CARBONDALE (WSIL)---Lynn Abed has lived her whole life in the US, since her grandfather was removed from his home as a child.
"He had been at his friend's house. Then he came home to find his family missing. Gone," Abed recalled.
Abed's family lived as many Palestinians did, as refugees moving to different countries throughout the world.
"For decades we grow up in our households to turn on the international news waiting, or hoping for some good news and yet to no surprise the same episodes of violence, acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing is a show on repeat," Abed said.
Protestors lined the streets of Carbondale this past weekend, with many just like Abed calling on everyday Americans to see the violence that has been normalized for years.
"I think we are approaching a turning point in the conflict whether it's this eruption that will make the difference or the next one," said SIU Political Science professor, Dr. Virginia Tilley.
Despite the cycle of violence, Tilley believes the tide is turning from fighting for an Islamic or Jewish state, but to a secular one.
"What we're also seeing is the beginning of a different discourse. Rather than saying this is a Jewish state, no this is a Palestinian state, they're saying this should be a state for all citizens, it should be nonracial, nonethnic, it should be a democratic secular state," said Tilley.
But for those like Abed, politics and religion are set aside when she thinks about those still in her home country.
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"My direct family is not there so I'm in the clear? No. We're one people, one blood. The land is like our soul and it honestly hurts to feel like the situation has no end," said Abed.
And Dr. Tilley said that because of the long history associated with the conflict, there is no clear answer on who is in the right or wrong.
However, she said no matter what happens, the violence that will occur will not make this a happy story.
