The conflict between Jews and Arabs has been going on almost one hundred years now. Millions of lives have already been lost and to this day there is still fighting, so those numbers are sure to increase. A lot gets lost during these times of war between Israel and Palestine. Westerners get caught up and tend to see the conflict from the eyes of the Israeli people. They don’t truly understand that the Palestinians have eyes too. Westerners throw out labels of “murderers” and “terrorists,” and I am not suggesting that some aren’t. I’m suggesting that some people on the Israeli side can be considered “terrorists” and “murderers” also.
The fictional novel, Gate of the Sun written by Elias Khoury, does a great job of showing the conflict from the eyes of the Palestinian people. In this novel, you can see that the Palestinian people are not cold-blooded killers and that they even have sympathy and compassion for their Israeli counterparts. The author does a tremendous job of telling the story of the Palestinian people through the stories of a few fictional characters.
The Arab –Israeli conflict has roots in the fall of the Ottoman Empire. During that time, there was a mad dash to determine what to do with the areas of the fallen Empire. Countries such as Britain, France and Russia all had a stake in what to do with the land. These countries totally disregarded the thoughts and feelings of the Arab people that were already living in these areas. These people were shuffled around all over what is now known as the Middle East. Also during this time, there was a rise in what is known as Zionism. Zionism is essentially known as the policy to establish and develop a homeland for the Jewish people. Through much debate with the occupying countries, most notably the British, the Zionists agreed that their homeland should be stationed within the borders of Palestine, which is an Arab state. More and more Jewish people began to migrate to Palestine. With the aid of Jewish Para-military units known as the Stern Gang and the Irgun, the nation of Israel was officially formed in 1948.
The new nation of Israel was officially recognized by the United States and Britain, and a new government was installed. Approximately twenty years after the creation of Israel, the Six Day War occurred and forced more and more Palestinians from their homes. Israel was able to conquer more and more territory including Golan Heights and the West Bank. Once again, by doing so forced more and more people from their homes.
Today, not much has changed within the confines of the conflict. Palestinian forces have terrorized the Israeli people and the Israeli’s have fired back and organized their own attacks as well. These are the events that are shown all over the news, but what is missing is a sense on how the people of Palestine really feel. That is what Khoury has done in Gate of The Sun. It gives Westerners a look into the feelings of the Palestinian people and gives the conflict a new perspective.
The book is based primarily around the two main Palestinian characters Dr. Khalil Ayyoub and a man named Yunes. Yunes is in a hospital somewhere in Lebanon and is being cared for by Khalil. Yunes has suffered a stroke and is now in a coma. Yunes used to be a freedom fighter in the Palestinian military and has had many experiences before the formation of Israel and after into the 1990’s. Khalil sees Yunes as a hero and even goes as far as to call him a father figure.
Since Yunes is in a coma, Khalil stays at his bedside night after night and reminisces about stories from his own past and stories from Yunes’ past. He hopes that the stories will eventually wake Yunes from the coma and bring him back. This is where you, as the reader, get a real sense of how the Palestinian people were feeling during these terrible times of conflict.
You hear of the story of Yunes as a freedom fighter and how the Israeli government wants to capture him. He is forced to be on the run for the most of his life because he was a freedom fighter. Khalil tells the stories of Yunes and his wife and how they have to always meet at the cave known as The Gate of The Sun. This is the only time they were able to see each other because Yunes was always on the run. They ate many meals and even conceived children at this spot.
This story in particular gives readers a look into what life as a Palestinian can be. Yunes stuck up for his people and his land as a freedom fighter and then had to pay the ultimate price of not being able to be with his family because he was wanted by the Israeli government. His wife constantly has to live in fear and is even stopped by Israeli police because she is pregnant. She eventually lies and tells them that the baby isn’t Yunes and that she is pregnant because she cheated on him. The reason she does this is because Yunes was on the run and couldn’t risk exposing him. It shows how the Arab Israeli conflict can ruin the lives of the people involved in it.
Some of the other stories that Khalil speaks about are real life events that occurred. He speaks on the Holocaust and sympathizes with the Jewish people. He says that nobody should’ve sat around silently while this terrible act of genocide was occurring in Nazi Germany. This is the first sign of sympathy towards the Jewish people. This is significant in the story because it shows that Palestinian men are not just animals and cold blood murderers. Westerners believe that the Arabs want to kill all Jews and their supporters, but it is simply not the case. The next story that shows sympathy towards Jews is the story about the Munich Olympics where Jewish athletes were killed. Khalil tells the readers how Yunes was against those kinds of acts and actually took a stand against it. Once again, this shows that even a Palestinian soldier feels compassion towards the Jewish people and is not simply a terrorist or a murderer.
The most important stories in the novel are the stories of the people who occupied Palestine. Through these small vignettes, the reader gets a sense of who the Arab Palestinians are as people. This can open a lot of eyes in Western culture and can show that these people were treated terribly and are not just barbarians.
In conclusion, this work of fiction does a tremendous job of showing Westerners that the Palestinian people have such a deep, rich culture. The stories in this book allow the Palestinian story to be told to the Western world. The author shows that they are people as well and not just terrorists and murderers. While reading this book, readers gets a sense of who the Palestinians are as people and why they are struggling just as much, if not more, than their Israeli counterparts. The Arab-Israeli conflict has affected millions of innocent people and has negatively affected all who are involved. This book finally shows the conflict through the eyes of the Palestinian and that seems to be a tremendous step in maybe finding peace.
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