Palestinian and Israeli Declarations of Independence
Each document takes into account the strife caused by impeding European powers or otherwise removing the native people from the lands at which they identify with. They both require that they are internationally recognized as states in the global perspective and wish to be respected within the global community.
Religion is heavy-handedly laid into each document as a right given by the governing body to protect, and each states that there will be no form of discrimination due to the “race, religion, or sex” of the individual. However, the viewpoints of how religion has shaped their identity have differed. The Israelis feel that they have followed their religion through their trying times as a way to keep with their morals that they believe in, while the Palestinians believe in their power that comes from their beliefs.
The Israelis have written a compassionate, open, mediating document to represent that they are not angry, but frustrated, over the injustices that have been inflicted upon them. They band together through these hardships and wish for their political independence. The Palestinians form an identity through the land that they have been removed from and are upset over the territory that they have lost, wishing to reclaim the land that is sacred to their religion.
The Israeli Declaration of Independence makes no connection or mention to the Palestinian people, instead forming an idea of a more harmonious and prosperous Middle East, supported by “The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.” However, due to the lack of any mention of the Palestinians as if they did not exist, the Israelis make no effort to say that they are welcome in Israel, instead saying “eveyone” and “surrounding states,” where they almost absolutely believe that these Palestinians would occupy. This is countered by the Palestinian perspective, in which they explicitly mention the “…Israeli forces, the willed dispossession and expulsion from their ancestral homes of the majority of Palestine’s civilian inhabitants…” The Palestinians make several other references to the Israelis, none of which positive, placing themselves above the other with the sole intention of removal.