Crossing The Green Line Analysis

Avram Bornstein explores how citizenship, sovereignty, and national identity manifest themselves in Palestine and Israel throughout his book, Crossing the Green Line. His ethnographic study examines how the citizens of this area worked, lived, and interacted at the borders, boundaries, and frontiers of the two nations. Relationships between the Palestinians and the Israelis were further documented in the film, Checkpoint, which focused on dynamics at the border with special regards to the experience of crossing the border and interpersonal exchanges when at the international border. This area of turmoil, relatively modern international border changes, diverse identities, and varying levels of sovereignty hold great significance in anthropological …show more content…
Wilson, a nation can be defined as an ethnic group with a political agenda of achieving or retaining self-representation and sovereignty and that all nations have the right to rule themselves. This becomes problematic when there is not enough physical space, resources, the rights to specific land is contested, or the legitimacy of an ethnic group is questioned. Circumstances such as these help to lead to the power relations between Israel and Palestine. These two nations came to their present-day land and sociopolitical position through a complex history of immigration, violence, and international interference and support. The result, though, is that one nation state, Israel, has independence, great international impact, and physical and economic power, while Palestine has only autonomy and lives greatly by the rules that Israel and other nations and international groups have outlined for them through state violence, treaties, and plans—such as the UN Partition Plan which helped to create the modern international borders between the two nations as well as the level and type of sovereignty they would be able to obtain (Palestine 1890-1990). This difference in the right to self-governance as given by national and international efforts and use of structural violence through their successes in conflict has created a power dynamic at and around the borders which affect the way in which Palestinian individuals are able to move, …show more content…
That citizenship helps to mold the socioeconomic and political rights and difficulties that individuals face-- much as birth certificates, blood rights, and passports do in the rest of the world. The goal of protecting the future of this citizenship by ensuring the longevity of the nation means protecting the political goals of the nation: to ensure sovereignty and territory. This prospect holds varying challenges and possibilities of success for both Israel and Palestine. Israel has the benefit of international support and plans that allow them to be in a position to use their military and economic authority to assert political power over Palestine. The Palestinian people, however, have a history of traditions, customs, and culture that they are able to draw on when connecting through their shared identity, despite their transnational locations. This shared identity helps to keep a great number of Palestinian people connected and concerned with the future of their nation, regardless of where they are geographically. These components of sovereignty, citizenship, and national identity, and how they manifest in Israel and Palestine, are key aspects in understanding how nations persist, interact, and grow in the modern