globetrotter The Hague University of Applied Sciences
. March 2018 edition
RO OTZ
Anna Chur
editor’s note
no picture : An Pham
Roots are the source of life. They are what sustain us and where we all start. Whether literal or figurative, roots are what keep us grounded and a life without them is a life spent searching for them. The lotus flower is worshipped not necessarily because of its beauty but rather because of where it comes from. It's roots, steeped in muddy water, it blooms into a stunning delicate beauty. In this edition of globetrotter we went on an exploration of everything we see as roots, the things which help connect us to who we are. From everyone at Globetrotter we wish you happy reading! Isabelle Brooking
Midori U
Aubrey Adinata
rova
Ueda
Martina Dossena
contributors
Anastasia Kan
Esther Bellinsky
“Grow Where You Were Planted” or The Attitude of a Coward
3 1 by Anna Churova
Balls. How Was It and How Is It Now. by Anastasia Kan
p. 8-10
p. 1-4
Why Always Me ? by Martina Dossena
2 41 p. 5-7
ontent ontent
Movies & Personal Heritage
5
by Midori Ueda
(Un)solvable Conflict p. 13-16
Meatless Mondays to Save the World by Isabelle Brooking
1 6 p. 11-12
7
by Esther Bellinsky
p. 25-30
Recipes that Bring Me Back to My “Rootz” by An Pham
p. 17-24
“Grow where you were planted”
or
the attitude of a coward Anna Churova “We are children of the world, watching every day go by, changes my life, changesyour life, keeps us all anticipating”. Bee Gees knew what they were singing about and most of us, international students, can relate to that. Spoiler alert: the article is based on the personal experience, hence very subjective.If you don’t relate to that, it doesn’t mean you can’t call yourself ‘a child of the world’.Cheers! Since the age of 12 I was determined to leave the dark and cold piece of land in the north of Russia where I happened to be born. At first, I dreamed about Moscow and Saint Petersburg. But as time went by, I traveled and studied abroad and the idea of living in a big Russian city didn’t satisfy me any longer. My relatives still call me ‘a gipsy alien’ because they can’t understand how come I feel super excited about being challenged by a new environment, surrounded by strangers and lacking any feeling of belonging to someone or someplace.
For me, hearing my mother tongue abroad is something disturbing and annoying. Usually, a foreign language creates the so-called communication barrier, hence when people hear their mother tongue abroad, they feel happy and even relieved. For me, the situation is opposite. Quite frequently my friends find me in the crowd of some party and rush through the whole corridor with me just to introduce me with another Russian girl. “Hey, look, she’s also Russian! Talk!”, a friend of mine says and then disappears in the dancing crowd. The next moments are
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awkward. You’re standing in front of a stranger who you have barely something in common with, apart from the language, and smiling silly, not knowing what to say. That’s the thing that still confuses my parents. Because even before moving to a foreign country, the majority of my friends were from Canada, China, France and Italy, but not from Russia. Weirdly enough, my mother tongue has become a communication barrier. For the communication with people from my native country. “We are children of the world, asking every question ‘why’ from arrival to survival, just to make it worth the waiting”. Here we go. ‘A child of the world’. That’s how people call someone like me. Those for whom making new friends, overcoming awkward situations and even expressing their feelings is easier in a foreign language than in a native one. Children without a homeland, who belong to everybody and everywhere and at the same time to nobody and nowhere. The idea of constantly moving from place to place, discovering new customs, food, and languages. Breaking the stereotypes that are imposed by the media is enchanting from the first sight. However, there is another side of the coin: the absence of the opportunity to hug a friend because (s)he is living on another continent. One has never warned me about the fact that I can’t just grab all my friends, put them in my suitcase and make them move with me from the Netherlands to Mexico, Indonesia, Peru and who knows where else. The golden rule of being ‘a gipsy’ - that I keep breaking every single time - is not to get attached to newcomers. Because five months after: BOOM!
