The Impact of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on the Public Spectrum
The long standing conflict between Israeli and Palestine and the continuous war that has been waged across the two nations has taken a great toll on the public spectrum. There are many varied accounts and opinions in regard to the nature, cause, consequences and aftermath of the war among the public and pundits have expressed their varying opinions on the issue. Those on the ground have additionally offered varying versions of the issues that are at hand and those which are relevant to understand about the conflict. Those who face the conflict first hand might offer satisfying accounts of their personal experiences on the matter but this seldom conflicts with the versions offered by the next person and so on (Finkelstein 45).
Conflicting Personal Account of the Arab-Israeli War
Accordingly, After Solmaz Sharif offers a conflicting personal account of the Arab-Israeli war in the article “Against Erasure” offering a personal account of the firsthand experience he and his family encountered during a particular stretch of the war. Sharif begins building his credibility with personal facts and reputable accounts of the daily events, citing convincing quotes before beginning every new section of the article, and successfully employing emotional appeals in his writing. However, in some sections of the article and towards the end, the attempt to appeal the emotions of the readers weakens his credibility as an author and ultimately, the arguments he makes.
Thesis/Forum
After Solmaz Sharif presents the dark reality of the Palestine- Israeli war throughout the essay to show how complex and ethically confounding the involvement of the two nations in war over the years has become. He gives a vivid narration of the picture on the ground for the normal citizen and raises flags on issues that those on the sidelines cannot fully grasp. Using the instance of the experiences that several of his family members undergo, he appeals to the emotions of the reader. The closest thing to a thesis statement on Sharif’s essay is: The dire consequences of a nation’s involvement in war isn’t well conceived until the sufferings of the affected citizens is taken into account. Published in the Literature Hub in May 2018 by Noor Hindi, Sharif’s message hits home even today.
Analysis
The audience for this article is most likely the international community who are mostly worried about the “big picture” issues of the conflict, most of the time forgetting about the suffering on the ground. The author begins the article with a quote, “To walk in the world is to find oneself in the body without papers, not a citizen of anything but breadth”, a quote by Kazim Ali (Noor). Even before beginning the narration, after seeing this quote and the title of the article which is the Arab-Israeli War, it is clear that the author is addressing the deeper issues affecting the victims of this long standing conflict. While most by-standers in the west focus on the issues related to public relations and international policy, the author champions for the consideration of human rights as the core of these focus from the bystanders (Finkelstein 65).
The Reality on the Ground
We learn about Sharif’s judgements through his appeal to Ethos (Stockwood 79). “When it starts raining bombs, my great-grandmother is preparing dinner. It’s hot outside. The neighborhood is panicking” (Noor). This is the beginning sentence to the article. This sentence carries a lot of depth since it depicts that the citizens have got used to the tension around them, albeit hard to do so. The author paints the picture that citizens try as much as possible to go with their daily routine despite the disturbing reality that anytime war would start and it would imply ultimately meeting your own death. In the most unimaginable circumstances possible, soldiers have to force people outside. Imagining a scenario where people are so accustomed to a routine of raining bombs such that soldiers have to force them to leave their homesteads is almost unimaginable, more so, in regions where peace prevails like the west. The author seeks to put the audience in the shoes of these citizens so that they can relate to the circumstances they have to deal with each day. The worldview of the author is that it is not an equal planet of equal rights to life for everyone, the world is twisted against the favor of those in the war zone.
Limited Firsthand Information
Narrating step by step the suffering his grandmother has to undergo while evading war to save her life, Sharif appeal to logos is solid because as opposed to what we hear on the news and broadcasts about the war, very limited firsthand information about suffering ever makes it to those not directly involved in the war (Stockwood 123). Those who publish majority of the news are from the west and the picture they print is not the accurate one. For instance, the personal philosophies of the author about inequality in human’s right to life is seen when he contradicts the known fact that once people are evacuated, there is a chance for them to return to their homesteads after the war has ended, citing it as a “lie”. He cites the instance when in May 15, 1948 when 700,000 Palestinians were evacuated creating space enough for Israel to be ‘born’ in 1958 (Noor).
Emotional Appeal
“We write for Palestine with Blood” (Noor) is a quote from Ghassan Kanafani that Sharif uses to underline the many instances he appeals to the good conscience of the audience who are hungry to know about the reality of the war on the ground – this solidifies his use of pathos in his article (Stockwood 44). Additionally, he has assumptions that people do not really know the death toll and suffering on the ground by presenting vivid and grimy images of blood and death. His accounts of the war in such titles as “the six-day war” are filled with these images, and his accounts of the present day situation proof he is adamant to accept that the US really understands the real impact of this war on the grounds by citing Trump’s speech.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, I believe that Sharif makes an effective arguments, substantially supports his message that dire consequences of a nation’s involvement in war isn’t well conceived until the sufferings of the affected citizens is taken into account. Depending extensively on his logos, ethos and pathos appeals, he is able to graph his worldviews, assumptions and judgements to the mind of the reader, in regard to the Palestine-Israeli conflict. The audience can clearly see that an inaccurate picture is painted about what the most is concerning issue about the conflict. Human suffering should take central stage instead of the concern on international policy and public relations-related issues.
Works Cited
Finkelstein, Norman. Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict (2nd ed.). London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-442-1, 2003.
Noor, Hindi. “Against Erasure.” Literary Hub, 16 May 2018, lithub.com/against-erasure/.
Stockwood, David, et al. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos: the Best of The Advocates Society Journal 1982-2004. Irwin Law, 2015.
