Acculturation is best referred to as “the dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual numbers” [2]. At the broader level, acculturation draws on a change in the cultural practices and in the social structures. At the narrower level, it is associated with changes in the person’s behavioral repertoire. Acculturation correlates with the general characteristic features of socialization. Acculturation may follow individuals' initial socialization into their own culture. 

However, acculturation and socialization might be referred to as the general motif of cultural transmission. Cultural change and intercultural contact and cultural change often take place for some good reasons, including mainly colonization, occupation, and migrations. Both take place after initial contact in culturally plural societies, where ethno-cultural communities maintain features of their heritage cultures. Adaptation to living in culture-contact settings occur gradually over time. Adaptation is stressful, but it may result in some form of long-term accommodation [3]. 

The nature of acculturation in Israel is both complex and conflictual [4]. Thus, the description of ideological, social, and political cultural change is not easy. The research dealing with adaptation and acculturation patterns of minorities and majority groups is also rare. Therefore, there is a need for contextual and interactional approaches to examine in depth the attitudes of the dominant majorities towards the acculturating groups. Such approaches may reveal the differentness as well as the unlikeness of the Israeli context in which the role of Jewish identity and Jewishness advances in the acculturation against minorities including the Palestinian groups in historical Palestine, in general and in Jerusalem, in particular. 

Multi-group acculturation among Muslim and Christian Palestinians in Israel is oriented by several implementations. Munayer and Horenczyk [5] explore accultur-ation of minorities. They examine changes in the orientations of acculturation among Palestinian Christian adults. The researchers have evaluated the adult’s acculturation orientations in the light of two majorities: Israeli Jews  and   Muslim    Arabs’.  Among    the    central  orientations to acculturation is the rising of the separation attitudes to both majorities, weakening of the integration tendencies towards the Jews, and distancing themselves from Arab Muslims. The scholars claim that by time passage Palestinian Christian adults feel the Jewish culture as less close to Western cultures, and that they conceive their self-concepts as Christian Arabs much clearer. Consequently, the researchers contends that Palestinian young Christians are aware of their ethno-religious identity.

Abu-Rayya and Abu-Rayya [6] have examined religious identity and acculturation among Palestinians in Israel. They have investigated the relationship between the religious identity, the Israeli identity, and the Palestinian ethnic identity. The researchers found that the participants’ absorption in their Palestinian ethnicity as well as in the Israeli community is negatively correlated to a great extent. The findings are in line with Berry’s hypothesis of independence. This means that the Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation identify themselves as members of minority group as well as members of majority group within the Israeli-Palestinian context. Statistically, participants are significantly much more engaged in their ethnicity as Arabs than in the Israeli community. Participants also show a high degree of religious identification. The scholars have concluded that both the ethnic and religious factors play a major role in the modern Palestinian identity. 

Within the Palestinian context, Awwad et al. [7] checked the impact of acculturation and culture on Palestinian perceptions of prenatal genetic counselling of Palestinian Americans and native Palestinian. They investigated five major issues: family influence on pre-marital decisions, family and community roles, gender roles in pre-natal decisions, gender differences, and perception of the genetic counselor’s advising regarding the options given. The researchers found several differences and similarities in the responses of native Palestinians and Palestinian Americans have been constrained. Differences might be attributed to acculturation whereas similarities can be explained in terms of common culture.

Within the Israeli context, Rebhun [8] has studied transnationalism and acculturation among Israeli immigrants in Europe and the USA. The researcher investigates the relationships between the social assimilation with the destination countries, the religious and ethnic cultural change within the immigrants, and the socio-cultural ties with home country. It has been found that the immigrants’ social integration is related to both the duration of residence abroad and the local citizenship reinforcing ethnic and religious identification. Media networks do not enhance social integration among those groups. General integration with other communities also constrain the rapport between the immigrants and their home country. Acculturation of ethno-religious believes is largely insignificant for transnationalism. Besides, the destination country, whether religious or not, does not have an impact on the ethno-religious patterns of the Israeli immigrants.   

