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'Free Palestine forever': Bella Hadid recalls trauma of survivors of the 'never-ending Nakba'

'Free Palestine forever': Bella Hadid recalls trauma of survivors of the 'never-ending Nakba'

The Palestinian-American model shares the history of Palestine and pens a painful note for Nakba Day.
16 May, 2022

Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid has made her stance on her home country Palestine clear countless times and she's asserted that she will not stop raising her voice till Palestine is free. This Nakba Day, she penned an emotional note that talked about both the personal trauma her family went through and the pain Nakba survivors go through to this day, once again calling for Palestine to be free.

Bella re-shared a video by Al Jazeera on May 15, Nakba Day, that mapped out the history of Palestine and explained how the "great crisis" is not limited to a day or a year (1948) but "continues to affect more than 12 million Palestinians".

"Nakba Day. Thinking of my father today. Crying tears for him. Thinking of all of the Nakba survivors, now refugees. Our elders who are still not allowed to return to their homeland. I’m holding Palestine in my heart today. And everyday. The never ending Nakba," the supermodel captioned the post. "The feeling is just sad. Sad that this is another year of babies being born in an occupation. Another year of pain. Sad that my dad keeps aging another year, just to watch his people go through the same pain he experienced. Sad."

She highlighted the fact that not only was the pain ongoing, it was also overlooked and unacknowledged. "The only thing I wanted to do today was hug my baba and tell him how proud I am of him. Not only for being so resilient and surviving, but for living every single day with the extreme trauma that something like this causes a child. The worst part? No one would even validate his history and what his family had been through. 'There’s no such thing as Palestine'. That could possibly be the worst."

The supermodel ended the note with the call "Free Palestine forever" saying she's "proud to be Palestinian".

Her siblings Gigi and Alana also touched upon the issue.

Gigi re-shared Alana's Instagram story that featured their father. "Mohamed Hadid is a Nakba survivor and today we remember 74 years of ongoing Nakba and say we are proud Palestinians," it read.

Gigi added red hearts to the story and wrote "PROUD", tagging Alana and their father.

Bella continually uses her platform to take a stand for her home country and its people. Just two days back, she slammed Israeli forces for attacking slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh's funeral procession, saying it was indicative of the kind of torture and abuse Palestinians face at the hands of the Israeli military. She also exposed Instagram for shadow-banning her and countless others when they spoke up for Palestine, in April. The model said she will "continue to come forward with peace" to speak against violence against her people.

Comments

M Emad May 16, 2022 02:36pm
'free palestine forever' from Terrorism.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad May 16, 2022 02:45pm
She is 100 percent right.
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MG May 16, 2022 04:39pm
And who cares?
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Ali Sabir May 16, 2022 05:18pm
... The Arab armies lost wars against Israel in 1948. 1956, 1967 and 1973. There must have been a better way. Instead of making the best deal possible with the Israelis the Palestinians waited in vein to be rescued by the Arab League.
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Ali Sabir May 16, 2022 05:29pm
... On 15 May 1948, the civil war between Palestinians and Israelis transformed into a conflict between Israel and four Arab states following the Israeli Declaration of Independence. The invading forces entered Palestine took control of Arab areas and then attacked Israeli forces and several Jewish settlements.
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ENGR Hamid Shafiq May 16, 2022 05:58pm
Free Palestine
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Free Palestine May 16, 2022 06:27pm
All Muslims are stand behind Bella Hadid for the freedom of all Palestinians and the land of Palestine. Israel better go for peace with all Palestinians and accept the State of Palestine. Let’s make a peace with no more fights and killings of any Palestinians or Israelis.
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Amir Aslam May 16, 2022 07:03pm
We support you Bella
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Syed May 16, 2022 10:15pm
My heart goes out to those under occupation Palestine and Kashmir. Especially Palestine. They have been suffering and putting up with some of the harshest prison like conditions now for over almost 80 years. They way Palestine issue is dealt with also adds to Muslim angers and their belief that West and the U.S. has double standards when it comes to Israel and their apartheid policies. Free Palestine, Free Kashmir for Ever!
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ENGR Hamid Shafiq May 16, 2022 11:05pm
@Ali Sabir we never succeeded till try again and again solution should be on principles of justice not order by an oppressor
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MC May 16, 2022 11:20pm
Everyone who supports Bella Haddid hopefully knows what she does for a living. Palestinians probably don’t want her support just due to her standards on morality. Maybe there is a need for a better role model to support the Palestinian cause.
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john May 16, 2022 11:55pm
is she muslim?
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Anonymouseee May 17, 2022 03:29am
We Pakistanis stand united with Palestine against the illegal Israeli occupation and brutality.
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A May 17, 2022 05:07am
US is really a free country. So much respect for the USA. And IK says US intervene in foreign country? They don’t even object in their own country.
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Nadeem Shah May 17, 2022 06:12am
Interestingly most of the Palestinian land was sold off to arriving Jews from Europe. Palestinians would wave their land deeds to the highest bidder so there's been wrong on both sides.
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Nadeem Shah May 17, 2022 06:13am
@Ali Sabir they were not fighting Israel in fact they were fighting the US France UK and other European superpowers....
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Abs UK May 17, 2022 06:54am
More power to you girl
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Oldhabibian May 17, 2022 08:40am
The passenger pigeon was a wild pigeon that was hunted. Everyone knew it was going extinct. Finally the law was passed to ban it's shooting ironically when it became extinct. Same appears to be the case for Palestinians. They will be given their freedom when the last one is dead.
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Nadia May 17, 2022 08:54pm
@Nadeem Shah where did you get your information, my grandfathers never sold their land to Jews. They were expled tortured and mascarred by the zionest. Read the history about the the mascarred palestinian in dir yasin, kafer qasim, safsaf and many more atrocities of the zionest.
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TruthMatters May 18, 2022 04:21pm
@Nadeem Shah Not sure what twisted piece of rewritten history you’re peddling, but Palestinian land was forcefully taken by Zionist terrorist groups of Haganah and Irgun, the latter being responsible for the King David Hotel bombing that claimed over 90 lives, nearly a third of which were Britons.
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TruthMatters May 18, 2022 04:22pm
@Nadeem Shah Not sure what twisted piece of rewritten history you’re peddling, but Palestinian land was forcefully taken by Zionist terrorist groups of Haganah and Irgun, the latter being responsible for the King David Hotel bombing that claimed over 90 lives, nearly a third of which were Britons.
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