Nadene Goldfoot
In terms of the number of adherents, Islam is the second largest religion in the world. The religion of Islam is part of the official religious system in 26 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. The growth of Islam is faster than that of any other religion worldwide. There are 48 countries that are of Muslim majority population.
1. Dome of the Rock Mosque,
Eight years ago, Moshe Maoz noted that mosques on Temple Mount holy to all the Muslims in the world; to more than 1.5 billion Muslims, almost on a par with Mecca and Medina in importance.
2. Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in close proximity to various historical and holy sites in Judaism and Christianity, most notably that of the Temple in Jerusalem of Solomon (d: 920 BCE) and rebuilt into 2nd Temple (538 BCE) and updated by Herod (d:4 BCE). The entire area has consequently held high geopolitical significance, and has been a primary flashpoint in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
3. Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif: The Temple Mount, also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf, al-Aqsa Mosque compound, or simply al-Aqsa Mosque, and sometimes as Jerusalem's sacred esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for thousands of years.
East Jerusalem/al Quds al-Sharif ; was a newspaper against Jews living in Palestine. Al-Quds al-Sharif's first issue was published on April 13th, 1920. The owner and manager of the paper was Hasan Sidqi al-Dajani. Al-Quds al-Sharif (Holy Jerusalem) described itself as “an independent, political biweekly Arabic newspaper.” From the very beginning, it clearly expressed its opposition to Jewish immigration into Palestine.
Arabs just didn't want Jews in the land as they had been brainwashed against Jews. Their religious reason is vague. Mohammad died in 632CE. The Muslim conquest of the Levant (Arabic: فَتْحُ الشَّام, "Conquest of Syria"), or Arab conquest of Syria, was a 634–638 CE invasion of Byzantine Syria by the
Compared to the Jewish claim since the beginning of time of living in Eretz Yisrael-vetted by the Old Testament of Christians and the Torah by the Jews, it makes Arabs look like newcomers.
Most people don't make a significant dent on world history, but the Arabs did. How did the Arabs do it? First and perhaps most important of all, the Arabs did not convert to Christianity like everybody else. Neither did they cling obstinately to their ancestral paganism. Nor did they turn up their noses at Christianity and adopt Judaism. What they did was to come up with a monotheist religion of their own. That initiated an extraordinary series of events. When Jews had nowhere else to go, the Arabs took them in their land, albeit they were treated as Dhimmis, though. In a modern sense the dhimmis would be described as second-class citizens. Although dhimmis were allowed to perform their religious rituals, they were obliged to do so in a manner not conspicuous to Muslims. They were kept from many of the freedoms a citizen had of their country. Dhimmis, on pain of death, were forbidden to mock or criticize the Koran, Islam or Muhammad, to proselytize among Muslims or to touch a Muslim woman (though a Muslim man could take a nonMuslim as a wife). Dhimmis were excluded from public office and armed service, and were forbidden to bear arms. They were not allowed to ride horses or camels, to build synagogues or churches taller than mosques, to construct houses higher than those of Muslims or to drink wine in public. They were not allowed to pray or mourn in loud voices-as that might offend the Muslims. The dhimmi had to show public deference toward Muslims-always yielding them the center of the road. The dhimmi was not allowed to give evidence in court against a Muslim, and his oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court. To defend himself, the dhimmi would have to purchase Muslim witnesses at great expense. This left the dhimmi with little legal recourse when harmed by a Muslim.
Dhimmis were also forced to wear distinctive clothing. In the ninth century, for example, Baghdad’s Caliph al-Mutawakkil designated a yellow for Jews, setting a precedent that would be followed centuries later in .
The Arabs, in their Arabian homeland, came together to form a state. Then they set out from their homeland and conquered an empire that stretched all the way from Spain to Central Asia and northwestern India. That empire was the crucible in which the Islamic world as we know it began to come into existence.
It’s an extraordinary sequence of events, and lots of people are involved in it. But the most crucial person is Muhammad, because he was the one who gave the Arabs their new monotheism and established their state.
Actually, Israel's reclaiming all of Jerusalem in 1967 by winning the Six Day War when all the Muslim states attacked Israel and Israel beat the odds and won in 6 days. It strengthened Muslim solidarity with these sites and reinforced anti-Semitic hatred in the Arab and Muslim worlds, however. The odds had been with the Muslims with so many Muslim countries; Syria, Egypt , Jordan with help from Russia fighting against them.
Nasser's speech said it all for all time on May 26, 1967.
"The Arab people wants to fight. We have been waiting for the right day when we would be fully prepared. Recently, we have felt strong enough to triumph, with G0d's help, if we enter into battle with Israel. On that basis, we have decided to take the actual measures. Taking this step makes it imperative that we be ready to embark on a total war with Israel."
Arab political leaders called for a jihad of liberation and radical Muslim groups established special forces for a re-play of the war.
Iran formed the al Quds Battalions in 1980. Al-Quds (Arabic: القدس, lit. 'The Holy') is an Arabic name for Jerusalem, cognate with Hebrew: הקדש, romanized: Ha-Qodesh, lit.
