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Society and refugees
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The Palestinian exile of 1948 marks the beginning of an ongoing identity struggle of a population of displaced persons sans a homeland. The devastation brought about by the initial expulsion of the Palestinian people is compounded by near-constant armed warfare both within the territories and in refugee camps in nearby nations that house Palestinian refugees. These constant bombardments are a detriment to collective and individual Palestinian identity, which has in turn become defined to a large extent externally (and internally to some degree) by armed resistant to Zionist influence solely, leading to a deficit in traditional, more positive national identity. The diaspora Palestinian population additionally faces complex struggles with acceptance …show more content…
It is not the city of Beirut specifically that holds the greater meaning for these individuals, but instead the concept of a temporary home in the face of exile. While these refugees hold ties to their native countries, they have come together under the umbrella of a foreign land and form a newly established union. Darwish finds comfort and asserts this idea of a cohesive refugee population that is established when people are expelled from their homelands and desperately seek acceptance in a new location. The narrator explains, “I don’t know Beirut, and I don’t know if I love or don’t love it. For the political refugee, there is a chair that can’t be changed or replaced” (92). Darwish interchangeably uses the pronoun “I” and the vague “the political refugee”, thus integrating himself with this larger population of refugees. This refugee population is ambivalent about Beirut itself, as they still maintain ties to their home countries and where they move is merely a temporary refuge. Despite this, the necessity of rooting oneself geographically after exile and the difficulties that accompany this process are principle concerns for all refugees alike, regardless of identity, which creates a shared struggle and story amongst this collective
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for a partition resolution that led to the establishment of the nation of Israel in May, 1948. This was great news for Jews in Palestine and the diaspora as it meant the fulfillment of the quest for the rebirth of their nation in their previous homeland after many years of wandering (Pappe, 2006, p. 12). However, their Palestinian Arab counterparts opposed to the establishment from the start felt cheated by the international community and remained categorical that the final answer to the Jewish problem would only be solved in blood and fire (Karsh, 2002, p. 8).
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
In an article published by the Palestine-Israel Journal, it spoke about a survey done of Palestinian living conditions in parts of their homeland, including West Bank and Gaza Strip. The findings of the survey provided insight of the Palestinians constant war against unbelievers. The article stated, “In examining social change in Palestinian society, it was found that a high level of social integration exists together with a low level of social advancement. And the economic disadvantages of prolonged occupation with restrictions on movement and unexpected curfews and closures have created an environment of uncertainty and an inability to plan ahead of time for individual, family and group
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
Bourke, Dale Hanson. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tough Questions, Direct Answers. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity, 2013. N. pag. Print.
One of the major issues between Palestinians and the Israelis is the unresolved issue of Palestinians not having an independent homeland. The Palestinians will continue to resist Israel until they have obtained a land of their own separate from Israel. In 1947, the United Nation proposed a Partition Plan that would separate the land between the Jews and the Arabs. The Arabs turned the United Nation down, even though that would have resulted in them gaining their own land. In return the Jews decided to declare their own independent state, Israel. After declaring its self an independent state a war broke out between Israel and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Palestinian, and Iraq. During the...
Gordon’s essays confirms that the Diaspora experience is a pivotal identity marker for the ‘true Israel’ in the Zionist view. As we have seen, the Diaspora experience is only ideological, not historical, as the experience was unlikely to have been as negative as represented by Gordon.
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugee is a term applied to anyone who is outside his/her own country and cannot return due to the fear of being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a group or political opinion. Many “refugees” that the media and the general public refer to today are known as internally displaced persons, which are people forced to flee their homes to avoid things such as armed conflict, generalized violations of human rights or natural and non-natural disasters. These two groups are distinctly different but fall ...
The beat-up Arab minivan slowed tentatively under the scrutinizing gaze of the Israeli soldier on duty. The routine was simple. About halfway between Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, the West Bank commercial center, the driver, blaring Arabic music on his radio, maneuvered around the dusty slabs of concrete that composed the Beit Haninah Checkpoint. He waited for a once-over by the Hebrew-speaking 18-year-old and permission to continue. Checkpoints-usually just small tin huts with a prominent white and blue Israeli flag-have become an integral and accepted part of Palestinian existence under Israeli occupation. But for me, a silent passenger in the minivan, each time we entered the no man's land between Israeli territory and the West Bank, my hea...
Edward Said “States” refutes the view Western journalists, writers, and scholars have created in order to represent Eastern cultures as mysterious, dangerous, unchanging, and inferior. According to Said, who was born in Jerusalem at that time Palestine, the way westerners represent eastern people impacts the way they interact with the global community. All of this adds to, Palestinians having to endure unfair challenges such as eviction, misrepresentation, and marginalization that have forced them to spread allover the world. By narrating the story of his country Palestine, and his fellow countrymen from their own perspective Said is able to humanize Palestinians to the reader. “States” makes the reader feel the importance of having a homeland, and how detrimental having a place to call home is when trying to maintain one’s culture. Which highlights the major trait of the Palestinian culture: survival. Throughout “States”, Said presents the self-preservation struggles Palestinians are doomed to face due to eviction, and marginalization. “Just as we once were taken from one habitat to a new one we can be moved again” (Said 543).
When Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he tried to articulate the actions the Palestinian Liberation Organization had taken and to justify those actions. Arafat points out that the struggles with Imperialism and Zionism began in 1881 when the first large wave of immigrants began arriving in Palestine. Prior to this date, the Muslims, Jews (20,000) and Christians all cohabitated peacefully (pop. 1/2 million). In 1917, the Belfour Declaration authorized increased immigration of European Jews to Palestine. 1 From 1917 to 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine increased to 600,000 and they rightfully owned only 6% of the Palestinian arable land. Palestine population at this time was now up to 1,250,000. 1
In Mahmoud Darwish’s “Identity Card,” a Palestinian confronts Israeli border guards and orders them to take his claims and “put them on record.” He is tired and angry about the injustice and exile of Palestinians from Israeli government. With each stanza, the speaker provides new pieces of information about his background, about his family, and makes wholehearted statements about his rights as a Palestinian citizen.
...estinians. The indigenous Arab population of Palestine has been systematically discriminated against since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which created Israel for the Jews at the expense of a native population, which has been denied its own nationhood and become dispossessed, marginalized people (Beginners).”
All refugee’s lives get turned inside out while they are going through the movements of grieving, moving to get into their new country, and finding how to feel safe in their new home. Everyone just wants to feel safe, some just have to move to become safe. Others have to fight their way through it for a better life. Although, when some move it does not get better right away because many people are discriminated. But all the same, refugee’s lives get turned inside out while they are going through the movements of grieving, moving to get into their new country, and finding how to feel safe in their new home. When refugee’s finally feel safe in their new home, they adapt to their prior customs. All refugee’s go through something similar. People from different countries may have different struggles at first. But at the end of the day, both of their lives turn, “Inside Out and Back