The religious aspect of the conflict is that the Jews believe that the land was given to them by God and they were destined to return to the land while the Muslims (who constitute the majority of the Palestinians) also consider Palestine and particularly Jerusalem to be holy land. Since many Israelis have immigrated from Europe, there is an element of racial enmity between the two communities as well. ("Summary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict") Why are a lot of people in U.S. so fearful of NAFTA?

NAFTA has evoked opposition and fear from opposite ends of the political sphere. While the labor unions, environmental groups and consumer advocates such as Ralph Nader had always predicted that the agreement would result in "increased pollution, lost jobs, lower wages and contaminated food," (Day, para 2) staunch conservatives such as Pat Buchanan have now joined the chorus against such 'free trade agreements.' Writing in an op-ed column in 2005, Buchanan observes: "Today's trade agreements are about reshaping the world to conform to the demands of transnational corporations that have shed their national identities and loyalties and want to shed their U.S. workers." (Buchanan, 1) Conservatives believe that free trade agreements such as NAFTA only benefit these corporations which "get to fire their American workers and keep their...

For once, the left-leaning critics agree with the Conservatives, since they lament the lowering of wages and the loss of blue-collar manufacturing jobs in the U.S. due to the shifting of industries to Mexico in a post-NAFTA world.
Works Cited

Buchanan, Patrick. J. "Defeat NAFTA." The Washington Times. July 27, 2005. September 12, 2006. http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20-4529r.htm

Day, Bill. "The NAFTA Nightmare." Multinational Monitor.org. n.d. September 12, 2006. http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1992/10/mm1092_10.html

The Reunification of Germany." Encyclopedia Britannica Article. 2006.

Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. September 12, 2006. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-58219

Summary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." Israeli - Palestinian ProCon.org. 2006. September 12, 2006. http://www.israelipalestinianprocon.org/summary.html#intro

There was some thaw in the relations between the two during Chancellor Willy Brandt's tenure in the 1970s

The racial issue is less important in the conflict since the Arabs and the Jews share a common Semite ancestry.

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