entitled Catastrophic Thinking: Did Ben-Gurion Try toRewrite History?, Shay Hazkani revealed the intriguing process of how Israel'sfirst Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion worked closely with a group of IsraeliJewish scholars to develop a version of events to describe what had taken placein 1947-48.Ben-Gurion wanted to propagate a version of history that was consistentwith Israel's political position - yet he still lacked "evidence" tosupport that position. The manufactured "evidence" eventually became"history", and no other narrative was allowed to challenge Israel'stake on the Nakba.The Israeli leader assigned scholars in the civil service the task offashioning an alternative history that continues to permeate Israeli thinkinguntil this day.Distracting from history - or the current reality of the horrificoccupation of Palestine - has been in motion for nearly 70 years.The absurdity of the Israeli celebration of the 50th anniversary of itsoccupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, is not escapingall Israelis, of course."A state that celebrates 50 years of occupation is a state whose senseof direction has been lost, its ability to distinguish good from evilimpaired," Israeli commentator Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz. "Whatexactly is there to celebrate, Israelis? Fifty years of bloodshed, abuse,disinheritance and sadism? Only societies that have no conscience celebratesuch anniversaries."Gideon argues that Israel has won the war of 1967 but has "lost nearlyeverything else".Since then, Israel's arrogance, detestation of international law,"ongoing contempt for the world, the bragging and bullying" have allreached unprecedented heights.Gideon's article is entitled Our Nakba. He is right, of course; but if the Israeli"Nakba" is to be judged strictly on moral grounds, then the shamingmust start much earlier - at least 20 years before the war of 1967.More Jewish voices are joining a Palestinian intellectual movementthat has long aimed at redefining the roots of the Palestinian struggle. Writing in the Forward, Donna Nevel refuses toaccept that the discussion of the conflict in Palestine starts in the war andoccupation of 1967. "Those whoignore the Nakba - which Zionist and Israeli institutions have consistentlydone - are refusing to acknowledge Zionism as illegitimate from the beginningof its implementation."This is precisely why Israeli police recently blocked the March of Return, conductedannually by Palestinians in Israel.For years, Israel has been wary that a growing movement among Palestinians,Israelis and others around the world has been pushing for a paradigm shift inorder to understand the roots of the conflict in Palestine.That new thinking was a rational outcome of the end of the "peaceprocess" and the demise of the "two-state solution".Incapable of sustaining its founding myths, yet unable to offer analternative, the Israeli government is now using coercive measures to respondto the budding movement: punishing those who insist on commemorating the Nakba,fining organisations that participate in such events and even perceiving astraitors any Jewish individuals and groups that deviate from its officialthinking.In these cases, coercion hardly works. The March of Return has rapidly grown in size over the past fewyears, in defiance of increasingly repressive measures from the Israeliauthorities. It seems that nearly 70 years after the founding of Israel, the past isstill looming large.Fortunately, the Palestinian voices that have fought against the officialIsraeli narrative are now