Reading Response 8

The readings this week on Arab Jews in Palestine I found definitely confusing but also interesting.  The one about Ishaq Shami and the Arab Jew I thought raised some interesting points and even got me thinking about the name of the conflict, or I suppose more accurately the many names of the conflict and the problem since some of the Jews living in the area come from Arab countries, or just consider themselves culturally Arab, especially those who moved earlier in history when they considered Palestine to be part of the Arab world.  The more we read about the conflict and history of Jerusalem the more confused I am actually becoming and I can see why this conflict is so incredibly messy.  I liked the part of this article where he states "We are Arabic Jews just as there are American Jews- it's a historical fact." (156) clearly showing that they are all Jews just from different geographical and cultural locations.  He says people didn't use that distinction because the Israeli's didn't like it.  I understand now where the historical rift and difference comes from between the Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews, but I can't fully grasp why there is such an aversion to mixing the cultural aspects of these two areas, they are after all neighbors.  It may in a way come from the fear of losing identity as it could possibly be argued many have done here in the American melting pot, but in a way no culture is actually truly pure and without influence of another usually many, many others.