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you’re saying your last ‘See you later’, close the door, stare blankly at the wall, slowly sit down on the floor and let tears burst out of your eyes. You go for a walk and keep bumping into new faces everywhere: in the elevator, on the way to the university, at the parties and even the next door. The silhouettes on the streets start playing cruel tricks with you, pretending to be someone who just left from The Hague Centraal station last Tuesday. “In the back of your mind there is always a mark, there's a wandering solo alone in the dark. You can keep it forever or tear it apart”. My friend once came to the conclusion that the destiny of the children of
the world consists of two elements: constantly leaving your comfort zone and being left by the loved ones. We always need something new, that’s our drug. But at the same time when the environment changes, we realize how much we actually miss the familiar faces and places. There’s always need to sacrifice something that we love and get used to, in the places that we don’t want to stay any longer, for the sake of exploring, experiencing new emotions and having new experiences. At this point you realize that the life of ‘the child of the world’ consists of scattering pieces of your soul all across the globe. No matter how sad it is to say ‘goodbye’, meetings with those who you can’t see every week, because of a three-hour flight from one continent to another, become more special and desired. The absence of
boundaries is a test of the modern world. It's worth it to break the language barrier and join the fight, the fight against yourself, your fears and your prejudices. The world is an open book, you just need to realize the joy of reading. Instead of epilogue. “If we were meant to stay in one place, we would have roots instead of feet.” - Rachel Wolchin Open your eyes, live long and prosper
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Have you ever slowed down while driving and waited for another car to overtake you because a black cat had just crossed the street in front of you? Or imagined the plane you were traveling on for thirteen hours to crash, just because you had been assigned a seat in the 13th row? Have you ever spilled salt on the table or cracked a mirror and instantly felt like you might have compromised the next seven years of your life? I certainly have. Not only that, but I also happened to carelessly stick my chopsticks vertically into my rice bowl under the looks of disdain of my host family and to buy a Chinese phone number at a staggering low price, because it contained way more 4’s than anybody would ever want associated to their name.
Why
Always
Me? Martina Dossena
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Most superstitions are so ingrained in the modern society that we observe them on a daily basis without ever questioning why they arose in the first place. What makes it ever so slightly trickier is the fact that, as much as most of them are acknowledged globally, others are quite country-specific and this can prove considerably confusing. This is why it is pivotal to examine what is at their root and, by so doing, hopefully avoid as many embarrassing moments as possible.
Let’s start with the number 13 then, shall we? According to a relatively widespread theory, the stigma this number carries is connected with the Christian history: Judas, who betrayed Jesus during the last supper, was the thirteenth person to be seated at the table. The good news, though, is that what is considered unlucky in a country or continent, can assume the complete opposite connotation in another. Interestingly enough – in fact - in both the Chinese and ancient Egyptian cultures, the number thirteen does not carry any negative connotation related to bad luck or evil. Contrarily to that, it was always believed to bring good fortune.
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In the Chinese culture, however, a number that carries a remarkable stigma is the number 4. The character for “four” is in fact 四, whose pronunciation [sì] sounds extremely similar to that of the character 死 [sǐ], which translates into the word “death”. Suddenly, getting that phone number for so cheap does not sound all that strange anymore, does it? I was basically wishing death upon myself without even knowing it, for the life of me. Skipping to something more tangible than numbers, though, I would like to spend a word on mirrors.
In my country, and supposedly across most of Europe, breaking a mirror could bring you up to seven years of utter misfortune. Which, let’s be honest, sounds pretty terrible. This superstition seems to date back to the time when human beings first started using water as a means of looking at their reflection. The image appearing on the water was believed to represent one’s true soul and any damage that was done to it would also inevitably occur to the actual self. The idea that the misfortune would last for seven years, however, is relatively more recent. The Romans, in fact, believed that it takes exactly seven years for a soul to renew itself.
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More pragmatic, however, is the explanation that emphasizes how this belief is nothing but the result of a “scare tactic” to prevent people from breaking mirrors, which especially in the past - used to be considerably expensive. And honestly, it seems to have worked pretty well, since we are still terrified of causing them the smallest crack. Speaking of this, I was recently watching a movie with my friend and I suddenly squealed as the main character destroyed her bedroom mirror in the grip of marital anger. “Seven years of bad luck, my friend” – I hopelessly whispered. My friend’s surprised reaction, however, sparked a certain curiosity in me and that is how I found out that in her country – Czech Republic – breaking a mirror is actually believed to bring good luck. Isn’t it interesting how we could go from being the unluckiest person in one country to being the luckiest in the
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Balls
how was it and how is it now?
