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2016 Midterm2 (assignment) Index to Sample Student Midterm2 Answers Part 3. Research Report Starts |
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.
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Palestinian-Americans.html
http://immigrationtous.net/230-palestinian-immigration.html
