3/10/11 Thursday Lecture

21st Century Jerusalem

1. Conflict btwn Israelis and Palestinians (continued from previous lecture)
2. Hard to make peace
• Israel had peace with Jordan
• Israel gave back the Sinai Peninsula to make peace with Egypt
• Syria and Lebanon left in order for Israel to have peace at all borders, but Palestine doesn't want this
• Syria leader died and successor did not want to make peace with Israel
3. So much strife over such a small piece of land (size of Vermont)
4. Mt. Gilboa(?) is a fertile high mountain that Israel does not want to give up
5. After 9-11, America basically destroys two nations (Afghanistan and Iraq)
6. This becomes a model as Israel also starts to bomb those that attack them.
7. Israel also starts to build (an unfair) West Bank Barrier wall
• Many inconveniences for Palestinians to move about
8. In Gaza, a military leader Hamas defeats Fatah in the Palestinian Elections, but he doesn't know how to rule and only picks fights with Israelis --> cut off foreign aid --> "Palestinian Civil War" --> Hamas controls Gaza, Fatah controls West Bank --> "Operation Cast Lead" or "Gaza War" where Israel attacked Gaza --> Israel announces new housing settlements in E Jerusalem --> IHH Gaza Flotilla boarded by Israeli troops (if nonviolent, better stay nonviolent)

This is my last entry of a very interesting and eye-opening class.  I feel like I have a much better understanding of Christians, Muslims, Jews, religion in general, Jerusalem, human sociology and history, and current events in the middle east.  I have walked away from this class with a new perspective on how I view the world, which is truly an invaluable gain.  

I was also very very surprised Professor Cargill was raised a Christian.  I suspected him to be Jewish.  It was ironic that a class which made me examine my own Christian views was actually taught by a Christian professor!  

Thank you Professor Cargill for a great class.  (:

3/8/11 Tuesday Lecture

20th Century Jerusalem

1. British Mandate Period 1918-1948
• Secular Zionism
• 1840 Yehuda Hai Alchelai says, buy land in Palestine for Jews, orthodox Jews reject Zionism as impious
• Theodore Herzi write The Jewish State 1896, that pushed for a Zionist state (not a religious impetus)
• 1899 first "Zionist" conference in Basel, Switzerland
• Herzl described as "Messiah the Son of David"
• Zionists build Tel Aviv
• Anti-semitism and immigration
• Rise of European Nationalism
• Anti-Semitic pogroms in Islamic world instigated by Catholics
• Jews flee to Palestine (2nd aliyah in 1902) --> conflicts with Arabs
• Hitler
• After WWI, Ottomans are destroyed and Britain takes over as General Allenby conquers Palestine 1917
• Armenians flee genocide in Turkey, Armenian Quarter swells
• Balfour Declaration 1917
• British PM Lloyd George directs Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to write to Lord Rothschild (Jew) saying that the British will support Zionism in Palestine, as long it doesn't interfere with the existing communities in Palestine
• Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916 - Britain-France divides the Middle East
• Secret agreement btwn France and UK to divide former Ottoman Empire into French (north, Mediterranean, Syria, Turkey) and British (south, Jordan, Irag, Tigris/Euphrates, Bhagdad to Kuwait) areas.
• Winston Churchill's "White Paper" 1922
• In reaction to the Arab riots against Jews, Churchill wrote the White Paper in order to clarify the Balfour Declaration, but the Arabs and Jews still were confused and believed the British would support them.
• Peel Plan 1937
• Suggested in response to violence between Arabs and Jews
• Jewish State in Galilee, Upper Jordan Valley, and Coastal Plain
• Arab State in Central Hills, West Bank, and Negev
• Jerusalem as "international city"
• Zionists accepted this as the bare minimum, but Arabs rejected it because of the population imbalance
• WWII 1938-1945, Jewish flight to Palestine
2. Israeli State, 1948-present
• War of "Independence" or Arab-Israeli War 1948
• British depart ending the British Mandate
• Truce arranged by UN, where Green Line created.  
• East bank under Jordanian Rule, 1948-1967
• West bank under Israeli Rule/"Occupation" 1967
• Israeli is more populated and advanced, so they start building in the East which leads to conflict
• The centrality of Jerusalem
• David Ben-Gurion talks about the importance of Jerusalem
• Israel defies the international community and makes West Jerusalem the capital of the new Israeli State (not Tel Aviv)
• Jordanean Jerusalem
• Occupation by both Israel and Jordan illegal by UN.  Both factions still want Jeruslaem
• Only know are they willing to talk for tourist $
• Six-Day War 1967
• Basically at this point, Jews and Arabs got land, but the Palestinians are the ones with nothing.  Some say they should have taken the Peel commission (How would the Peel commission have helped them if divided the land between Zionists & Arabs/Israelis & Jordaneans?)
• Israeli destroys Egyptian/Jodanean forces and annexes Jerusalem although the UN rejects it
• Moshe Dayan, Israeli General gives control of Haram to Muslims to say that the only want political power.
• Palestinians want to go back to the negotiating table, but by now Israelis have come to far.  --> Modern conflict
• Irgun Israeli terrorist bombing.  
• What exactly is terrorism? 
• Gotta know that this term can apply to any group including Christians
• Infantidas "Uprising"
• Palestinians were angry that the Israelis had all the control
• Organized and non-violent protests (it better stay non violent)
• Tunnel under temple mount
• Jews can't go on the temple mount
• 1st intifada
• Oslo Accords 1993: Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist, and Israel recognized Yasser Arafat's role as the leader of the Palestinians...
• 2nd intifada
• Provoked by the israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon walking on the Al-Aqsa Mosque
• PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)
• Led by Yasser Arafat
• Considered to be terrorists by Ameria
• Bottom line: Hard to find peace between the Israelis and Palestinians because no one wants to be the bigger person.  And whenever there's a bombing, the other side walks away.

