Talk about touchy.

If there is one thing that constantly stalks my thoughts, it's the Israel/Palestinian controversy.
So many opinions, too many sides to an already "Too-big issue". Is it really a religious dispute or does it reach much farther than we perceive? Is it all politics and regional control and intimidation? Might I suggest, as mentioned, are factors in the "Too-big issue".

Yet, what am I to do. The young adult from Canada, just sickened by the pictures I see. And sure, some might suggest, you could find disturbing images in western societies. But, Never have I ever walked down the street and been prosecuted right out for my "assumed" beliefs. Who am I to say something is wrong? Right?

I am only a college student in Ontario, in the suburbs of Toronto, also known as the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I don't experience sniper towers or threats of security forces taking my or a loved ones children hostage, to cowardly use as a shield. That is not my world. That is not my reality. Yet, the images I see haunt the deep realms of my heart. I often use empathy before radical doubt to analyze a situation, one that is social anyways. Lets put my self in the shoes of a Jewish settler. And not even one of the extreme, just a casual citizen of Israel that has immigrated there with in the last 50 years. I would imagine they take great pride in both their faith and their culture, as everyone in this world has the right too. They as many groups of faith and culture, mourn and remember the unforgettable past. I would see the high light of my past as the holocaust, as it was then the focus of persecution was essentially realized on a global scale.(And even as they taught us in my catholic school, the holocaust has taught us how the world requires tolerance and that everyone has an objective value with its self should be treasured and respected.)
I would take pride and display confidence in the arrival of my fellow comrades in a place we could call our own...A mother land.And every time I would think of my mother land, I would think of the United Nations and the American government. For their great contribution and dedication to the place we would call home would be only be possible all because of them. Every time I would think of my past I would think back to the historical global event that the entire world reached out and aided a victim of genocide. Even though, their views were not directly related to the views of the jewish community, they were evidently aware of what was right and was wrong.And with that I would be thankful, for every one on this planet, regardless of who they were. For it was the actions of those who were aware of what was right and what wrong, that made the example for which a state aided by the same people should be ran. And everyday I would wake up and thank thy almighty god for those of every race and faction, for it is a sign, that regardless of what was right and wrong, or certain or uncertain, that we are all in this together.

Yes, that is how I see the average person, and if I was a Jewish settler, those would be my thoughts... I would imagine, then again I have not been subjected to the cultural conditioning and they don't have Christmas there, so I am clueless really.

I can now try the same exercise, but from the Arab citizen with in Israel or even Gaza and or the west bank.

My first immediate instinct as the same for Israeli's, is the overwhelming sense of pride. I also imagine that I would be brought up everyday, praising Allah before all others and be thankful for the gift of life let alone a family if it were applicable. Yet after the pride and culture shock of being an arab in what else but another western occupied land, my immediate instinct would be, I have nothing possessive. Maybe a few physical things that I could carry dear to my heart and could be transported by hand easily, I also think about the scrutiny I would face from opposing forces and the people that currently occupy the land, which my ancestors would have lived comfortably on. Yet, my heart, along with the grace of Allah would tell me to love all humans and aid my understanding that all would be judged individually. However I feel my surrounding would expose me to the radical ideas of those who understand what is "right" and what is "wrong". I would fight my instinct to oppose them, yet their reasoning and explanation for their radical ideas seem so pristine, followed with even some of the teachings in my holy book, it would all make sense to fight and even possibly kill.

It is much easier for me to put my self in the shoes or sandals of a jewish settler versus an arab who has occupied the land for such a measurable time. I believe there is the possibility for peace in the land of the holy. Yet, the forces that be will always use the rude sense of reality to manipulate peoples opinions whether they are a few miles of a monumental event or thousands of kilometers from an unspoken murder fest.