If somebody told me a year ago that I would have a chance to go to actual ball, I would not have believed them. Nevertheless, it will be slightly more than one year ago that I discover that balls still exist. Even though the general rules are still the same, somethings have changed throughout the years. Firstly, balls were invented in France and the very first one was given in 1385. Back then, it was an official event to celebrate the marriage of kings or victory in war. In XV and XVI centuries balls were not so popular, it was still uncommon to give them. Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France and the second wife of King Henry IV of France, fell in love with balls and because of her, it started to become a hallmark of celebrations. Since balls became more and more popular, it was important to make rules for them. Only people from upper class society could enter the balls, which usually were given from winter till the beginning of spring.
The rest time of the year people usually spent in the country side. Big changes took place in 1715 in Paris, people from the middle class were finally allowed to enter balls after paying entrance. In the years of the French revolution, the center of ball culture was moved to Vienna. The tradition of balls went from France to all over the Europe. For instance, in Russia first balls took place in the time of Peter I, who was trying to integrate European trends into Russian life. Aristocrats had to wear European clothing, wigs and follow European etiquette. The wish to do everything exactly the same way as Europe not only prevented the healthy collaboration between Europe and Russia, but also caused some
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major problems. One of them was almost losing the Russian language because of the influences of French. Most of people who could write and read spoke only French as it was the sign of belonging to the upper class. People who used Russian in their daily life unfortunately were not educated enough to use it as tool to record history, poems or any other kind of documents.
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In romantic period, which was from 1800 till 1850 balls slightly changed. They were on longer the official celebration that was given by King but rather it became some sort of party to upper class. In Saint-Petersburg, which was capital at that time, gathered a lot of people who wanted to live fancy life. Usually people could visit more than
one ball in one evening. Furthermore, it was very important event for young girls. They could meet their future husband during one of many balls and girls tried to visit as many as they possibly can. Many Russian poets and writers were writing their novels about people’s lifestyle back then. For instance, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, well-known Russian poet, wrote his one of the most famous novels about a young man, who did not want to participate in very fact aristocratic life and decided to move to countryside. Very chaotic life changes to calm and peaceful but it is too boring for him. After all his journey in Russian countryside he finally goes back to Saint Petersburg searching for social life. It is important to mention that aristocrats could not
understand Pushkin’s poems simple because they could not read it, they did not know the meaning of words, which were used. Specially for that purpose there was French translation next to original text. The influence of European languages did not stop there. Even now French as well as German and Dutch still live in Russian language. There are a lot of words which came from different languages and settled down. For instance, most of words related to ships and see came from Dutch, most of words related to historical dancing came from French. Nowadays, balls are no longer the celebration of victory in war or celebration of King’s marriage. It has became more of a hobby. There are reconstructive balls related to a certain century.
There is the Vienna Opera Ball, which is an annual event of Austrian society. At the same time there are students’ balls. They are smaller and not so formal. It is nice opportunity to dress up and feel special. At the same time there are no strict requirements about clothes or etiquette. It leaves room for more modern approach on the look and behaviour. On the other hand, this magical atmosphere at the balls almost dictate the rules. I am more than sure that every girl wants to feel walking the red carpet while wearing a beautiful evening gown and a ball is the right place to do so. Anastasia Kan
Meatless Mondays to save the world
Isabelle Brooking
It seems more and more people are adopting vegetarian or vegan lifestyles. According to UberEats, searches for Vegan food are up 400 % . I recently heard on the radio that not eating meat for a week is the equivalent of not showering for six months. Now, whether or not this comes from a credible source is something which I don’t know, however, it is a jarring statistic, either way. Personally, I know I would rather forego meat for a week rather than not being able to shower, and I think every person who comes into contact with me would agree! Going away from meat comes at the heels of the agricultural reckoning which the western world has experienced in the past few decades.
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More and more people are aware and interested in where their food comes from and how it was raised or cultivated. With the ever more environmental consequences in regards to agricul
ture coming to light it does sometimes seem like one of the few, concrete solutions is to reduce or cut out entirely our animal product consumption. Eating a more plant based diet can seem like the ultimate unconquerable task (this is the part where everyone says they could never give up cheese), however every step counts. Even if you’re not able to cut out animal products completely, becoming more aware of what you’re consuming and where it is coming from is a great first step. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, take the time to research what you’re putting into your body, and be responsible about it.
