The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

167 “Solving the Palestinian Refugee Crisis” by Emily Guilliams Instructor’s Notes For this essay, the rhetorical situation called for Emily to convert research originally gathered for an informative essay into a persuasive, argument essay. To accomplish this, she first had to “listen in to the dialogue” concerning the plight of the Palestinian refugees, learn about their current situation, and then find an argument within the dialogue that she could speak to. Notice that she had to be careful not just to present information about the refugees’ suffering. While describing the issue does provide pathos for her essay, she went beyond that description to an argument for a specific solution. Writers’ Biography Emily Guilliams is a second year International Studies major. She loves writing, but she believes commas are an unsolvable enigma. In her spare time, she dreams of traveling the world and roots for Cleveland sports teams to be decent. Solving the Palestinian Refugee Crisis For over sixty years, political leaders, and academics have discussed it. Countless books have addressed it. The United Nations (UN) has issued resolutions about it, but the debate about the plight of Palestinians refugees continues. This situation contains many highly debatable issues. These include questions of who is responsible for the refugees and what solutions are viable economically, politically, and legally. While the length and magnitude of this debate make it seem impossible to resolve satisfactorily for all parties, many world leaders still try. The reality of millions of Palestinian refugees living in limbo along with the desire for lasting peace should inspire commitment to a possible solution. After a consideration of rights, historical events, and the current situation, the most realistic plan for solving the Palestinian refugee problem is for Arab governments