I have reached the 2 week mark of my Middle Eastern travels. The first week was spent in Hebron, Palestine. What I didn't understand was why when I'd tell people I was in Palestine a few would say "but Palestine isn't a place". Being ignorant of basically anything outside of whether or not Beyonce is doing a kick-ass vocal run this confused me deeply. The people I was meeting called themselves Palestinian? The area they occupied was not called Israel or Lebanon or any other neighbouring countries?? Their travel documents are Palestinian and so thus are their listed national identities. So what was the problem?? What I was to learn was that while something like 140 nations recognise Palestine as a state, the magic wizarding authorities with super state-giving powers, have yet to follow suit. The reasons for this are part of a much more complicated issue relating to the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in 1947/8. I will not bore you nor insult your intelligence with my limited knowledge or lacking journalistic skills (then again if Fox News gives it a go.....) but here are some links below. I will assume you will all go away and do your background reading and become experts on the Middle East and find a solution to the seemingly unsolvable leaving me free to get back to doing what I do best, posting slightly amusing anecdotes of my life (like the time all my stuff was destroyed in a housefire).
0 comments:
Post a Comment