Here are three easy swaps which are not only yummy, but also plant based:
Milk
These days there are rows of dairy free milk substitutes, everything from coconut to cashew milk is readily available at the Albert Heijn or Jumbo. Another great thing about nut and oat milks is that they last for a long time, unopened you can keep them for months in your pantry.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil seems to be that kid in class who can literally do everything. From rubbing it on your body to pulling in your mouth to using it to replace butter when cooking or baking. Coconut oil is something definitely worth having in your cooking arsenal.
Not only is it nutritional (implied in the name) but it tastes weirdly like parmesan and makes pretty much anything a little yummier.
Nutritional Yeast
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Movies &
When you hear the word ‘root’, what come background when you were a teenager? Ro history, origin, culture, and lineage. The fol focused on ancestry as a personal attachme
1. Roots 1977 miniseries & 2016 TV series —The journey of African American family This might be the orthodox movie which, as the tile already shows, dealing with the ‘roots’. It is about the life history of a man names Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby) who was sold to slavery in America from West Africa. This TV series were recreated in 2016, and it also depicts the story of his descendants, Kinte family. -Rootz As there are a great deal of African descendants in the United States, I personally thought that this movie can be relatable for any people who have mixed cultural backgrounds, have an ancestor from different countries, or anyone who lives in a melting pot.
Personal Heritage
es to mind? Is it your nationality ? Family? Or is it more about your growing up oots can refer to any personal memories or ideas which connect to present day, llowing article will elaborate on five movies which deal with ‘roots’. The movies ent, a journey to discover one’s past, and self-development.
2. LION –An adopted Australian boy in India (2016) Based on a true story, this movie received several nominations at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017 starred by Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara. Kidman received the award of ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role’ of Oscar by starring this movie. Saroo (Patel) is a college student who lives in Melbourne with John and Sue (Kidman). He was adopted by them when he was only five. 20 years passed, and he confessed that he was adopted while he was having meals with his Indian friends and his girlfriend Lucy (Mara). They suggested him using Google Earth to search for his hometown in India. Receiving constant supports and advice, often even harmful for Saroo to accept his unique path, he starts his long journey to find his own hometown and roots. -Rootz The title ‘LION’ has a significant meaning in which will be revealed at the end of the movie. I got goose bumps towards the ending. No matter how far a family separates, I learned that there always is a deep connection between a child and a parent. Personally, it sounded a more like a documentary than a film. The story itself is powerful, and the talented cast played their roles perfectly in each scene.
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3. Kung Fu Panda 2—A coward panda became a great warrior (2011) This is the second movie of the Kung Fu Panda movie series. Inspired by the origin of Kung-Fu from China, a gigantic, energetic and humane panda named Po (panda: Jack Black) was accidentally selected to be Dragon Warrior. Together with Furious Five including tigress (tiger: Angelina Jolie), they start their long expedition and fight against the villain, named Shen (white peafowl: Gary Oldman). -Rootz In the second series, Po found out that Mr. Ping (goose: James Hong) is not his real father, and he started to struggle to piece his identity together. The red pattern of the villain tattooed on his gray feathers reminds Po of his traumatic experience when he lost his parents. Therefore, a fight against the villain also meant the process of retriev ing information about Po’s bitter and
5. Nishi no majo ga shinda—“What will happen if a person dies?” (2008) Based on a famous Japanese novel, this movie focuses on the heart-warming connection between Mai (Mayu Takahashi) and her grandmother (Sachi Parker) called ‘witch’. A fragile junior high school student Mai refuses to go to school, so her mother (Ryô) lets her stay with her grandmother in the cottage to learn the secrets of magic and the ability of self-determination. -Rootz As the quote shows, one of the central themes is death. Death and birth coexist, and not all adults are willing to answer the definition of death. One’s death can reveal the roots of the family and lineage. The ‘witch’ is a British woman, and Mai is a quarter British and Japanese. *This movie’s title is also referred as “The Witch of the West is Dead”. People believe that the grandmother is a ‘witch’, because she looks mysterious but she does not have a magical power.
