work organisations to help repeal Israel’s Nakba Law, which seeks to suppress discussion of the Nakba; and inclusion of the Nakba and its consequences in social work curricula. The findings are relevant to social workers in silenced minorities worldwide.