Originally posted by redwolf
Truly shocked, I told her that in Palestine, they wouldn't want her back. She's not Palestinian to them. She dresses and thinks like a Westerner. However, I told her to go back there if she loved it so much. Since then I have had a completely different view of Palestinians. I was amazed at this fanaticism.
I, like her, have parents from a different nation. My father was born in Italy and my mother had German parents. Regardless, I am not Italian nor German, I am Australian and would not even consider this girl's course of action.
Any people living in a foreign land will cling to their culture and national identity for as long as it takes (paradoxically) for them to be fully accepted. Your parents had it easy - aside from a few verbal jabs your father would have received for being a "wog", they could be absorbed into Australian society very rapidly. Indeed, the fact that each of your parents comes from a different country, it's not surprising that you identify yourself as Australian.
On the other hand, people who do not have the comfort of fitting in easily, and people who do not necessarily need to fit in completely - that means pretty much any families where both parents belong to the same culture - will retain their cultural and national identies for longer. This isn't some weird Palestian fanticism - it's a universally human trait. If you went to live in the Middle East, your children would be fanatically Australian (unless you married a local, of course). This could be seen at any time in history. The British who lived in India were usually more nationalistic than those who lived in Britain. The Russian Jews who migrated to Israel now identify themselves as Russian immigrants first, and Jews second. Heck, studying here in Australia, I tend to think a hell of a lot more about what it means to be Polish than I ever did while living in Poland.
The paradox, of course, is what you said - if she went back to Palestine (well, hmm, bad example, since she
can't go back to a place that doesn't exist), she wouldn't be accepted. A Lebanese friend of mine (who, like you, is a second-generation Australian and who, living here, is always keen to highlight his Lebanese origins) told me that when he visited Lebanon, he identified himself as being Australian. Whenever I go home to Poland, I feel completely out of place too. This Palestinian friend of yours, if she had a Palestine to go back to, would claim that she's Australian.
It pains me to say it, I do believe that Palestinians are trouble. I do believe in a state for them, but they are too fanatic for my liking and indeed world security. Even the Jordanians (a fellow Arab nation) are worried. There are now more Palestinians in Jordan than there are Jordanians!
OH MY GOD THEY'RE REPRODUCING KILL THEM ALL!