4. A Brighter Summer Day—roots of Taiwan (1991) A Brighter Summer Day is a 1991 Taiwanese romantic long film which appears to be a violent story at first, but it contains human-centred themes and detrimental recognitions of Western cultural influence in contrast to Taiwanese traditions.
Midori Ueda
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recipes
that bring me back to my “rootz” An Pham
To highlight the theme “Rootz”, I want to introduce a few traditional Vietnamese recipes that truly makes me feel at home whenever I have a taste. Vietnamese cuisine is not just food on some plates but they are dishes enriched by a multilayered history, and that is what makes it unique. There is no dish that uses less than four ingredients, which is why the flavors are so complex and balanced in the Yin and Yang method. These recipes are not popular dishes like “pho” or “spring rolls”, but they are incredibly flavorful dishes that I are closer to my heart and deserves to be tried at least once in your life.
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lemongrass chilli chicken 15 min. preparation
<15 min. cooking
Ingredients 500g chicken 2 tablespoon minced lemongrass 2 tablespoon minced garlic 2 tablespoon fish sauce 1.5 tablespoon sugar
1-2 teaspoon red diced chili 1.5 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 tablespoon vegetable oil Garnish with chili flakes or coriander
Instructions Mix 1 tbsp lemongrass, 1 tbsp garlic, fish sauce, sugar, red chili, and salt together in a large mixing bowl, then add in the chicken pieces to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight in the fridge. Place a large pan on high heat, add the vegetable oil and fry 1 tbsp minced lemongrass and 1 tbsp minced garlic till fragrant. Add the marinated chicken, cook until slightly caramelized. Cover the lid and cook under medium heat for 5 minutes, depending on the chicken cut and its size. Transfer to a serving plate, garnish, serve with hot steamed rice.
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caramelized & braised catfish 10 min. preparation
30 min. cooking
Ingredients 450g catfish filets salt to clean the fish 2 tablespoons oil 5 minced cloves garlic ½ sliced yellow onion 1 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons fish sauce About ½ teaspoon thick soy sauce ½ cup water & ½ cup coconut juice sliced red chili ground black pepper 1 stalk chopped green onion
Instructions Generously salt fish and rinse under water to clean, after, set aside to dry. Add oil to a pan and sauté garlic over medium heat until lightly browned. Add onion and fish to pan, then add the seasonings and turn the heat to high until boil. Bring it to a simmer for ~20 minutes, adjust seasoning if needed. Flip the fish over and simmer for a final ~10 minutes with the lid partially covered. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, spoon the sauce over the fish. Garnish with green onions, chili and some black pepper. Served with hot rice.
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sweet & sour soup 15 min. cooking
10 min. preparation
Ingredients 2 quarts water or chicken stock 1 quartered large tomato Juice from 16 oz can pineapple and 3 pineapple rings cut into chunks Salmon fillets 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons fish sauce Handful of okra Handful of bean sprouts 2 large leaves of cilantro whole or halved (optional) Salt to taste Chili (optional) Garnish with scallions and cilantro
Instructions Bring water or chicken stock to a boil. Add tomato, pineapple juice and pineapple chunks and reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Add fish, optional chili, lemon, sugar, and fish sauce and simmer 3-5 minutes or until shrimp is cooked. Add okra, and bean sprouts. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Salt to taste and garnish with scallions and cilantro. Served with hot rice or sour rice noodles.