Very confusing lecture as it went very fast.  

Questions

1. Why did anti-semitism come out in the first place?
2. What is "VIII Turkish Corps"
3. What was the motive for the Armenian genocide by Turkey?  Are the Armenians Jewish?
4. Why did "Britain at first not support a Jewish National Home"?  This is not what the Balfour Declaration and White Paper said.
5. Why did the Arabs not accept the terms of the Peel Commission?  Why was it not favorable for them?
6. Who performed operation Kilshon (Pitchfork) to capture "Bevingrad" in central Jerusalem
7. What is the difference btwn the Green Line division and the Peel Commission?  Seems like no one won the War of "Independence" because both Israelis and Jordans got land
8. Where is Tel Aviv located?
9. Are Zionists Israelis?
10. Did both Arabs and Israelis try to inhabit Jerusalem?
11. Why did a radical Arab assassinate an Arab King Abdullah?
12. Where did these sudden Palestinians come from?  Wasn't there conflict between just the Israelis and the Turks?

3/3/11 Thursday Lecture

Mamluk & Ottoman Jerusalem

1. Saladin conquers Jerusalem 9/26/1187
2. Mamluk Period 1244-1516
• Mamluk means "owned"; grassroots movement of slaves; defend Jerusalem by the lower class for religion, not politics
• Politically and militarily insignificant, unwalled city, used as place of political exile, only citadel restored 1310
• Became a center of religious study with attention to schools, mosques, Haram development, used Crusader structures as quarries for stone
• Population dwindles to 10,000; economically impoverished
• Jews continue to return to Jerusalem
• Ziyara (visit) to Jerusalem
• Nachmanides (1267) rabbi makes aliyah ("go up" to Jerusalem), founded Ramban Synagogue, which becomes Jewish Center, develops Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism, spiritual mystical form of Judaism, Temple --> path to God, Zion --> final innermost stage)
• 1351-1353 Jerusalem suffers from The Black Death
• Mumluk architecture - alternating red & white stones, domed, Muqarnas decorative technique, alternating black & white designs, monumental entrances
• Qur'anic school built by Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey in 1482 was the "third jewel of Jerusalem" after the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque
• Ghawanima Minaret - NW corner of Haram, built 1298 by Chief Judge (Qadi) of Jerusalem, reuse Crusader columns and capitals, built on the foundations of the Umayyad minaret (tall spires used for the call of prayer)
• 3 main areas: (1) Haram am-Sharif (2) outside the Haram (3) along the street running east from the Jaffa Gate to the Bab al-Silsila in the western wall of the Haram
• Development of NW Islamic quarter
• Mausoleum linked Jerusalem and Haram with the place of the Last Judgment
3. Ottoman Period 1517-1918
• Ottomans take Constantinople 1453
• Selim I defeats the Mamluks in 1517 at Marj-Dabik (N. Syria)
• Jerusalem peacefully surrendered in 1516
• Described as "the first qiblah"
