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Sample Student final exam answers 2016 (2016 final exam assignment) Part 3: Model Research Reports |
LITR 4340
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Trey Kibodeaux
The Palestinian-American Immigrant Narrative
Palestine, which is now Israel, was an Arab country spanning along the
Mediterranean coastline, bordered by Egypt and Jordan.
In
1948, a mass exodus of Palestinians occurred, causing thousands of refugees to
be displaced across the world. Israel took control of virtually all of the
Palestinian land, forcing the Palestinians to seek life elsewhere. Of the
estimated 6 million refugees, approximately 2.5 million currently reside in
Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, while 2 million live in the Gaza Strip area, about
750,000 in Israel still, and about 200,000 in the United States
(everyculture.com). Many believe this to be the direct result of a Zionist
takeover of the holy land from the Arabs by the Jews. Of the number of
Palestinians that came to the U.S., most have not had much of an issue
assimilating into American culture.
Since most immigration to U.S. occurred many years ago, the Palestinians
have had time to accommodate to American culture. “The greatest period of
Palestinian immigration to the United States came between the Six-Day War in
1967 and 1990, after which numbers began to decline. Although official figures
indicate that more than 11,000 Palestinians immigrated during the 1980s, some
scholars have suggested that the number may be seven or eight times that high,
driven by the rising tide of violence within Israel” (immigrationtous.net).
Kathleen Christison in the Journal of
Palestine Studies in 1989, suggests that even though Palestinians have
strong nationalistic tendencies, it does not seem to affect their assimilation
process (everyculture.com). This statement does make sense, as beggars cannot be
choosers; it is logical to assume that refugees take what they can get in the
case of being accepted by a new country.
Before the Israeli takeover, “the population of Palestine was about 82
percent Muslim, 10 percent Christian, and 8 percent Jewish,” so they were at
least accustomed to living amongst various religious beliefs, similar to the
U.S. (immigrationtous.net). The U.S.’s current population of Muslims is about
1%, so Muslim-Christian relations were more prevalent in pre-1948 Palestine. The
high Christian population in Palestine also hints at their easy assimilation to
American culture, since it has heavy Christian influence.
Palestinians do endure some assimilation problems though, as they come
from typically traditional-leaning backgrounds. So, the sometimes
hyper-individualistic American ideology proves an issue when raising children,
“such as open sexuality, divorce, and drugs and alcohol, for religious and
cultural reasons” (everyculture.com). Tensions flare when U.S. foreign
involvement occurs as well, specifically in the Middle-East, as the U.S. is a
close ally to Israel. This has led to distrust amongst Palestinians with the
United States’ government, even its media presence, which is often accused of
misrepresenting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
U.S. interventionism is behind the backing, and formation, of the nation
of Israel, as it has defended Israel in all of its military endeavors as well as
sent them weapons and munitions, which continues to this day
(usforeignpolicy.about.com). Israel continues to illegally build their
settlements within Palestinian territory, further oppressing them within their
own spaces. With this knowledge, it may be difficult to imagine that
assimilation occurs without some sort of sour feelings about the United States’
backing of Israel, but assimilation continues to occur.
Arab immigrants in the past have been fairly successful “In their efforts
to secure their naturalization and be fully considered ‘whites’, the early
Arab/Syrian-Lebanese immigrants worked hard at assimilating, attended
citizenship classes, americanized their names, did not teach Arabic to its
children and neglected to instill in them pride in their heritage”
(arabsinamerica.unc.edu). This led to basic acceptance among the dominant
culture, except until recently. As more and more Muslim or Arab immigrants
attempt to migrate to areas of the West, the Western countries realize exactly
how different their cultures are. So, the attempt by some areas of Europe in
which to accommodate their previous culture has led to civil unrest and problems
with assimilation. Arab immigrants, mostly Muslim, have been successful in
assimilating in the past despite U.S. foreign interventionism and their Islamic
faith, so today they should have no problem assimilating as well if the
environmental parameters remain the same. The only issue lies within the way in
which other cultures are pandered to by the government. They, like all other
foreign cultures, should be expected to immigrate and assimilate to American
culture, just as their predecessors have in the past.
Sources:
http://arabsinamerica.unc.edu/history/arab-immigration/
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Palestinian-Americans.html
http://immigrationtous.net/230-palestinian-immigration.html
http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/od/middleeast/a/The-U-S-And-Palestine.htm