Suleiman [9] has examined how Palestinian and Jewish university students perceive the collective identity of the Palestinian minority in Israel. He found that the Jewish and Palestinian subjects understand the space of the identity as linear or bipolar in which one pole is defined by the Palestinian national identity and the other is labelled by the Israeli civic outlook. The Palestinian participants tend to define their collective identity in national and integrative terms including ‘Palestinian’, ‘Arab’, and ‘Israeli- Palestinian’. Respondents among the Jewish tend to conceive the identity of the minorities living in Israel only in terms of integration, i.e. Israeli-Palestinian. Among Palestinian participants, different political perspectives are related to their identification with the civic, i.e. Israeli, identity; they are not connected to their identification with the national, Palestinian identity. Different political views among Jewish respondents are, however, linked with their either inclusion or exclusion of the Palestinian national identity component.

Cohen-Louck and Shechory-Bitton [10] have examined the impact of terrorism and ethnicity on the acculturation process among Russian and Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. The researchers collected their data from (514) Israeli settlers including Russian Jews immigrated from the former United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Flashy Jews having Ethiopian origins. The scholars have found no linkage between fear of terrorism and acculturation. As the responses of both groups reflect a low level of fear of, terrorism, it is very probable that those groups have already experienced a good process of habitual naturalization. The dominant acculturation strategy utilized among both groups is integration. However, the Russian immigrants have reported using more assimilation; the Ethiopians separation. 

Research Problem, Objectives and Questions

Since Balfour Declaration in 1917, Jerusalem, among other issues, has been central to the Arab-Israeli conflict. More recently, Trump’s promise of admitting Jerusalem as a unified capital of State of Israel as well as transferring the American embassy to Jerusalem has shed some light on what has been going on in the city, in general and the Old city, in particular. In the city, more than 300,000 Palestinian Arabs have been living for ages [11]. These people are encountering a lot of difficulties because of their direct contact with the Israeli authorities taking control over the city since 1967, of their nationality as Palestinian Arabs, and of their Islamic and Christian identities stemmed from the religious places looking after for centuries. Though the literature is rich in the studies carried out on this group of people, most of the studies are carried out from outsider’s perspectives. None of these studies have been conducted from an insider’s or an artistic, literary point of view.

The present study examines the sociocultural difficulties of the Palestinians living in the Old City of Jerusalem. It investigates the elements, domains as well as dimensions in which the multi-group acculturation in Jerusalem are implemented by the Israeli successive governments. Thus, the paper utilizes Al-Barghouti’s poem ‘In Jerusalem’ to describe these acculturating elements, interpret their domains, and explain their dimensions. Consequently, the study addresses the following questions:

• What mechanics of multi-group acculturation are reflected in ‘In Jerusalem’

• Which domains of life does the Palestinian acculturation have influenced

• How is the acculturation procedures perceived or conceived by this group   

The study counts, as it is amongst the first scholarly research (up to my best knowledge) to investigate Palestinian multi-group acculturation from a literary perspective. Unlike other studies, the study benefits from a piece of literary work recording what is going on in the old city from an insider’s perception of the acculturation processes taking place in the city. As literature attempts to record what is going on from sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic views, it is expected that the artistic work helps realize certain meanings related to the demographic, geopolitical, and historical affiliations concerning the target group under investigation. 

The study also minds, as it approaches the topic from a critical and analytical perspectives. The data collected from a first-hand source was written in Arabic to document the feelings of a Palestinian young poet visiting Jerusalem after isolating the city with apartheid walls. The data is also analyzed by a Palestinian specialist’s lens of native Arabic. Thus, the analyst is common with the geopolitical domains, the demographic aspects, the sociocultural values as well as the meanings and senses explicated, implicated and satisfied in the literary work. The data collected and analyzed is also felt from a post structuralist’s point of view maintaining that ‘there is nothing outside the text’ [12].

