Nakba denial
Nakba denial is a form of historical denialism pertaining to the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and its accompanying effects, which Palestinians refer to collectively as the "Nakba" (lit. 'catastrophe'). Underlying assumptions of Nakba denial cited by scholars can include the denial of historically documented violence against Palestinians, the denial of a distinct Palestinian identity, the idea that Palestine was barren land, and the notion that Palestinian dispossession was part of mutual transfers between Arabs and Jews justified by war. Some historians say that denial of the Nakba has become a core component of Zionist narratives, and was largely facilitated by early Israeli historiography. Beginning in the 1980s, the New Historians, working from declassified archives, advanced historical accounts that challenged Nakba denial, and significant volumes of Israeli Jewish literature have also emerged shedding more light on the period.
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