Fatah founded the Battalions of the al-Aqsa Martyrs with the outbreak of the 2nd (al-Aqsa) intifada in 2000. al-Aqsa icons appeared on Hamas flags and the northern Islamic movement in Israel campaigned ceaselessly "to protect" al-Aqsa and al-Quds. Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3, was the commander of Iran’s Quds Force. WSJ explains how this arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was formed and the role it has played in the U.S.-Iran conflict. USA took him out.
Israel and Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979, but many Arab and Muslim government then adopted a more pragmatic approach.
Then the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, supported by all 57 Arab and Muslim states, was a high point of achievement. It gave Israel peace, security and normal relations in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. This all was reaffirmed in April 2013 and modified to include land swaps, but has never been officially accepted by any Israeli government even as a basis for negotiation. With all the attacks and no sign of withdrawal of platforms to wipe Israel out, Israel felt no security with hatred moving into a state next door to them, even with signing a peace initiative. Signs of peace from them were not in the making.
Although the Abraham Accords have been the main focus of Arab-Israeli peace-making since they were signed, the Arab Peace Initiative (API), introduced by the late Saudi King Abdullah 20 some years ago, remains relevant. The Saudi leadership has made clear that it continues to adhere to the API as the mainstay of its approach to formalizing relations with Israel. And declining popular support for the Abraham Accords in the Arab world may make the API once again the better reflection of a path forward for Middle East peace.
In the end it was mostly a failure, with one exception: the Jordan-Israel peace treaty of October 26, 1994. Twenty-nine years ago, the treaty was signed in the Wadi Arava along the border between the two countries with President Bill Clinton as the witness. It has endured because it has strategic value to both countries and the United States.
The prime minister of Israel since December 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is the chairman of the Likud party. Netanyahu is the longest-tenured prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of over 15 years. He is also the first prime minister to be born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence.
Eight years ago, 2015, in elections, the campaign had shown that Netanyahu and the Likud are doing better than expected. People thought Likud would be better off running Gideon Saar to blunt the "anybody but Bibi" thrust of its rivals. But Likud used the attack against Netanyahu to throw its opponents. The media is more likely to be against Bibi. The incumbent Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, declared victory in the election, with Likud picking up the highest number of votes. President Reuven Rivlin granted Netanyahu an extension until 6 May 2015 to build a coalition when one had not been finalized in the first four weeks of negotiations. Building a coalition is the hardest part of being an Israeli Prime Minister. The problem was with dealing with the "Jewish State factor." He seems to have resolved that problem
I note that Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, and Mauritania, are Islamic States.
Most others: Bangladesh, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Malaysia, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Libya, Jordan, United Arab emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Comoroks, Qatar, Brunei, and Maldives are listed as State Religion.
Nigeria, Turkey, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Niger, Burkina, Mali, Senegal, Ginea, Azerbaijan, Kyagyzstan, Trkmenistan, Chad, Kosovo, The Gambia, Djibouti, Cyprus are Secular. I note that Turkey is 99% Muslim; Iraq is 97% Muslim.
In 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced support for the establishment of a Palestinian state – a solution not endorsed by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom she had earlier pledged the United States' cooperation. She put the cart before the horse ! There are conditions when you say something like that ! Upon the arrival of President Obama administration's special envoy, George Mitchell, Netanyahu said that any furtherance of negotiations with the Palestinians would be conditioned on the Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
While most observers have been attributing Trump’s cooling toward Netanyahu to either rational foreign policy differences–particularly rumors that Trump may make an overture to the leadership of Israel’s arch-enemy, Iran–or Trump’s irrational idiosyncratic irascibility, there’s another factor that is being largely ignored: Trump’s mega-fans, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. Sheldon Adelson, the American businessman billionaire was pro-Netanyahu. The newspaper, Yisrael Hayom Daily commands the largest exposure of a print journal eclipsing the Bibi-bashing Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Journalists had lost credibility and their rating dipped below that of the politicians. In September 2017, Adelson was listed by Forbes as having a fortune of US$35.7 billion, and as of September 2020 Forbes listed his net worth as going down to US$29.8 billion.
In March 2017, in their coverage of the corruption charges for which Netanyahu was under investigation and could potentially be indicted—Israeli media reported that Netanyahu and Israeli media mogul Arnon Mozes, publisher of Yediot Aharonot [Latest News], had discussed ways to weaken or shut down the Adelsons’ Israel Hayom [Israel Today] newspaper. In exchange, Yediot Aharonot would give Netanyahu more favorable coverage and attack his political opponents. Founded in 1939, Yediot Aharanot had been Israel’s largest newspaper in circulation in sales and circulation until Sheldon and Miriam Adelson had established Israel Today in 2007 with the aim of getting Netanyahu elected and keep him power.
So Israel has had the aid of Adelson while Soros, another billionaire, is against Israel and Netanyahu pretty much.
.jpg%20Gates%20of%20Jerusalem.jpg)
We've known for the past 8 years that Jerusalem needs to be defused. A positive response to the Arab Peace Initiative provides the best avenue for doing so.
Resource:
Magazine: The Jerusalem Report, March 9, 2015, p.9, The Jerusalem Tinderbox by Moshe Maoz--whoever wins the election, the Jerusalem issue needs to be defused
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson
https://www.mei.edu/publications/china-and-abraham-accords-peace-agreement
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/11/29/from-mecca-to-jerusalem/
No comments:
Post a Comment