Shehadeh1

Zayd Shehadeh
Professor Christen Enos
First-Year Writing
September, 30, 2015
Reflection
Working on the rhetorical analysis during this unit has not been easy, I
have never written one before and so it was a challenge for me to pull apart
and analyze the article. My writing approach was very straightforward. I read
the article very carefully then went through the document you gave us which
gave us prompts to talk about. I went through that and came out with my
opinions of the article. However, I was missing quotes and this is when things
started to get hard for me. It took me a while but I added a couple and my
first draft was ready. The feedback I received was pretty good in some areas
but not so great in others. My peers thought that it was too jumbled and
needed some reorganizing in the paragraphs. I definitely took that into
consideration did exactly that. Also, they pointed out that I was missing
quotes quotes to back up my evidence so I also did that to add some to
strengthen my argument. I also looked over your notes on my analysis and
changed a couple of things there. I have learned that I need to think my
thoughts through and make an outline of my essay before I start typing it up.
My essay was jumbled at first because I didnt really have a plan of what I
wanted to do so I think that would help me organize my thoughts next time.
The one thing I need to work on in the future is working on giving evidence

Shehadeh2
for my claims. This has always been a struggle for me and I hope that I can
improve this throughout the rest of the semester.

Palestine and Israels Unsolvable Conflict

A rhetorical analysis of How We Got Here

The article titled How We Got Here, was written by George J. Mitchell
at the Boston Globe about the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It has been
more than sixty-five years since the start of the conflict in 1948 and this
article explains how the events over the last sixty-seven years have gotten
the conflict to this point. In the article How We Got Here, Mitchell informs
the audience of the long lasting history between Palestine and Israel, as well
as potential future options through his use of specific fact and detail,
rhetorical appeal and a serious tone.
Palestine and Israel have been sparring since the late 1940s and have
still not made peace, almost seventy years later. The conflict started when

Britain gave up its mandate over Palestine in 1948 so that it could

support a Jewish homeland by the name of Israel. Since then and even
before, there has been an influx of Jewish immigrants to Israel because of the
harsh treatment that they have had to endure elsewhere. This led to anger
from the Palestinians as they were being kicked out of their homeland. As a
result, there have been many wars and conflicts between the two countries

Shehadeh3
because of feelings that are not shared. The exigency for George J. Mitchell
to write this article was the ongoing violence taking place in Palestine and
Israel. While there are many reasons to be pessimistic in the wake of the
latest flare-up of violence in Gaza, successful negotiations could end the
suffering of those war-weary peoples (Mitchell). The violence was used as a
way to say that there needs to be peace between the two neighbors as so
many people were dying. In order to make peace, people need to know about
how the conflict got to where it is today and that is why he wrote the article.
The purpose of writing this article was to inform people of the
development of this conflict, in order to spark an idea in his audiences
minds that will allow peace. Any such peace effort requires understanding
how the conflict started. I begin not in the Middle East itself but in London
and Paris, where decisions made over a century ago reverberate today
(Mitchell). Mitchell then goes on to start the history lesson in which he
explains the events that led to the current problems today. Towards the end,
he talks about potential ways to make peace as the latest war has reminded
us that peace should be made in order to help save lives. This document also
uses images and design to get the point across to readers. There are a range
of images, some are from the early history of the two sides and others are
from the most recent conflict. The age of the photos used gives the readers
more context to the conflict and further proves the long and diverse history.
Also, the images help set a tone for the article. For example, the image that
goes along with the title is a picture of a bomb exploding. This gives us the

