Palestinian Conflict - Essay Example

Palestinian Conflict Introduction Edward Said is considered to be the 'tireless spokesman' for the struggle of the Palestinian nation, and has represented of Palestinian regime in the West. Edward Said stood against the hostile and aggressive policies of the Israeli government, and proactively opposed and vehemently the Israeli policies. Edward Said accused the Israeli government for 'anti-Arab racism', and 'xenophobia of Arab states', and strongly condemned the 'Israeli exclusiveness’ and formulated the concept of Palestinian state. Edward Said believed that ethnocentrism ignored by the Arab states jeopardized the situation of the Palestinian state, and therefore expressed his 'is unconcerned about the far greater xenophobia of Arab states, like Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates which deny citizenship even to people born there in the third or fourth generation'. Said admitted that the policies of the Arab states have been worst than the practices of the Israeli government, and the reason attributed towards such behavior has been the 'glorification of raw power, blind subservience to authority, and a frightening hatred of others' (Juetten, 2004). Ethnocentrism was mainly responsible towards the political failure of the Middle East region, and the human rights atrocities committed by the extremist forces of Israel and Palestine aggravated the situation. Discussion The terminology of nation was well-defined, and the ethnocentrism affiliated with the Palestinian population in particular, and the people of Middle East in general were focused and highlighted. Said is considered to be the 'major force in the emerging discourse on the post-colonial', and the principles of the states were rephrased. It was observed that Said reflected a conviction towards 'literary criticism' (Juetten, 2004), and integrated the historical and social circumstances for the characterization in constructive and evident manner, to avoid assertion. The concept of ethnocentrism was carried soon after Said was exiled, and it is believed that the exile was an opportunity for Edward to 'overcoming narrow-mindedness and taking an outside view on the familiar while, at the same time, never being an end in itself and rather always connected with a desire for the return and normalization of the affairs' (Juetten, 2004). The common understanding between the analysts of the Middle East affairs and the critics of Edward Said is that he reflected he dwelled in pluralistic world, and therefore reflected 'ethical cosmopolitanism, which takes common humanity as its goal'. Said insisted and rephrased that the development of universalism and state governing principles are based on 'continual taking of another's place' (Juetten, 2004), and refuted the concept which linked the development of the universalism with the abstraction. Edward Said was previously considered to be an outstanding Palestinian academic, who emerged as 'Palestinians' most famous and revered spokesman' (Juetten, 2004). The analysts are of the opinion that the Palestinian situation deeply influenced his 'intellectual capabilities', and the this is to be considered as the core of the 'idea of dispossession', where the direct reference is being towards the 'actual dispossession of Palestinians or the intellectual dispossession of the colonized', where the grieved party was subjected to severe conditions and were traumatized, and their agenda was ignored, which was finally presented through 'prism of oriental-ism' (Juetten, 2004). Said is considered to be the spokesman for the Palestinian Diaspora, but after 1992 his affiliation towards the occupied territories and East Jerusalem was more concentrated, and therefore he introduced different proposals for the settlement of the issuers, but the proposals were not centered on pivotal stand, rather the motive of the proposal with reference to the solution of the affairs of the disputed state was to achieve peace through reconciliation, and sacrificial spirit rather than geographic and demographic repositioning. Said recommended different approach, at different interval for the settlement of the disputed region, he initially agreed over the two-state solution for Israel-Palestine but then expressed his reservations towards the proposals, and supported one-state solution for the crisis. Edward Said explained that the Israel represented the Western interests and access towards the Middle East region, and categorically proved that the Israel was the reflection of the western approach and understanding towards the Islam, therefore the relationship of the might and knowledge dispensed 'a critique of the political consequences it engendered, namely, a complete erasure of the Palestinian plight from the Western public' (Juetten, 2004) which de-motivated and contradicted the validity of the stately principles, and its imposition was refuted. Said refused to accept the proposal forwarded by Benny Morris, who insisted that the 'history of the Palestinian dispossession could be reconstructed on the basis of archival documents in the possession of the Israeli community' (Juetten, 2004). Edward insisted that the oral history has to be taken into consideration for the settlement of the stately dispute, and insisted to overview the 'ideological framework of which these documents were an expression' (Juetten, 2004). It was noted that Said initially supported the two-state solution for the resolution of the crisis, and then personally recommended for the rejection of the two-state governing solution, and supported the one-state solution. Said personally believed that ethnocentrism is significant, and therefore condemned and criticized the corrupt and malfunctioning of the Palestinian leadership, and continuous ignorance of he Palestinian political leadership of such vital factors. Conclusion The analysts believed that the Edward reflected secular stand, which is the integration of the 'ethnic particular-ism as well as religion and is situated within the discourse about identity' (Juetten, 2004). It is believed that the secularism reflected by the Edward was not rooted on ethnic grounds, and organic metaphors were discarded, and therefore he proposed 'a universalistic lexicon of rights multiculturalism and communitarian-ism are not viable alternatives' (Juetten, 2004). Reference 1. Timo Juetten. Contexts and Consequences: A Conference in Memory of Edward Said. University of Sussex Publication. 2004 Read More