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Khirbet Khizeh 1948 Quotes

Decent Essays

“Sometimes I would shake myself again, astonished at how easy it had been to be seduced, to be knowingly led astray and join the great general mass of liars- that mass compounded of crass ignorance, utilitarian indifference, and shameless self-interest- and exchange a single great truth for the cynical shrug of a hardened sinner.” This quote reflects the thesis of the essay; that following the masses and being ignorant of the wrongdoing occurring around oneself leads the average man into becoming a monster. This fictional account follows the aftermath of the war in 1948. It tells the tale of a man who recalls the expulsion of a small village, Khirbet Khizeh. He is conflicted with how he should be feeling when being told the true mission of Khirbet Khizeh. He understands he must appear strong and willing like his fellow soldiers, but as a human being he …show more content…

Those we were driving out-that was a totally different matter. Wait. Two thousand years of exile. The whole story. Jews being killed. Europe. We were the masters now.” The most powerful statement within this novella. The idea, what happened to the Jewish people justified what they were doing to those living in Khirbet Khizeh.. There was a logical reason to drive people out of their homes, because this was “their” land; this is what the Romans had taken from them in the year 70. They deserved this land since Europe had killed millions of their people. This was the Jewish people’s rightful land. The narrator comes to this idea because of zionism, the dream of returning to the Holy Land. Never explicitly using the term “zionism” the narrator and those around him are driven to this extreme because of the belief. When the novel finally concludes the narrator understands he followed the ignorance of the masses and the hate this movement inspired against the Arabs. He can see that he had turned into something he was

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