Blood and Tears Response

The film really brought to light that there is extremism on both sides. This extremism clouds the issues that are at hand and prevents easy solutions. One thing that can be said fairly is that the Palestinian Arabs have been victims of domination—from history to today. Recently their domination has been at the hands of the nation of Israel. They have been forced off their land and not allowed to return as refugees. I believe that this is wrong. People that leave their land due to wartime concerns for safety, reserve the right to return to their lands when the fighting ends. To me it seemed that many of the Israeli opinions voiced in cameos were mildly ignorant of what the government was doing to the Palestinian people. The woman from the settlements did not seem to care that the land she lived on previously belonged to a Palestinian family, and this has been a major obstacle to peace. This is partly what caused the Oslo Accords to fail. Violence and the continuance of settlements is what caused their breakdown. Even after watching this film, seeing the suffering and passive attitudes, reading the swathes of material and hearing the stories from Mrs. Hekman, I cannot still completely understand their plight, yet I do feel for them. The Israelis that were displaced from their lands have found a new home, why are the Palestinians any different? Do not they have the same right as humans to form their own state too? The media says that they had their chance with Sharon’s “generous” offer, but how can a people live, as the video said, using only the rooms of a house and not the hallways. With no access to the kitchen, or the bathrooms any inhabitant would wither away in filth, which is exactly what the Israelis have forced the Palestinians to do in their own land. That said, it is important to note that on both sides, the silent majority is comprised of those that stand in the middle, yet they remain out of the spotlight, behind those that claim victory for Islam and continue the violence, behind the state that promotes terror.