d. "The Navajos have lost, the Hopis have lost, and the attorneys have won. It's clear this program has failed to meet its objectives." (Wood 1999)The coming years will be definitive in the course of the dispute and will surely be found within the chronologies of future texts covering the subject. Sadly the US government has chosen to extend the dispute another 75 years by allowing Dineh to stay but only by lease. What happens in the year 2075? Congress has essentially bequeathed the problem onto the next generation of lawmakers who will hopefully deal with the issue more delicately than their predecessors. Perhaps one day the Hopi and Navajo will resolve themselves to fight their common problems jointly, employing the same emotional fortitude they have displayed over the past hundred years.I have always believed that the US government has looked down upon Indian peoples and has never fully recognized their governments as sovereign. However, I never realized the extent of ignorance practiced by the government when making the choice between ancient cultures and temporary profits. I don't necessarily see one tribe as the aggressor over the other; I see the US government as the aggressor and manipulator of the Hopi to serve the interests of big business. Both tribes are the victims of the same travesty. Ironically, while the US has claimed to be operating in the interests of the public and the tribes themselves, all current problems within the disputed lands can be traced to one of three governmental mandates: The Executive Order of 1882, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974 and its offspring, the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act of 1996. Hope for a final peace in the area exists in the prospect of both sides seeing into the heart of the issue: the US interests involved in the dispute. Homelands so forcibly established will never reach a peace, as is the case of Israel and Palestine. The two peoples must find the...
