Monday, November 9, 2015

The Palestinian Conflict

There is a famous saying "if you don't know your history, it will repeat itself." This famous quote has been said for years and brought up a lot when discussing civil or social inequalities. We often like to say forget the past and move on, but it' crucial to know your past despite what happened or discover what is hidden. Chomsky and Pappè would say that telling people to forget about their past is the equivalent of "I've got what I want, and you forget what your concerns are. I'll just take what I want," (On Palestine pg. 49). That's what Palestinitans are often told when confronted with their border supression with the Isralis. But there is a bbigger history behind this issue that many people tend to look past, whcih in result they have the conflicts that they're dealing with today.

Let's look at post-World War II, after Jewish liberation across Europe, many Americans and American Jews didn't want to deal with their own people. Many look at it as taking up a burden that the rest of the world didn't want. There were even laws to keep Italians and Jews from immigrating into the United States. Similar to today with he Palestine conflict. Israeli's moved into foreign land and claimed it as their own and an entire people have to go without so the people of Israel can settle on their land. Yet, criticisms of the Palestine/Israel conflict like to point fingers at who's land it is now, forgetting the past, and taking on the future with an empty slate. Erasing the people who have been left homeless and even died fighting for their land; but they're continually told  to forget, forget about everything that was once yours and let us enjoy your former land.

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