What is the Importance of Jerusalem to the Jews, Christians, and to the Muslims? Conclusion (by Gal)

June 4, 2009 by

I was right for one thing.  Jerusalem is important. It is important because for the Jews, there is the Western Wall which was one of the parts of the temple that survived the Romans.  Islam thinks Jerusalem important because Muhammad was sent there from Mecca to the Dome of The Rock and was sent from there to heaven.  For Christians, Jesus was crucified there and did much of his teaching there.  I think that the fighting isn’t worth it. All three religions can share the city. 

 

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What is the Importance of Jerusalem to the Jews, Christians, and to the Muslims? Intro(by Gal)

June 4, 2009 by

Jerusalem. A holy city.  The center of contentions.  Why?  What is the importance of it?  Is it really worth fighting for?  I think that Jerusalem was made for people who want to come and pray to God no matter what religion they are.  Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and Israel.  There is the Dome of the Rock, Western Wall, and David’s temple which all religions believe to be holy.  Many cultures had control over Jerusalem like the Romans.  Many people believe that prophets from three different religions visited or lived there: Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad.  Jerusalem is located in the west bank.  Today, Israel has control over Jerusalem but they cannot give it to Palestine due to the future of Jerusalem, Jewish settlers, Palestinian refugees, and the Palestinian state.  Jerusalem is important to three main religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  So what is the importance of Jerusalem to the Jews, Christians, and to the Muslims? 

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What I Conclude (by annabel)

June 3, 2009 by

            I have to say that by doing this research, I realized why it was perplexing for the world to figure out the solution to the peacemaking between Israel and Palestine.  I was right for one thing.  It is really the people that have been holding back the peace.  People want the land for themselves, wanting power, wanting their own independent state.  Originally, the peace agreement was to help the Palestinians and the Israelis have confidence to trust each other but the issues of peace were based on the future of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Palestinian Refugees, and a Palestinian state.  What I read was that Zionists wanted a new home, a new country, but the Arabs had been already living there.  The Arabs felt like there were being forced to leave the country and move somewhere else.  Does that seem fair?  But the Jewish people needed their own country.  Also I looked at the viewpoints and I found out that early Zionists said that the Jewish states inhabited all of the land from the Jordan River to the sea.  They wanted to expel all Palestinians.  Arabs want to put an end to Zionism and not allow Jewish immigrants to be free.  I don’t know whose right.  I think that it is just the heart and history of the people.  If the people are willing to change and not be selfless, then there would be peace or they can also forgive history and make history stand still.  There are no good or bad people.  I learned that peace is something we have to earn.  It’s the people who can make that happen or choose to ignore it. 

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Who’s Right? Whose Wrong? Does it Really Matter? (by annabel)

June 3, 2009 by

 

                Have you ever been struggling in a situation for so long thinking that it will never end?  What’s the solution? What is keeping the problem from being solved?  This same idea relates to the Palestinians and the Israelis who had never been able to get along.  Why?  Base on my knowledge, it is a controversy.  The Jews or Zionists wanted a homeland.  They had no place to go.  They prayed that they would be able to settle down or spend the “Next Year” in Jerusalem.  In the middle ages, they were often persecuted and disliked, synagogues burnt down, homes destroyed… basically no homeland.  So they decided to go to Palestine where the Palestinians lived under British rule.  There, the Palestinians were living there and were kicked out by the Jews (due to the agreement that the British had on giving the land to the Jews), leaving the Palestinians as refugees.  Whose land is it anyways?  To me, it has been so long that this has been happening and I don’t know why it is so hard for peace to take over.  Is it really that hard to find a solution or is it just right in front of their eyes but people is ignoring it?  To me, I think that people want the land for themselves and not wanting to share with others.  The Palestinians were upset because maybe they were afraid that their culture might be lost due to the number of Jewish settlements.  So I want to find out why peace is such a hard thing to accept and if what I think is really true.  Who Knows?  

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Iraq’s New York (by Annabel)

May 18, 2009 by

Iraq is not a peaceful place.  At least that is what most people think.  They think that there is no hope to ever go there becuase of the war but there is a secret.  There is a city near the Iranian border called Sulaimaniya.  Sulaimaniya is a modern up coming city with limited entertainment but vast beauty and history.  It is a city that is autonomist meaning that people are free thinkers or more opened to the world.   They have malls, hotels, restuarants apartments, etc.  Just look at it as an oasis in the middle of the desert.  Many people see this as a special place, it is very peaceful.  Doctors, engineers, unemployed men come here to escape the violence.  even the Kurds find this a great blessing becuase it is a place of non violence and allow there people to be as one or united.  In fact,. the main language for Sulaimaniya is Kurdish.  This city is part of Iraq but the people are different, the language, the architecture.  The city even contains women who are very modren, who don’t wear veils but actually wear western clothes.  There even is an international airport there. This is Iraq’s New York.  Their economy lies there.  More and more people will come to notice that this place is not like any other.  It is amazing how it lies on a country with war but can live on it’s own.

 

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Still No Homeland? (by annabel)

May 18, 2009 by

Kurdish people are people inghabiting a region known as Kurdistan which lies in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.  They are known as the largest group of people in the world who don’t have a homeland and still don’t.  Before world war I, Kudish life was nomadic, involving a lot of sheep and goats, farms – the simple life, but with the break up of the Ottoman Empire a number of new nation states emerged, spliting up Kurdistan.  The Kurds were now no longer able to freely move and roam.  Instead, they were forced to leave and migrate somewhere else.  The Kurdish population has grown significantly over the past several decades and has expanded its influence in the region.  Will the neighboring governments have a peaceful solution to the problem?  Well, some of the Kurds say they already have a homeland.   Like the Kurds in Nashville Tenessee.  They are greatful for the opportunity to migrate to America and live Independant and to keep their culture.  They feel like America has already given them their homeland.  A homeland to them is to preserve their culture and to be free, not a homeland to be broken up and forced to assimilate into another culture.  The Kurds believe in keeping their people united.

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Third War In Iraq? (by Annabel)

May 17, 2009 by

Who is really right? The kurds or the Arabs? Research shows that ever since Hussein came to rule, the kurds have been kicked out of their homes and have been forced to leave Iraq, while the Arabs occupy their “space.”  But now, we since their leader no longer rules, they come back to take their homes and land from the Arabs but the Arabs are saying that they rightfully own it.  They bought the land.  So now contentions stir up and who knows?  Will it really cause a third war?

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Yom Kippur war 1973: (by Gal)

May 16, 2009 by

 

On October 6th 1973, Yom Kippur war started, between Syria, Egypt and Israel when Syria and Egypt attacked Israel in order to prove to Israel that they are not the winners all the times (from the six day war). At first, Moshe Dayan (minister of defense, (thought that Israel does not have any chance to win but at the end, Israel won the war. The war ended with cease- fire between Syria, Israel and Egypt.

 

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Lebanon War: (by Gal)

May 16, 2009 by

 

On June 4th, 1982 a war between Israel, South Lebanon Army occurred. At the beginning it was an operation then it became a war. After 18 years of war the I.D.F retreated completely from Lebanon.

 

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Six Day War: (by Gal)

May 16, 2009 by

 

On June fifth 1967, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Israel had a war. The Arabic countries planned to attack Israel at the same time from all sides. Israel somehow got this information and started war six hours earlier than it was planned and surprised them. Israel took increase in Jerusalem, half of Sinai and the east of Israel.

 

 

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