Theoretically, the paper draws on a linguistic theory of language. The analysis consistently builds on "systemic functional language" (SFL) which is supposed to leak some knowledge about the grammatical functions as well as the syntactic features of the units of the literary Text under analysis. From a pragmatic view, the analysis also builds on "first order logic" to purify meaning [13]. Therefore, the "meaning relation" that each verse under investigation helps build will be analytically checked. The "meaning values" of the discourses under discussion will be also drawn [13]. More importantly, the "predicate" or the "predicators", i.e. what is said about the subject or what is used as subject complement, as well as their "arguments", will be systematically drawn and notified [14].

The study also benefits from critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a research method. It builds on Van Dijk's  modelof analysis which perceives discourse as an indispensable component of ideology. Van Dijk has identified a variety of discourse structures that can carry important functions of deep thoughts at the syntactic, semantic and schematic, i.e. discourse, levels. The study also meets Fairclough's [15-16] model of analysis. Fairclough's three-dimensional analytical framework includes three types of analysis at the levels of producing, consuming and construing, i.e. realizing, meaning [17]. The first analysis is descriptive; it aims at describing the meanings produced. The second is interpretive, as it aims to consume the meanings produced by the writer or speaker. The last analysis is explanatory, as it aims at realizing the meanings produced and consumed.

The data collected is felt differently. Analytically, the researcher integrates two levels of language to describe, interpret and explain the linguistic features of the poem that processes deep thoughts that accelerate some linguistic variation. Thus, the researcher systematically uses a critical research method that clearly shows how meanings are conveyed at the syntactic level. The study, therefore, approaches the literary text from a more "recent denotational theory" in which the structural meaning of the lines is checked at the discourse level [13]. Consequently, the study goes beyond the notion of the sentence to contextualize the deep meanings, values, and political thoughts hidden in the literary work. These meanings are often satisfied in the processes of production, consumption and realization. Syntactically, the researcher also highlights the importance of language change and tense in the process of word selection and use. Generally speaking, the data collected is perceived or rather conceived under analysis from a ‘post-structuralists' perspective validating that “there is nothing outside the text”. As a procedure, the study also benefits from the interpretations of the poem in English [18]. 

Discussion and Analysis

Analyzing the general features of the poem at the rhetorical, macro level has resulted in identifying three general dramatic moves: Designating the Israeli presence in Jerusalem, observing the Palestinian absence in the city, consulting past events for the future of the ancient city. To answer the questions raised in the study, the paper comments on these moves as well as the steps taken for each move. 

Acknowledging the Israeli Occupying Existence in Jerusalem 

Right at the beginning of the poem, Al-Barghouti raises the rhetoric, dialogical question ‘What will you see in Jerusalem when you visit?’ to not only interact with us as readers but also draw our attention to what we can and cannot see there. Thus, the poem opens with the Israeli extensive presence in Jerusalem and ends with the clear absence of the Palestinians. In the opening move, there some steps, each of which has its own affiliations. 

Affiliations of Immigration to Jerusalem among Ethnic Jewish Groups

In the first step of the opening move, the poet exemplifies for four ethnic groups that have immigrated to historical Palestine recently. Those include a couple of Russians, an American teacher, some Polish boys, and an Ethiopian (see Examples 1-3 in Table 1). The selection of these ethnic groups is not random, as it signals for the major flux of immigration took place in the last few decades mainly from the Former Soviet Union, Poland, and Ethiopia. The selection of the human elements in regard to the purpose of departure to Jerusalem sounds purposeful. Absent the Ethiopian Africans who are given a military role, immigrants from other nationalities are assigned pure civilian roles. The Russian immigrants are presented as mature laborious couples; the Americans look well-educated, and the Polish are immature but eager to learn (see Column A in Table 1). The social domain identified for those immigrant groups is all socially secular, religious, and non-human (see Column B in Table 1). The Russians mind earthly issues while the American and Polish Immigrants are preoccupied with religious affiliations. The African immigrants are assigned for non-human services related to making the Palestinians’ life impossible. 

