Throughout the course of the
semester our group had to discuss and identify the reasons why the attacks
between Palestine and Israel occurred. Since the topic was so broad, we looked
back at the history of the two lands in order to gain full insight and
understanding of why there was a conflict. Our first post, we focused on the
history of the land, religion and the occupation along with mistreatment of the
Palestinians under Israeli rule. Our second post focused more on the current
events, such as the 50 day Gaza war, and the land disputes over which country
the West Bank belonged to. Next, we wrote about the social and economic issues
both sides face over the land dispute. Lastly, we discussed the BDS movement
and their stance on banning Israeli goods in order to promote human rights in
Palestine. Throughout the course, we had to discuss both sides fairly and non-judgmentally.
Each blog resulted in someone
taking action and almost leading the group with the tasks at hand. Being seven
people in the group, we broke down the questions on the syllabus accordingly:
who, what, where, why, when, how. With each of us doing a question it was
better for us to stay focused on the topic and not get too confused or
confusing while representing the information. We used ‘Google Doc’ to post our
paragraphs so we could all see each other’s work and discuss the topic further
if necessary. The seventh person in the group would be the one to edit the
paragraphs together, add photos and upload to the blog. Each round, we would
take turns appointing a topic, a question to answer, and an editor. We made it
so that everyone was fairly participating and not one person was involved with
the whole process. Our group was understanding of the responsibilities each
person had and was always willing to help.
Over the summer I was in Lebanon
while the whole conflict was happening. Watching the news while over there and
watching it in America was so different because of the perspectives and views
on the matter. I was knowledgeable about the land disputes from family and
friends whose families lived in Gaza, but I just never really comprehended the
whole issue until I did this blog post. I had to be cautious about sources now
being biased towards each side, which proved to be more difficult than
imagined. When we were discussing possible topic questions for the blog we had
to make sure that we evenly spoke about both sides and not show favoritism or
play the victim card to the opposing country. In the past, group projects in
college have been a great struggle; everyone has a different schedule so
getting together was nearly impossible. With this group, however, we always
stayed connected via a group chat and we just made that our form of
communication. Our first blog was a little rough because we did not want to
over step our boundaries with one another with annoying each other with too
many questions about what we were supposed to do, but we got into a pattern
after our second blog and we made it work for us ever since. Our group was
completely understanding and so helpful that it did not really feel very
stressful having to work together.
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