Difficulty

This is the refugee camp of Sabra, where 33 years ago, around 2,000 innocent Palestinians were massacred. Here, like in most refugee camps, food, running water, and electricity are scarce. For Palestinians in the occupied territories, as well as those spread out across camps in neighboring countries, daily life is a struggle. In “The Social Contract”, Rousseau states that “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (Rousseau 114). This applies to Palestinians everywhere, not just those living under the occupation. The Palestinians in Sabra, and in all the other camps across Lebanon and the Middle East, are not free just because they were born outside of Palestine. The Palestinians with Israeli citizenships, those who live within the state that brands itself “democratic”, are in no way free. Palestinians everywhere are in chains because they don’t have the right to return to the villages their families originated in, they don’t have the right to a country they can call home. People get their “liberty back by the same ‘right’—namely, force – that took it away in the first place” (Rousseau 114). That’s what resistance is, but in the Palestinians’ case, that’s exactly what they’re persecuted and labeled “terrorists” for. “The Social Contract” is Rousseau’s vision for the ideal way of life. The main idea that it expresses is man’s transition from “the state of nature to the civil state” (Rousseau 114), in which the people form civil society and work collectively towards a democratic system that ensures freedom and justice for all. Democracy, in the eyes of many, is the ideal system, but the reality is that corruption always finds its way into politics, no matter what kind of government it is, and many democratic regimes preach freedom and justice to cover up the atrocities they commit. The state of Israel, for example, is a state that regards itself a democracy. They have a parliamentary system and free elections, but in practice it leaves a lot to be desired. Palestinian Israelis are treated as second class citizens, and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are treated even worse. According to Rousseau, the social order “…is a sacred right on which all other rights are based on” (Rousseau 114). In Israel, Rousseau’s idea of social order is contradicted completely because the Israelis use their social order to create anti-Palestinian policies and deny the Palestinians of their rights. The Palestinians have not been given the chance to transition from the state of nature to the civil state due to over half a century of occupation and ethnic cleansing.

Work Cited:

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques “The Social Contract” Shifting Narratives.  Zane S. Sinno, Lina Bioghlu-Karkanawi, Dorota Fleszar, Najla Jarkas, Emma Moughabghab, Jennifer M. Nish, Rima Rantisi, and Abir Ward.  Mazraa, Beirut:  Center for educational consultation and Research, Educart,  2015.  Print.