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Unsolvable Conflict Esther Bellinsky The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, contrary to popular belief is not rooted in a rivalry that dates back thousands of years. Although many believe this conflict can be traced back to the bible's Abraham and his two sons, who were respectively the patriarchs of the Jewish and Muslim people, the issues behind this conflict while encompassing some of the ancient claims to the land, are far more complex and relevant to the twenty-first century. The conflict today, is rooted in debates significantly revolving around boundaries while encompassing issues such as human rights abuses, refugee issues and terror attacks. Although many peace attempts have been made throughout the decades since this conflict began, it seems difficult to believe that this issue is any closer to a resolution today than it was in the beginning of the twentieth century and even more so, after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Any hope of a lasting resolution must encompass the history of both sides while looking for a future oriented approach that will satisfy the needs of both parties. Contemporary Conflict Resolution scholars such as John Burton, have adopted a
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new outlook towards resolving conflicts by utilizing the “Human Needs Theory” as an approach to conflict resolution. The “Human Needs Theory” was originally proposed by Abraham Maslow in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. The basic idea behind this theory is that humans require certain needs to be fulfilled in order to reach their fullest potential. By applying this theory both to the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as to the present situation we can achieve a better understanding of the roots of the conflict as well as eventually reach lasting solutions to these issues. In the years leading up to the UN partition of the Mandate of Palestine, the Jewish population in Palestine rose in great numbers. In the year 1882, Jews composed about four percent of the population, compared to the year 1939
where the Jewish population increased to about thirty percent. The Arabs living in Palestine, were frustrated that the Jews chose ‘their’ territory to escape decades of persecution by other dominating religions and dictators like Hitler, and as a place to begin establishing a state. In a sense the Palestinians felt they were being forced to pay for the atrocities committed to the Jews by others. However, the claim that “the Jews stole land” is in many cases incorrect. With the increase of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries came many Jews willing to buy any land the Palestinians would sell and as a result the fifty-five Jewish settlements in 1920, skyrocketed to 218 in 1939. As the Jewish people began gaining additional land in Palestine, the Palestinians understandably began to feel threatened by the growing presence of foreigners in their midst.
The Balfour Declaration, a letter from the British Foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild an influential banker and member of the Jewish community, increased the already present tensions by tenfold. In this fateful letter Balfour asserted the support of His Majesty’s government with Jewish Zionist aspirations for a national home while mentioning: “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”. This letter angered many Palestinians, as at the time they were the majority in the state. The failure of the British to acknowledge the Palestinians by name in this infamous letter was a clear indication of the complete neglection of the “existing non-Jewish community’s” needs. All these contributing factors caused hostilities between the Arabs and the Jews to rise to
incredible heights in the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. In the year 1937 the Peel commission was established. This was a British commissioned investigation into the the origins of revolts committed by the Muslim and Christian Arab nationalists in the year prior. The commission ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states with Jerusalem remaining under the British rule as a solution to this conflict. While the Jews accepted this solution, the Arabs were unwilling to give up half of the land and maintained their claim of rights to the whole state. This is a turning point in the history of this conflict as the Palestinians, unwilling to give up their claim of rights to the land would ultimately end up with a significantly smaller portion than was originally recommended. By February of 1947 most of the Britishhad left Palestine and the outbreak of a civil war between the Arabs and the Jews was eminent. By the 14th of May, 1948 with the declaration of Israel’s independence as a state, tides shifted in favor of the Jews who ultimately broke open the road to Jerusalem, captured Tiberias, and the port of Haifa and Jaffa. When the Israelis captured these cities they chased the Palestinians out and forced them to the West Bank and Gaza areas. This war was respectively called the “War of Independence” by the Jews and “al-Nakba” or “the Catastrophe” by the Palestinians. On both sides there were many atrocities and civilian casualties that occurred. These occurrences severely tainted Arab-Israeli relations who had been living in
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‘relative’ peace up until the beginning of this conflict. The year of 1948 and the war that took place laid the groundwork for the Palestinian refugee problem and instability that is seen today in the region. Palestinians were left without homes and Israelis with the belief that they could be decimated at any moment. The complications that resulted from this war clearly indicate the absence of physiological and safety/security which are essential components in the fulfillment of basic human needs. The factors which led to the war of 1967 or the six-day war are often contested. Many believe that Israel was the one who initiated this war by attacking the Egyptian air force on the ground. However, a little known fact in this war was a meeting between Vladimir Semnov, the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister and Anwar el-Sadat,
Palestinians under Israeli government in places like Gaza were under military rule, and did not have many rights, and finally the Israeli government began settling the land captured which led to many ongoing disputes on ownership and land rights. So essentially, while this war allowed some Israelis to feel more secure in their position in the Middle East by creating a buffer zone between their biggest enemies, it magnified already existing problems within the Palestinian society.
