When growing up I vaguely remember my father telling me about the conflicts in the middle east.... he would talk in biblical terms about how the jews were the "chosen" people of God and how their land was being targetted by others... and then there were the books about the holocaust which made me even more convinced about the need for a separate state...understandably my sympathies were always tilted towards Israel.... growing up I got exposed to the "other" side.... I learned about how the palestinians were suddenly uprooted from their homeland and how they were fighting for their survival.... it still didnt make any dent in my sympathy for Israel... after all my father was always right about such things....
That was till I went to Jordan where 75% of the population is palestinian refugees...and our tour guide itself was a palestinian refugee... and he explained to me how he had a temporary citizenship in Jordan ... at any time the Jordanian Government could throw him out.. and that time he would have no country to go to..... he was literally in no man's land all his life... no country, no citizenship, no homeland, no security...... can anyone imagine living like that for your entire life?? palestinians have lived like this for 50 years and are still continuing in the same vein...
this brought out the entire irony of it all... if you were to believe in one God for everyone irrespective of the form....God's chosen people were literally chasing out people (who were albeit not chosen) who were also created by God....where is the justice in all this... it just does not seem right to require a whole country of people to suddenly survive on doles handed over by sympathetic governments... everyone should have a country and not temporary citizenship....its unfair to have killed so many jews during the holocaust but it is more unfair to exploit to illtreat more people....
I have no idea about how it feels to have no country to call your own... In fact it is so basic for me that I take it for granted....
Sorry Dad, I am sitting this one out...
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