• Turkish-Ottoman kingdom flourished under strong centralized government
• Sultan Seleuman (=Solomon) "the Magnificent" rebuilds western retaining wall, 1537-1541
• Follow Hasmonean foundations except Mt. Zion excluded
• Refurbish Haram with new mosaics
• Damascus Gate 'Bab el-Amud"
• Largest of 7 gates of Jerusalem, on the North, usually for gates you have to turn left and then right for protection from battering rams and most people are right handed
• Jaffa Gate is the exception because you can walk straight through
• German Kaiser Wilhelm wanted a grand entrance with his entourage so he tore down the narrow Jaffa gate, but a British general entered on foot because he wouldn't go on a horse when the Savior rode a donkey.
• St. Stephan's Gate (Lion's Gate)
• Sultan's Pool
• Rebuilt "Tower of David"
• Rebuilt aqueduct from "Pools of Solomon"
• Markets, Khassaki Sultan complex
• Makes Jerusalem 3rd great city of Islam (after Mecca and Medina)
• Establishes a shari'a court - law based upon qu'ran
• Let's Jewish refugees settle in Jerusalem, even italian Jewish refugee David dei Rossi says it a good to live under Muslim rule, restored Church of Holy Sepulcher along with Islamic sites, gave western wall to Jews as a place of prayer (Shekhina/presence of here now)
• Gradual decline of Jerusalem after death of Suleiman
• Jerusalem suffers from neglect
• Explosion of Jews from Spanish w 15-16th cen immigration to Palestine
• 1892 railroad connects Jerusalem w Jaffa
• 19th cen Jewish settlements outside city walls
• Jerusalem lost to Mohammad Ali in Egypt 1831
• Ottoman rule restored 1840
• Jerusalem revived following building of Suez Canal 1869; Jerusalem still a small town until Suez Canal
• Early Jewish "Zionism"
• Zionism - Jew's need to settle in the promised land/Jerusalem
• Saladin (aka "the New Cyrus") allows Jews to resettle in Jerusalem, and gives Maghribi Quarter to the Jews
• Judah Halevi (Toledan Physician) tries to make aliyah (Eliade)
• Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, says the haram is still holy
• --> These three people made Jerusalem a focal point again
• Jewish Settlements
• European Jews start settling in Jerusalem
• Mishkenot Sha'ananim 19th cen initiated Sir Moses Montefiore, a British jew, with funding from Judah Touro, an American Jewish philanthropist to build 20 residential units and a windmill landmark
• 1882 marks the beginning of secular "Zionist" immigration - ethnic Jews (not religious Jews) moving to ancestral homeland
• Changing demographics in Jerusalem
• Crusader Jerusalem: only Christians
• Mamluk Jerusalem: Muslims, Jews, and Christians
• Ottoman Jerusalem: dominant population is now the Jews, not the Muslims
4. British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
• Balfour Declaration, 1917, for a "Jewish National Homeland"

Islam is very open to other religions.  Monotheistic religions (like Christians) from a religious point of view is a good thing.  But I know see that from a political point of view, it is a negative thing that can lead to violence and arguments.

