As a Palestinian child growing up in the West Bank, Raja Shehadeh saw his fair share of conflict and destruction.
Now a lawyer and published author, Shehadeh spoke Monday at Ohio State about his experience with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
He has written several books about the conflict, including his latest, “Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine.” In this work, the story of Palestine evolves through a memoir of Shehadeh’s relationship with his father.
In his lecture, Shehadeh elaborated on the problems facing Palestine.
“The main problem, although there are many others, is the Israeli settlements,” Shehadeh said, referring to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
From a young age, Shehadeh saw the rapid increase in Israeli settlements and how they changed to landscape. These settlements would have taken Palestinians much longer to build because of scare resources, he said.
In total, the occupied territories consist of nearly 400,000 Israeli settlers. Israelis make up 10 percent of the population in the West Bank, but control more than 50 percent of the land. And in the Gaza Strip, Israeli settlers make up 0.6 percent of the population, but control 30 percent of the land, Shehadeh said.
“Polls indicate that the majority of Israeli settlers would be willing to give up the settlements in exchange for peace,” Shehadeh said. But because they are a small percentage of the total amount of Israelis, the settlers have little influence.”
When asked why Israelis do not give up the settlements, Shehadeh explained it would not be that simple.
Israelis would not want it to appear Palestinians won back the territories through violence – although appearances are just one aspect of a complex situation, he said.
“I’m quite convinced that when Israel occupied the territories in 1967, there was not a clear idea of what to do with the land,” Shehadeh said.
As a security measure in the 1995 Oslo Accords, Israel offered Palestine sovereignty over some occupied areas. In return, Israel wanted an end to Palestinian resistance of Israeli authority.
This promised sovereignty did not last, Shehadeh said. Instead, the Israelis gave Palestinians self-rule over their civilian affairs, but not over the land.
Shehadeh stressed the need for understanding the reality in the Middle East.
Arabs understand suffering because they are able to see it, but the U.S. media shows the conflict in a different light because Israel is backed by the United States. As a result, Americans do not have a clear understanding of the conflict, he said.
“He was trying to be very responsible to his position,” said Margaret Mills, a professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures.
Shehadeh showed the Palestinian conflict through personal experiences, which will facilitate understanding, Mills said.
