Gate of the Sun

As Americans, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is portrayed in a very biased and particular manner. To be Pro-Palestine as an American is not only rare to find, but in some cases might even be looked down upon. The American media outlets are controlled by the governments of the United States and Israel, which does not allow for the access of a counter opinion, which in this case is the opinion of the Palestinian people. “Gate of the Sun” is one of the few novels released that not only explains the point of view taken by Palestinians but also shows the hardship these people have been facing for over six decades.
In 1948, it was decided by a series of nations that the Jewish people who had been exiled from their homes and countries due in large part by religious persecution from the Holocaust would be allowed to establish their own state; Israel. In theory, this is fine idea, give a group of people who had been thrown out of their homelands and displaced a country to call their own. It was a sort of retribution and sign of condolences from the major powers for not being able to stop this terrible regime from murdering millions earlier. The entire world felt bad for these people, why didn’t they deserve land as payback for their severe losses? The problem with this is that although it seems feasible, how feasible is it to take another peoples land away from them and just simply give it to another people? That would be like saying since Native Americans had been so badly persecuted and murdered that they deserve the entire country of Mexico as retribution, and that the Mexican Government and citizens had to deal with it. Not only do they have to deal with it, but now they are having their homes taken away and are losing their jobs to these Native Americas. Additionally, traditional laws made up by the Mexican Government are now null en void. How well would the Mexicans take to this? Would they not immediately fight back and try to get their land back?
It’s easy to blame the Israeli’s for this mess when the situation is explained in such a manner. But when closer examined, it is pretty evident that the external powers that set up this establishment of a Jewish state are to blame. They handed the Jews a piece of land and told them it is theirs. The Jewish people had already been through as much as a whole, between initial persecution from the Germans and even the Russians, to the Holocaust. Any group in their same position would have done the same thing; they would have taken the land given to them, regardless of whether it was Palestine or Texas.