3/1/11 Tuesday Lecture

The Crusades
Note: guest lecturer did not use Cargill's slides


Factors contributing to the Crusades

1. Political - Holy Roman Empire
2. Religious - Christian population of Jerusalem
• Holy Sepulcher destruction by Caliph Al-Hakim 1009
• Difficulty of Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Christian & Muslim sources of the Crusades

1. William of Tyre - Christian POV
2. Ibn Al-Qalanisi(sp?) - Muslim POV

Pope Urban II's speech 11/27/1095

• Called upon the nobility of western Europe
• Example of unintended consequence
• Brought in a religious element and reward
• Indulgence - remission of penalties due to sins by donating, preaching, and settling in the Holy Land

1st Crusade

• Peasant's Crusade was poor, ill-equipped, took many routes, had waves of people at different times, and were defeated by the Turks
• Arrived at Jaffa Harbor/Akko (Crusader architecture)

Ruthless attack of Jerusalem from the North in 1099; many Muslims killed

Crusader Principalities

• 4 latin states: odessa, antioch, tripoli, Jerusalem (most powerful)
• Quarters: Patriarch (NW), Templars (SE), Syrian (NE), and Armenian (SW)

Crusader period monuments

1. Existing Islamic monuments were modified
• Dome of the Rock --> templum domini
• Al-Aqsa Mosque --. templum solomonis
2. Rebuild ruined Byzantine churches
3. Build new churches - 42, Armenian quarter
4. Holy Sepulcher
• Complex architecture with many things under one roof
• A Muslim family holds the key to the doors
• Divided between many Christian sects
5. St. Anne's Church at Pool of Bethesda
• Anne = mother of Mary; assume church location is near Anne's birth
• Amazing acoustical properties
• Citadel?

The Templars

• Modern day Temple Mt.
• Order of Knights Templar founded in 1118 to protect pilgrims coming to Jerusalem as all Christians wanted to come to Jerusalem
• Coin with two people riding one horse

Remaking Jerusalem Christian

1. 1st Crusade by Urvan II at Clermon 1095
• Jerusalem conquered by Godfrey de Bouillon
2. 2nd Crusade by St. Bernard at Vezelay
3. Battle of Hattin
• When Saladin and his army were stranded in the dessert, he made a Muslim victory, obtained water, and it was an easy march to Jerusalem
4. Ayyubid Jerusalem and later crusades
• Saladin unified all Muslim factions against the Crusaders to obtain Jerusalem.  Islamic people liked him, while Crusaders didn't
• Victory at "Horns of Hattin"in July 1187
• Jerusalem surrenders to Saladin on 9/26/1187
• Saladin legend from contrast btwn Saladin and Crusaders
• Purification and reclamation of the Haram
• Church of Holy Sepulcher given to Greek Orthodox
• Settlement of Jews again in Jerusalem: Jews from Ashkelon settled in Maghribi Qtr (Jewish qtr) in 1190
• Christian topography replaced w Muslim shrines
• Saladin's successors struggle for power (similar to Alexander the Great)
• 3rd, 4th, and 5th Crusades happened with not much success.  5th crusade was when Jerusalem's walls were destroyed.  
• --> Jerusalem becomes an unimportant city bc it cannot protect people any more.  Similar to when people fled Samaria to Jerusalem for protection when Samaria was destroyed
• Crusaders regain control of Jerusalem in the 6th Crusade when al-Kamid cedes Jerusalem for 10 years in a treaty.  Some Muslims didn't want to make peace and called him a traitor to Islam.
• 7th and 8th Crusades
• Akko, last Crusader outpost, falls 1291

End of the Crusader era

• Lasted less than 100 years, Muslims have control of Jerusalem again
• Truce with Richard the Lionheart for Muslims to let pilgrims enter Jerusalem

Were there only 3 crusades?

Interesting to see that familiar things like the Nights Templar actually make sense under a historical background.  (:
With parallels drawn to Alexander the Great and also the destruction of Samaria, is was interested to see specific examples of how history truly does repeat itself.  But this kind of takes out the magic of history and religion for me.  If history does repeat itself, if is just a repetitive, predictable, understood process.