Analysis Of The Poem Khirbet Khizeh - 1610 Words

Michelle Hinkey Professor Sirisena October 17, 2014 FIQWS 10105, FQ20 Essay # 2 Stage 2 Nationalism can be defined as political feelings, principles, and efforts, or the desire for the political liberation of a particular country. The nationalist movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel is known as Zionism. This ideology was the driving force behind the Jewish expulsion of the Palestinians from their villages in1948. Through the eyes of an unnamed Israeli soldier, S. Yizhar describes this purge as it ensued in one Palestinian town in his autobiographical novella, Khirbet Khizeh. The contradictory themes of proud justification and shame or guilt because of the actions done in the name of Zionism, influence, and ultimately characterize the speaker’s identity, developing his divided loyalties as a Jew in Palestine. Since his participation in the Israeli military’s eviction of the Palestinians, the narrator has been haunted by what was done, and these feelings of guilt prompt him to tell his story. His experience as a soldier so impacted him that it has molded his very existence as a Zionist, causing him to wonder about and question the motives behind his actions. At first he tried to shrug off his own role in the violence, thinking that he was just following orders and doing what he had to do. But then he (and through this the reader)