There is a lot of tension and anger in the Middle East, especially in the aftermath of Arab Spring. In fact, the region is still in a neocolonial era, since many Middle Eastern countries experience the ramifications of being a colonial territory. The term “Middle East” was actually coined by the British Empire, back when that was relevant. Many of the states at the center of the conflict were carved out by Western nations, like France and Britain. Out of the turmoil, the civil war in Syria is what receives the majority of media coverage, however, there are many wars going on in the Middle East.

Many of the wars being fought today are wars that came out of the colonial period - these states are now trying to create “real” borders.

When approaching it from this perspective, the Israel/Palestine conflict can be considered the epitome of Middle Eastern conflict. Post World War Two, the Zionist movement developed; it was a global effort of the Jewish community to establish a land of their own (this land at the time, was Palestine). The Jewish perspective looks back to when the Roman empire kicked many of the Jews out of the territory, and now they are returning. They argue that they are the true indigenous people, not the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Palestinians didn’t want to give up any of their land to these Jewish migrants coming in from Russia, Poland, and parts of Europe.

The state of Israel doesn’t recognize the nation of Palestine and has taken extreme measures to ensure the removal of all Palestinians from its territory. For example, Israel has a policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. It has done all of this legally by actually claiming a large portion of the West Bank as “agricultural land” in order to prevent Palestinians from building homes there, but then, portions of the land are rezoned specifically for Israeli communities. The Israeli government has demolished 47,000 Palestinian homes since 1967.

With a series of human rights violations, the U.S.'s 2 state solution is gone.

There has been too much violence and too much confusion of territory. We as Americans do not realize how this conflict is isolating us as a nation. By not acknowledging the families getting uprooted and displaced, are we really supporting democracy in the Middle East?