Table 1: Affiliations of immigration to Jerusalem among Jewish ethnic groups

In this step, the dimension reflected for each ethnic group vary considerably. While the Russians seem annoyed and have insufficient degree of confidence in regard to going on a vacation or painting the house, both the Americans and their students are confident and ready to follow Moses’ teachings. Only are the Africans suspicious of the Palestinian ‘reactions’ (see Column C in Table 1). At the schematic level of the literary discourse, those ethnic minorities affiliate with the Israeli occupation of   Jerusalem.   However, each group is enforced by a different factor. Russian immigrants are oriented economic and recreational tendencies whereas both the Americans and the Polish are stirred by power of religion. However, the Africans are (unfortunately) pushed by survival forces and feelings of inferiority (see Column D in Table 1).

Associations of the Israeli Occupation Concerning the Old City of Jerusalem 

In the opening move, Al-Barghouti steps from dealing with the Zionists’ immigration to Jerusalem to reflecting on the Israeli occupation itself. Here, he discusses certain materialistic elements that can be perceived as specific tools for the occupation itself (see Column A in Table 2). Absent the white European tourists visiting the Holy City which looks human, those elements have either a military or a religious domain (see Column B in Table 2). Absent the domain of the Europeans touring the old City which also sounds inclusively religious, the other domains are exclusively religious. They are so as they occur at the Wailing Wall which lies outside the boundaries of the ancient City. As the whole scene of the city is detached, it is very probable that the domain assigned for the European Christian groups remains totally recreational. Elsewhere, it is religious.   

Table 2: Affiliations of the Israeli Occupation to Jerusalem     

In step two of the opening move, specific dimensions for the elements assigned as well as the domains referred to can also be felt. The materialistic military and religious space and symbols mirror lack of security, invisible and visible self-portraits, and contradictions of divine and secular behaviors (see Column C in Table 2). They also affiliate with notions of occupation, settlement, historical diaspora and eagerness to Jerusalem, and lack of faith and secularity of the State (see Column D in Table 2). It is important to note here that these affiliations sound marginal, as they occur only outside the city. Only is the affiliation of the occupations is effective, as it curtains (even for the European tourists standing outside) to see the city well. 

Exclusion of the Palestinian Element from their Own City

In the last step, the poet closes in a telegraphic style the opening move. He, however, opens with a Palestinian old woman laboring the whole day long to earn her living. By doing so, the poet shifts to not only present but also maintain a human element for Palestinian Jerusalemites. However, he closes with a notification absenting the Palestinian element again. In between, he sustains a materialistic and non-human element for the Occupation. Here, he refers to the elements that have lead to such an absence. He lists the isolating walls, concrete barricades and asphalt streets (see Column A in Table 3). Though the domain is kept totally military for the materialist elements, i.e. the Israeli Occupation, it is shifted to a very social, religious and non-existential one in favour of the Palestinian party (see Column B in Table 3). For this party, the social and religious domains sound both ontological and deontological, as they pertain to the nature of continuation of their life and doctrine.     

Table 3: Exclusion of the Palestinian Element from Jerusalem

In the closing step of the first move, the elements and the domains assigned reflect a good degree of hard work as well as forced exclusion in regard to the Palestinian element, on the one hand. On the other, it shows a high level of apprehension and insecurity regarding the Israeli party (see Column C in Table 3). These negative dimensions affiliate with specific notions of ‘collective punishment’, ‘racial discrimination’, ‘religious persecution’ and ‘genocide’ (see Column D in Table 3). In short, those proclivities manifest the ugly face of the 20^th century last neocolonialism. 

Consultation of History for the Present State of Jerusalem

In the second move, Al-Barghouti allows for a brief message from history. Though laconic, the move opens and ends with a human element referring to the poet himself or any Palestinian visiting Jerusalem from the surroundings. In the move, there is a fluctuation between materialistic and human elements (see Column A in Table 4). Thus, it steps to describe the old city of Jerusalem as a wandering deer sentenced to departure. The historian asks the poet to relax as he began to weaken. The domain also vacillates from a non-existential, affective and metaphysical interactive speech function (see Column B in Table 4). It may also maintain an expressive function, as the speech between history and the poet sounds intimate.

