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Israeli Occupation Causes Palestinian Identity Crisis

Israeli occupation and colonization is not only stripping Palestinians of their land, but their identity too, Rana Baker writes.
Palestinians wave flags during a rally marking the U.N. General Assembly's upgrading of the Palestinians' status from "observer entity" to "non-member state", in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 2, 2012. Israel said on Sunday it was withholding this month's transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, after the United Nations' de facto recognition of a Palestinian state.  REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Colonialism is not limited to physical boundaries, theft of resources, and even military aggression. In fact, it extends far beyond what we see, hear, and touch to what we do not. And the latter is equally perilous to say the least. 

It seems that colonial powers present the colonized not only with the illusion of democracy, prosperous economy, and social justice, but also with an ever-imposing dictionary of words that slowly becomes entrenched in their daily interactions and systems of thought. Domestic colonizers, i.e., the local beneficiaries of colonialism such as politicians, government officials and businessmen, are usually the first to adopt such dictionaries.

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