lcc liberal arts studies / 2010 volume iii - LCC International University

RESPONSES TO CULTURAL HOMOGENY: THE CASE OF PALESTINE
Raja S. Tanas
Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology,
Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington, U.S.A.
Introduction
For close to 62 years now, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been much in the
public consciousness and in the news. Since the creation of the state of Israel in
Palestine in 1948 the relationship between the Palestinians and the Israelis can be
best described as a boxing match. No winner is declared until and unless the
opponent is defeated, killed, and eventually thrown out of the boxing ring.
In the past two decades, public opinion and interest in this conflict were
heightened, especially since the first Intifada of December 1987. Newspaper
readers and TV viewers received more than enough images of carnage and words
of desperation from both sides. The most recent images of carnage came from
Gaza just over a year ago. Rumors of future conflicts and perhaps regional wars are
still looming in the horizon at this very moment.
To many people, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict appears to be nothing more
than senseless violence over the quest for homogeny of culture, homogeny of
ideology, or homogeny of religion. While the native Palestinians want the Land of
Palestine only for Palestinians, the Israeli Jews want the Land of Palestine only for
Jews.
Paradigms attempting to explain the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are
plentiful. They compete among themselves and with each other. The abundance of
paradigms has contributed much to the misunderstanding surrounding the conflict
and, subsequently, to the proposition and implementation of a comprehensive
solution.
Since the tragic events of 9/11, the media in western countries appear to
have suddenly become fascinated with words like Arab, Muslim, Palestinian,
Christian, Jew, Israeli, terrorist, suicide bomber, jihad and jihadists, paradise and
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