Table 4: Consulting History for the Present State of Jerusalem

The second move also reflects feelings of sadness, discomfort and apathy (see Column C in Table 4). Though negative, the connotations of these senses reflect a high degree of positivity on the psychological level of the Palestinian population due to their relevance to what is going on ‘roaming city’. They also connote with negative feelings of eviction, confusion and indignation (see Column D in Table 4). 

Articulation of the Historical Dimension of Jerusalem 

Unlike the previous move, the closing move is fluent. It has many steps aiming at drawing a clear image of the city, articulating its history from different perspectives, and finally regaining the components of its identity. 

Reading the Present State of Jerusalem 

In the final move, there is a shift from the materialistic element to the historical and human ones (see Column A in Table 5). The switch maintains a locational and verbal domain to Jerusalem and Jerusalemites from a historical point of view (see Column B in Table 5). Bringing the timelines of the city from a historical lens is intended to let the demographic element speak of (in terms of metaphor) the present situation of the city. This has, however, resulted in identifying two states of demographic conditions: One is uncertain but placid and stable; the other is disguised, sneaking and cautious (see column C in Table 5). The rhetorical features of the first group reflect some contradictory inclinations of confusion, clarity, and stability. These, however, affiliate with self-esteem and occupation resistance. The features of the other group show inclinations to counterfeiting and plotting. Those are, however, associated with convulsion, division, and acquisition (see Column D in Table 5).   

Table 5: Reading the Present State of Jerusalem

Revival of Spirituality in Jerusalem   

In step two of the closing move, there is an extensive use of textual and sensory materialistic and metaphorical elements (see Column A in Table 6). These verbal metaphors have a purely religious domain (see Column B in Table). They also reflect a spiritual rapport between the various groups of the city and the sky. Among these, the relationship that has been established and developed between the new born ‘crescent’ and other ‘crescents’ over the years (see Example 1 in Table 6). The architecture of the city has also been developed to meet the teachings of both Christianity and Islam (see Example 2 in Table 6). The teachings of the Bible and the Noble Qur’an in regard to faith are beautifully octagonal and divine. The golden dome, whether aesthetically or ethically, guides the believers and reflects like a mirror their acts every week (see Example 3 in Table 6).

Table 6: Developing the Islamic Identity in Jerusalem

In the step, the dimension of the religious symbols selected and used sound totally spiritual and divine (see Column C in Table 6). Absent Judaism, there is a reference to the Abrahamic doctrines of both Islam and Christianity.

As the emergence of Islam is (historically and dramatically) successive, it is central to both the rebirth of the city and birth of its religious identity (see Column D in Table 6). It is important to note here that the emergence of Islam in Arabia as well as its arrival in Jerusalem in the seventh century had preceded by the Qur’anic Event of Alisra’ in which Prophet Muhammad travelled at night from Mecca in Arabia to Beit Al-Maqdis in Jerusalem to meet other prophets and to ascend to heaven. This helps explain the images drawn about the exclusive emergence of the Islamic and Christian identity of Jerusalem. 

Emanation of Christian and Islamic Understanding in Historical Jerusalem 

In step three of the closing move, there is a change from natural and human elements (see Column A in Table 7). That is to say there is a shift from the space and protecting that space to materialistic elements, such as marble columns, windows and doors, and human designers (see examples 1 and 2 in Table 7). The domain in which these objects and symbols function sounds phenomenal, locational, and artistic (see Column B in Table 7). This linguistic processing also reflects a spiritual and deontological dimensions in which Jerusalemite designers have to not work in harmony with each other but also obey the teachings of their religions (see Column C). The linguistic processing affiliates with the positive feelings of sharing and caring which, in turn, mirror a high degree of collaborative work, community participation, and team work. It is also associated with the full understanding between Christian and Muslim groups in the city throughout history.

