Posted on 12/05/2001 7:50:45 PM PST by 100American
Here are 20 conveniently overlooked facts that give some perspective to the current Middle East situation. These were compiled by a Christian university professor..... Takes just 1.5 minutes to read!!!
1. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E, the Jews had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4.The only Arab domination since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 hundred times in Bible. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
9. Arab and Jewish refugees: Arabs were not driven out of their homes. Following the UN decision on Partition in 1948, the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders, promising to purge the land of Jews. They argued that an "Arab presence" would only get in the way of the planned devastation. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees absorbed by Israel from Arab countries is estimated to be the same.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples'lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
13. The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank and autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied their police and security forces with weapons.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Jewish grave markers were used to build public urinals in occupied Jerusalem. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
16. The U.N. record on Israel and the Arabs of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel -- notwithstanding the fact that the Arabs refused to participate in the 15 nation United Nations Commission of Palestine which recommended partition in 1948 and sought immediately to undo its work by force of arms.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
18. The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians between 1948 and 1967.
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives between 1948 and 1967.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall between 1948 and 1967.
Of course our Jewish friends have the rightful claim. Palestinians are vilent squatters and need to move out. The sooner the better.
Indeed, this is a fascinating topic. It has been long ignored, but was commonly taught in earlier centuries, especially in Europe. (I pursued it in some detail while at Oxford, but am a bit rusty now.) Interest seems to have caught on in America only fairly recently.
Please click on my Profile for lots more...
Thanks, Yehuda. I needed that! LOL.
This response does not however disregard the possibility that there are devout Jews who may turn towards Jerusalem at those particular moments when it is most appropriate to do so (call to worship, etc), it's just that many early REFORM temples did not consider Jerusalem, the Holy Temple, or zionism as an important part of the Reform movement, and therefore did not build the structure with any significance to the congrgation facing east.
Oh Ron Wyatt the chap who discovered Noahs Ark, Soddom & Gommorah, the Ark of the Covenent etc etc. 150 years of thousands of respected archeologists searching the deserts and who finds all the goodies - good old Ron.
The only thing Ron has discovered is how to separate fools from their money.
The Pillars of Solomon my friend are in the Sinai Desert, always have been. They are rock formations and located at an old copper mine attributed to date back to Solomon's time.
On the shelf behind me is a rather nice copper bearing rock I picked up their some years ago.
22. If Arab muslims trace their heritage to Ishmael, they are admitting that the Jews (as in Abraham) were there first.
Therefore, by no condition, legal reference or Arab custom is Ishmal entitled to be placed above Issac.
The slave/handmaiden Hagar slept with Abraham as per Sara's consent and concieved Ishmal...the son of a slave. Shortly afterwards Sara, the lawful wife of Abraham became pregnant with a legal heir for Abraham.
Because of Hagar's pissing and moaning combined with her disrespect of Sara she was banished and Ishmal along with her.
The hatred Hagar instilled in Ishmal (founder of what is now Islam) for the people of Abraham continues today.
From what I've heard from people of the area, no nation wants to take in the Palestinians because they are theives, lairs and cheats.
The only reason the rest of the Arab/Islamic world tolerates them is because of their mutual hatred of Israel. Notice with all that open and available land in the middle east "no one" is offering one single acre to the Palestinians.
There's even a school of thought that the Tel Dan inscription is an epigraphic forgery - but that's another interesting story alltogether
What is indesputable however is that the Stele is about 150-250 year later than Davids time. Even the museum that houses the stone considers the reference to BYTDWD as a longshot.
Even the author himself admits that his political statements were out of place. The real issue wasn't the the "science" but the underlying motive behind it. Being more commentary than science it would not have been peer reviewed.
I probably should have said that the Ark is traditionally on the wall that points towards Jerusalem. The fact that sometimes it isn't is not exclusive to the Reform. The Muslim's idea of facing Mecca was probably derived from the Jewish tradition.
I'm no Talmud scholar but I believe it is a requirement to face Jerusalem in certain prayers and some extend it to all prayers even the ones at home.
Close, but no cigar. Mostly semantics. Since "Jews", distinct from members of the other 10 tribes, didn't come into existence until about 922 BC with the formation of the Southern Kingdom, your date is a bit early.
Genesis 11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.
Interesting article, but Abraham was not a Jew. Neither were Jacob/Israel or any of the 12 sons Jews. They were all Hebrews, and all Israelites, but the Southern Kingdom was not created until ~922BC, and until then there were no Jews.
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