Shehadeh4
impression that there is a lot of work to be done if we want to achieve peace.
The design of the document also makes it easier for us to comprehend the
history as it has subheadings for different parts of the article. For instance,
before Mitchell talks about what started the conflict, he wrote Planting the
seeds of the conflict in bold. The subheadings are helpful to the readers as
it makes it easier for them to differentiate, organize and understand the long
and complicated history.
Through his specific use of detail and facts, he is able to convey the
message forward and convince his audience of his message. The discussion
of the history between Palestine and Israel makes people who dont know
much about this conflict the perfect audience. The article was written during
an intense period of violence between both countries. It was very prevalent
in the news and people who had never thought about the conflict started
seeing it everywhere. This was the perfect go-to article for people who
wanted to learn more about the conflict. The range of ages for the audience
was wide, between eighteen and forty years old as the article goes into a lot
of detail. For example, Wars between Israel and neighboring Arab states
broke out in 1967 and 1973 (Mitchell). In this quote, Mitchell gives the exact
dates and he does this throughout the essay which gives the reader a lot of
detail. Although people who watch the news would probably already be
acquainted with it, they might read this article as well in order to learn more
about the specifics. Moreover, the people who read this article without a

Shehadeh5
bias, may develop one while reading this article as it gives both sides of the
story.
How We Got Here, is an informative and non-fiction article as it gives
the facts regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It would have to be an
informative article in order to convey the history between both countries.
Any other type of journalistic genre such as an editorial would not work as
the article is about the history and facts regarding it, not an opinion. A
journalistic genre that is not informative would do a terrible job of conveying
what the readers want to know and what the author of the article wants you
to take away from it. You can tell that the article is non-fiction and
informative through the pictures of historical events, the title, the facts and
the detail that is present throughout the article. You would not read this
article if it was anything but informative.
Through the audience of the article, Mitchell uses rhetorical appeal in
order to relate the article to the reader and get his point across. Logos,
pathos and ethos, or the rhetorical appeal, are present in articles so that the
author can convince the reader of something. In this case, Mitchell uses
mostly pathos and a little bit of logos to do so. Pathos is used when Mitchell
says hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left or were driven from their
homes and communities, some of which were destroyed (Mitchell). This is
pathos as it could definitely connect to some of the readers emotions,
especially the readers who know people or can relate to being kicked out of
their homes in one way or another. This would cause people to want to learn

Shehadeh6
more about why they were kicked out and would eventually lead them to
better understanding the conflict. Additionally, Logos is used when the article
talks about why peace should be made. It is in our [Americas] national
interest to help resolve conflicts and reduce instability in the Middle East to
the extent possible, especially where we can do so by means other than
military force (Mitchell). Mitchell is incorporating logos into the article by
implying that the United States should strive to make peace between
Palestine and Israel as it is in their best interests. This would help get
American readers to understand the conflict as it would make them more
interested as the article will be able to relate to their country.
This article has a persona to it that is very appropriate for what the
article is trying to get across. It has a serious tone to it as it trying to get you
to understand that there is a serious conflict that needs to be solved. For
example, Mitchell starts off the article by telling us about the American
response to all the conflicts in the Middle East. One of the first sentences of
the article was, Americans reacted with anger and horror to the recent grisly
spectacle of the beheadings of two American journalists by the Islamic state
(Mitchell). This sentence is very serious as it discusses some extremely
controversial issues that are not be joked around with. Given that the
sentence is right at the beginning, it sets a very serious tone for the rest of
the article to follow. The text is written with a standard professionalism. It is
not very formal yet it is not too informal as he is trying to communicate with
the general public. Mitchell also wrote with a lot of detail and facts in order to

Shehadeh7
achieve the sense of confidence in the essay. As a result, it does a perfect job
of communicating its point.
How We Got Here is a very informative article about a conflict that
has been going on for over sixty-five years. The article makes sure to put the
point across that it is a very complicated conflict that will most definitely not
be easy to solve. It brings awareness to the audience and lets them know
about the history that surrounds the two countries and how the conflict got
to this point. The facts, rhetorical appeal and tone all worked together to
accomplish the goal of informing the reader of the history and potential
future options.

Shehadeh8

Works Cited

Mitchell, George. How we got here. The Boston Globe. 07 September 2014.
n. pag. Web. 19 September 2015.