Table 7: Emergence of Islamic and Christian Understanding in Jerusalem

Enlightenment against Slavery, Dictatorship and Invasion 

In step four, the poet exemplifies for a school in Jerusalem built by servant who was once sold in Persia to an Iraqi merchant who sent to Egypt. There, he and his ancestors liberated Egyptian people from the tyrant ruler, later Jerusalemite Arabs from the crusaders, and finally Muslims from Moguls (see example 1 in Table 8). In the step, there is a shift from a materialistic element to human, linguistic and perceptive ones. The switch to textual and sensory elements sound dramatic and modern. This shifts allows for personification and modern themes to advance. For example, the smell of tear gas sooner replaced by the scent of the herbal aromas brought from India is conceived as the language that everyone can understand (see Example 2 and Column A in Table 8). The domain is very broad. It moves backward from a school in Jerusalem to Iran in the east and Egypt in the west. Then, it moves forward from a market in which the scents of the Indian herbs replaces the tear gas the Israeli soldiers shoot to people (see Column B in Table 8). This loco-motional linguistic processing suggests that Jerusalem is central to human civilizations.   

Table 8: Instigation against Slavery, Dictatorship and Invasion   

In the step, the reference to the school built by the Muslim Slaves reflects the innovative role Jerusalem has played in history. The use of specific themes related to the ‘scent language’ that one can listen to and understand mirrors a modern linguistic cognitive perspective in which senses are first perceived and then processed in our heads (see Column C in Table 8). Meanings depicted in the step affiliate with the historical motifs of slavery, dictatorship, tyranny, expansionism and neocolonialism (see Column D in Table 8). 

Improbability of Deleting the Arabic Identity of Jerusalem 

In step five, there is a mutual change between the employment of abstract vs. concrete, human vs. materialistic, and physical and natural elements and symbols (see Column A in Table 9). The domain also fluctuates between political and social acts (see Column B in Table 9). Language functions and modes also sound affective, informative, expressive, and intimate (see Examples 1 to 3 in Table 9). The connotations of the meanings conveyed by the examples reflect the negative feelings of the city’s complex political situation. They also mirror the positive feelings of originality as well as the importance of Jerusalem for all Palestinians (see Column C in Table 9). These senses affiliate with the notions of failure of peace negotiations between the Palestinian and the Israeli parties and the denial of the identity of the city as a potential capital of the emerging State of Palestine (see Column D in Table 9).

Table 9: Improbability of Eliminating the Identity of Jerusalem as an Arab City

Jerusalem is Becoming Smaller and Smaller to its Own People 

In step six, various materialistic symbols, human and ethnic and textual elements are used to create a multi-national death of image (see the Example and Column A in Table 10). The human elements referred to as visitors belong to different ethnics and nationalities. They are also characterized as believers vs. profanes, poor vs. rich, eastern vs. wester n, and white and black (see Column B in Table 10). Regardless of their ethnicity, belief and purpose, those people have lived and buried in the city. Speaking metaphorically, they were footnotes and became the main textbook of the history of Jerusalem (see Column C in Table 10). This conceit, i.e. long metaphor, affiliates with life and death. It aims to convey the capacity of the city to welcome others, hold them tight in its soil, and record them in its book as historical witnesses. However, the poet implicitly remarks that the city is dwindling due to crowdedness of invaders. Nowadays, there is no space for its own people (see Column D in Table 10).  

Table 10: Jerusalem is Becoming Smaller to absorb its own People due to Crowdedness 

It has been found that among the local Jerusalemites’ acculturation is ethnic multi-group flux of Jewish immigrants. Culture among the Jewish groups moving in big waves to live in Jerusalem is highlighted by the specific factors of standard of living, recreation, religion, wealth and the negative feelings of ethnic inferiority. It has been concluded that migration is among the implemented tools of acculturation whereas social, ethnic, economic, and psychological are among the forces lying behind culture itself. 

