Christianity Vs Islam - Lecture notes 13 PDF

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** CHRISTIANITY Vs ISLAM - AN AMERICAN-LED "WAR"? The American role in world politics has largely been marked by its involvement in the Middle East conflict. And the Jewish lobby in Washington politics is known to be deeply rooted and powerful. Obama's previous call...

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** CHRISTIANITY Vs ISLAM - AN AMERICAN-LED "WAR"? The American role in world politics has largely been marked by its involvement in the Middle East conflict. And the Jewish lobby in Washington politics is known to be deeply rooted and powerful. Obama's previous call for RECONCILIATION seems to stay on paper: “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." What was originally a conflict between Palestinians (many of them Christians) and the new Jewish state, the issue of Gaza and the West Bank has become over time a focus of wider Muslim grievances -- particularly against the West. For example, the unrest in Xinjiang is at least as much about culture and language as about religion. But religion provides a point of common identity with Muslims from elsewhere. Gaza’s local politics add to the problem as the radical Muslim and nationalist stance of the ruling Hamas party is at odds with the less radical Palestinian Authority which half-rules the West Bank. Since the late 1970s Muslim revivalism more broadly had been spurred by several factors. 1. Chief among them is probably the money that Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Arab states have had to promote a more conservative form of Islam than was the norm before in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. 2. Another has been the example of the 1978 revolution in Iran which saw the overthrow of a secular but oppressive monarchy by religious leaders. 3. A third has been the failure of modern secular nationalist movement which gained power after 1945 -- such as in Egypt -- to make economic progress. 4. A fourth has been the complexity of politics in the Middle East where Arabs conflict with Persians, Sunni Muslims with Shia Muslims etc, and to which rivalries the West, Russia, Turkey and Israel add their own power interests. The ultra extremist Muslim groups, which have emerged in the past 20 years – Taliban (Afghanistan and Pakistan) el-Qaida (essentially originating in Saudi Arabia) and now Islamic State (a product of years of war in Iraq/Syria and fiercely anti-Shia as well as anti-West) have shown an ability to create fear in places ranging from New York, London and Paris to Bangkok and Istanbul as a result of indiscriminate bombings. In turn this adds to social and political tensions, not least in countries such as France and Britain with significant Muslim immigrant groups. Failing to integrate, these groups then become a source of recruits for extremists. Apart from the Twin Towers in New York, these outrages over the past 15 years have in total killed no more than one big air crash. But their impact on politics, perceptions and society has been out of all proportions to the death toll. They show the impact of fear, and of propaganda by

deed, frightening the opponent either into agreement through fear or counter productive responses. It may be important not to over-estimate these issues. India has about 180 million Muslims and has largely kept their situation apart from the state’s quarrels with rival Muslim Pakistan. Indonesia and Bangladesh have seen occasional extremist attacks but secularism has largely prevailed. Likewise the Muslim countries of former Soviet Central Asia, like Kazakhstan etc, have not been seriously impacted. In Africa, extremists have caused havoc in Somalia and parts of Nigeria but these are just tend to get more notice than other conflicts in Africa. ** BACKGROUND Gaza was part of Palestine, an Arab territory which was part of the Ottoman (Turkish) empire until WWI, after which it came under British administration. The British announced that Palestine would become a “National home for the Jewish people” -- Jews were then about 10% of the population -- and large scale Jewish immigration, mostly from central and eastern Europe, followed. After WWII, which saw Hitler’s massacre of Jews, more flooded to Palestine, though the Palestinian Arabs (then about one third Christian, the other Muslim) remained the majority. The British, subject to attacks by both Arabs and Jews, decided to end their administration. The UN voted narrowly -- UNDER US PRESSURE -- to divide the country. The Palestinians refused to accept this. War ensued which Israel won, expanding borders well beyond the UN division, and millions of Palestinians left or were forced to leave what was now Israel. Many went to Gaza, a narrow strip of Palestine left which was cut off from the rest of the remnant of Palestine, wedged between Egypt and Israel. Gaza was run by Egypt until 1956, when Israel won another war and occupied the main remaining portion of Palestine known as the West Bank, including the western part of Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights which had been part of Syria. Gaza remained under Israeli military occupation , which saw occasional sporadic insurrections by Palestinians against the occupiers, until 1993 when Israeli forces withdrew as part of a wider moves towards possible peace -- though Israel remained in control of air space and coast. It was administered by the Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous Palestinian entity which administered such parts of the West Bank as allowed Gaza have its own elected government. Elections in in 2006 in Gaza gave power to HAMAS, a radical nationalist and Islamic group regarded by the Us and many others as a terrorist organization. Hamas has never conceded the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state -- Israel’s constitution gives special rights and privileges to Jews even though 20% of its population is Palestinian Arab. Jews from anywhere can settle but Palestinians displaced by wars are not allowed to return. Hamas’ Islamist -- but not its nationalist -- position usually puts it at odds with the Palestinian Authority which is equally nationalist but takes a more moderate stance.

Israel responded to Hamas’ radicalism by making life extremely difficult for the approximately 1.8 million people crowded into the strip by denying access including electricity. Hamas has kept political issues alive, particularly the issue of Israeli expansion through West bank settlements. UN resolutions critical of Israel are routinely vetoed by the US. A frustrated Hamas, hurt by the change of regime in Egypt as well as the hardline policies of Israel, escalated the situation by stepping up firing of rockets into Israel. These have done little damage because of their limited size and Israel’s sophisticated anti-missile system. Their object is POLITICAL not military. Israel retaliated with a partial invasion and intensive bombing campaign supposedly against Hamas targets. More than 1,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died. But Hamas has remained reluctant to agree even to a semi-permanent ceasefire, while Israel keeps a stranglehold on its economy and continues to expand Jewish settlements. Hamas is militarily weak while Israel has huge military capability of its own, and the BACKING OF THE US. However, Palestinians mostly believe that TIME and DEMOGRAPHICS are on their side, given their high birth rate and the fact that there are now almost as many Palestinians under Israeli rule (adding Israeli Arabs to the West Bank and Gaza) as there are Jews. ** In short the Middle East conflict is the microcosm of a bigger issue dating back to 1917, when Britain promised Jews a “national home” without asking whose home it was. ** Ends...