the speaker of the Egyptian Parliament. In this conversation Sadat and Nasser received word that “ten Israeli brigades had been concentrated on the Syrian border ready to strike”. This was not actually the case, but President Nasser took this as a call for action and began mobilizing troops to come to the defense of Syria. The mobilization of troops in response to this false information combined with Nasser's decision to close the Strait yet again led to a preemptive Israeli strike on Arab forces. This war ended with a stunning victory for Israeli forces who invaded and ultimately captured the Sinai desert, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These places gave Israeli cities a buffer zone between them and hostile nations however, the capture of these places by Israeli forces also caused huge issues some of which are ongoing today. The fleeing of Palestinian refugees from the West Bank to Jordan, the
The war of 1973 or the “Yom Kippur War” involved Egypt working with Syria and Jordan to capture back the Sinai desert and parts of the Golan Heights. Ultimately not much territory was gained or lost on either side but there were a few important implications of this war. While the Egyptians and Syrians did not gain large parts of Israeli territory they did inflict many losses on the Israeli army which frustrated morale and caused many citizens to question their government's motives around these wars. Prior to this war Israeli citizens felt as though they were fighting for their right to survive, in this war they did not feel as though the ends justifies the means. The end of this war brought a change in Egyptian-Israeli diplomatic relations. Anwar Sadat now had more bargaining power which he used to begin negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. In September of 1978 Sadat and Menachem Begin-Israeli Prime Minister at the time met in Camp David in Maryland to conduct what is famously known as the Peace Accords. During this time they concluded a peace treaty that stated Israel’s intentions to withdraw from Sinai in return for mutual recognition and the creation of normal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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The 1978 Peace Accords were the beginning of many attempts in resolving this difficult question of rights, borders, and terrorism. This question remains unsolved till this day as Palestinians continue to suffer human rights abuses even with the implementation of the founding of the Palestinian Liberation Organization or the PLO in 1964 and the ultimate acceptance of the PLO by Israel, in the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. “Chairman Yasser Arafat, called for "a new epoch of peaceful coexistence" with Israel. He reaffirmed, in the strongest terms he has ever used, the recognition of Israel's right to exist in peace and security and the PLO's renunciation of terrorism and other forms of violence.”. In these more recent sentiments, expressed by leaders of Egypt and Palestine there is a shift in ideology which allowed a greater focus to be placed on the population's needs. These peace talks were instrumental in regards to the leaders shifting from a violence oriented approach to this conflict to a futuristic oriented approach which focused on the needs of the people
Throughout the many decades since this conflict originated, international actors have interfered with the processes. The U.S. and Russia supplied economic and military aid, and the UN have made countless attempts to force the parties to agree on a peace treaty. Ultimately, most of these ‘peacemaking’ attempts have failed. Terrorism is a daily occurrence in Israel, human rights abuses are still prevalent in Palestinian society, the Palestinian refugee problem is nowhere close to being solved, and boundaries throughout Israel and the surrounding states are still contested. Every angle of this problem seems to shout, there is no solution. Many people have given up on ever resolving this problem, preferring to ‘wash their hands clean’, so to speak like the British did in 1947. As an Israeli citizen I do not have this luxury. This conflict has been going on for too long without a resolution. Borders are insignificant when civilians on either side die daily for no reason.
When contemplating this conflict I continuously ask myself “why is peace so elusive?”. After examining this question and possible solutions, I came to realize that I've been asking the wrong question. Instead, we should all be asking “what are the roots of the conflict?”. The moment individuals shift their mindset to examine the basic issues and roots of this conflict instead of examining the absence of peace, we end up focusing our attention on the actual problems and fears that face both these societies. The moment we discredit ideological issues, religion, and politics as basis for war and hatred we are closer to understanding the true origins of the division between the Israeli and Palestinian people. Throughout the decades since this conflict began there has been much violence and political disturbance in the tiny strip of land. By examining the “Human Needs Theory” as a basis for resolving deep-rooted conflicts there is a greater opportunity to implement policies that will satisfy each groups individual needs and thereby prevent this conflict from resurfacing once more. John Burton explains, “it has to be assumed that societies must adjust to the needs of people, and not the other way around...ethnic minorities must be given an autonomous status if violence is to be avoided, decision-making systems must be non-adversarial if leadership roles are to collaborative.” Palestinian people deserve to have autonomous leadership and fulfillment of their “Hierarchy of Needs”. Israeli citizens deserve to live in peace without the constant fear of terrorism all around them. Ultimately, a lasting conflict resolution will rely on the basic needs of the
Israeli and Palestinian people being fulfilled.
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design by Aubrey Adinata