Besides, the materialistic elements are mostly used as implemented tools to acculturate Jerusalemites from their own identity. These tools have exclusively included religious symbols functioning at a very less effective domain of space. (Table 11) They also have a 2-D continuum reflecting power of occupation and fluctuation between divinity and earthly personal doctrines. It has been concluded that these elements selected and used are dominated by power of colonialism; they can only function in a religious domain having a marginal space that does not belong to the core of the City. The dimension also sounds pseudo, as it mirrors lack of both peace and peacefulness of mind.   

Table 11: Originality: One way to Restore Identity

Unlike the previous step, there is an inclination to close the opening move with a shift from the materialistic elements realized in the previous step to a Palestinian, human one. The materialistic is sustained only for the Israeli occupying group. The domain, in which the symbols of the occupying force function, is excessively military. The dimension in which the elements, whether Palestinian or Jewish, mirrors exhaustion and exclusion in regard to the occupied Jerusalemites. It also shows a high degree of uncertainty and trepidation in favour of the occupying party. These anxious and uncertain proclivities manifest themselves as collective punishment, racial discrimination, religious persecution, and mass extermination. It has been concluded that those behaviors are among the tools of the last occupation in modern times. 

In the second move, there is an integration between the human element referring to Palestinians and the materialistic one referring to their city. The domain in which the elements function sounds social, spiritual and non-existential. The dimension also reflects a high degree of sadness, discomfort, and frailty. These feelings affiliate with the exclusion, bewilderment, and anger state under which both Jerusalemites and Jerusalem have lived recently. It has been concluded that this Palestinian terrible state is resulted from the contemporary Israeli occupational practices over the city and its people.

In the closing move, there is a shift to historical testimony regarding the present state of Jerusalem. More recently, there are two timelines each of which has its own agendas. While one category looks disordered but strong-willed, the other is deceptively cautious. It has been concluded that each party insists that the city belong to them. Stepping backward in history, the emergence as well as the arrival of Islam in the sixth century has affected the various aspects of life in Jerusalem. It has developed a good rapport with the people living there. Thus, the teachings of Islam and Christianity have reflected themselves on the various aspects of the city. They also give a religious identity to the city. 

In the third step of the closing move, there is a good focus on the mode of life Jerusalemites, whether Christian or Muslims, live for ages. This life is oriented by their faith. It is also featured by total spirituality and deontology, i.e. obeying the rules of their doctrines. It has been concluded that the Palestinians from different groups and ethnics are cooperative and responsible. In short, they used to live in a perfect world. In the next step, there is a focus on the role Jerusalemites have played throughout history. They have –through enlightenment and knowledge, incited others against slavery, tyranny, and military successive invasion campaigns. The city has a middle-eastern components of identity. Thus, it has been concluded that the city will play the same role against any neocolonialism. 

Besides, there are many graves for the people who arrived to live in Jerusalem. Those people came from different nationalities, ethnic groups, social classes and religious sects. They were marginal and became among the main text of the historical records of the city. The city is so crowded that it has become too small to absorb its own people. It has been concluded that the city has been facing so many challenges related to the Israeli settling activities recently.

One final look at Jerusalem through the car mirror while leaving Jerusalem behind has aroused within the poet feelings of both helplessness and hopefulness. Depression has resulted from the present situation of Jerusalem in which the Israeli occupying forces isolate the city, impose restriction on visitors from the neighboring towns, and discriminate against its people in an attempt to blur its identity. Thanks to the historical originality of the city and authenticity of Arabic identity, enthusiasm is finally attained. 

Researchers of language and literature can build on critical discourse analysis (CDA) to check the deep thoughts, identities, self-concepts and ideologies hidden in the various forms of literary genres. Palestinian literature is rich in themes of modern life, sociocultural values and social norms. One literary genre to explore for these motifs is the Palestinian modern novel; another is the national poems of M. Darweish, S. Al-Qasem and T. Al-Barghouti. These literary products are often referred to as masterpieces as they record the   Palestinian  Question  from a   socio-cultural, national, and critical insider’s point of view. By utilizing these literary final products, scholars can check how identities evolve and survive under external forces, how social and cultural norms and values can originate and entrench under internal and external challenges, and how self-concepts can also develop and reside under extreme contradictions.

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