The cause of Palestinian violence against Israel is the illegal occupation by that nation of Palestinian territory, leaving Palestinians with no choice but to defend themselves against their hostile occupiers. During World War II, the Allies praised the efforts of the European partisans and the armed resistance against the Nazis, but today, the world condemns the same efforts of Palestinian civilians fighting against their illegal occupiers and oppressors.
The Palestinian people deserve their rightful territories and violence against Israel will continue until Israel returns all the land taken from Arab countries since 1967 and also allows all Palestinian refugees the right of return to Israel. Just like the Nazis,
Israel conducts military operations against their neighbors and does so without any regard for civilian casualties" (Evans, 2008).
Analysis:
Subject #1 is an American-born Jew whose parents survived the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. Her parents took her to Israel several times as a child and always hoped to retire their eventually. Her parents' experience during the Holocaust contributed substantially to her perspective of the world, and particularly to her Jewish identity and her view of Israel as the rightful homeland of the Jews. This upbringing also contributed to a personal commitment never to allow herself to tolerate anti-Semitism or persecution because of her religious and cultural identity and she greatly admires the bravery of Israeli citizens who all serve in the IDF beginning at age 18. In 2003, she was informed that a childhood friend from a kibbutz in Israel was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in an outdoor market in Jerusalem.
Subject #2 is a Lebanese-born naturalized American citizen whose father and older brother were killed fighting against Israel in 1973 and 1982, respectively. Her mother always told her that her father and brother were martyred trying to protect their people from Israel's many expansionist wars to capture more and more territory,...
Though educated in the U.S., this subject's mother supplemented her American education with Arab children's textbooks that portrayed Israelis as violent persecutors of innocent Arabs.
According to her mother, Israel was created illegally in the first place because the British Mandate after the 1922 Balfour Declaration was itself illegal. Consequently, she believes that Israel is an aggressive, expansionist aggressor that is supported and protected by the U.S. To provide a Western foothold on Arab land and oil reserves in the Middle East. She prays for Israel's eventual complete destruction and hopes to witness the expulsion of all Jews from the land that her family has always called "Palestine" instead of "Israel.."
These diametrically different perceptions are, in very large part, the direct result of the influence of parental and cultural beliefs and attitudes transmitted to the subjects both directly and indirectly throughout their lives (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2005).
Ultimately, foundational attitudes reinforced continually in this fashion eventually become such a fundamental part of personal psychological orientation and perception that the subjects may never be capable of re-evaluating any aspect of their beliefs or of adjusting their expectations, even in light of changes in factual circumstances (Gerrig & (Zimbardo, 2005). The fact that the perceptions of both subjects are intimately related to their family's psychological orientation and emotional losses only further diminishes any hope of changing those long-held, emotionally-charged points-of-view (McWilliams, 2004).
Bibliography
Evans, H. (2008). Poisoning Minds in Bethlehem. U.S. News & World Report, Vol.
145, No. 14 (p. 76).
Gerrig, R, Zimbardo, P. (2005) Psychology and Life. 17th Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
McWilliams, N. (2004) Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide. New York:…
