In her senior thesis, Noura Dabdoub talks about this emotional attachment Palestianians and Israelis have with their homeland and how it has created this sense of nationalism. She talks a lot about how both sides use history to connect themselves to the land and both actually have legitimate claims to the land, but both see the others claim as threatening to their own. After reading her sections on both sides I think the best solution would be the two-state solution. She makes the claim, and I feel it is a very solid one, that both sides need a homeland and it should be one that both feel a historical connection with. Everyone needs place where they can live freely and continue their familial history in connection with that of the past. Each side here need a place to feel an emotional link to, something that will give them a sense of permanence. Something especially important for the Jewish community after the threat of complete annihilation during and even after the holocaust.
Going along with this theme of needing a homeland Julie Peteet's article on Palestinian graffiti showed Palestinian resisitance to their homeland being occupied and controlled by Israelis. In the same way that land binds people together in a community, the Palestinians used graffitti as a way of communication that could bind the people together and encourage them to stand up to occupying forces. I thought the Palestinian persistance in this form of a non-violent protest was incredible. She talks about how the drawings and murals would be blacked out everyday, how the Israeli forces would often make the very boys who did the drawings cover them up, but they always continued to redraw them at night and suffer the consequences if caught. I like how she said this gave them an "uncensored voice" because they could write anything, any type of political message or anti-Israeli drawings and once this got the attention of the international media, they suddenly had a voice on the international level through journalists and such.
The only problem I see with your claim that a two state solution would give both sides a sense of homeland, is what do you do with the areas that both side claim as religious/important to their heritage? It sounds nice and dandy, the idea that you can give each side a piece of land to call their own, but really, that's the whole point of this conflict. They claim the same pieces of land, so how can you divide it up? I think if a two state solution were instituted, there would inevitably be someone on both sides that wasn't satisfied. To me, a two state solution is like saying to children that can't share, "Well you can each have half a ball." What good is half a ball? I also think it says you can disrespect your neighbor and still get what you want. It is ideal for everyone to have a proper sense of homeland, but I think they need to learn to cope with their differing neighbors. About the graffiti article, I was also really intrigued with how resilient the graffiti-ers were. I thought it was so inspiring that the young boys that crept out into the night to paint were the same boys that were forced to paint over their art in the morning. How sad, but how admirable.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the graffiti by the Palestinians showed an inner drive by them and how they feel about their land. Although their drawings are getting covered all the time, they don't care; they will go back the next day and do it all over again. This could be a lot worse...there is no harm in some drawings on a barrier wall. With all of the violence that has happened in the past, there is some luck that the Palestinians don't just attack the wall. I think that the messages on the wall are impacting so many people and although it may be hard to signal the message, anything could make a difference.
ReplyDeleteA two-state solution is not the best idea for approaching equality between the two groups of people. An economy structured through a newly created state being as small as it would be, would make it incredibly difficult for the Palestinian government when created to hold a stable central economy. in-flux of trade would not be present with the level of Hamas involvement, and imports would be well over 90% in such a state. This would easily leave a greater initial number of Palestinians homeless and worse off than they would be without the two-state solution. Israel helps Palestinian people more than is advertised by the media. That is the central issue, not a feeling of a needed homeland. That is merely an excuse for their agenda primarily, and even if it isn't, it is an emotional barrier to construction and development.
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