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Class
Prep
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- Israel:
Justice in the Middle East
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We have read a variety of classic Jewish biblical texts
illustrating diverse views of order and divine justice. We
have analyzed how the elasticity of these texts over the
early centuries allowed new additions and interpretations
to fit new historical circumstances. Leap ahead
now 2000 years to the first independent Jewish state since
the Roman subjugation of Judea. The State of
Israel was created out of territories under British Mandate
after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The U.N. partition
plan had always envisioned two states side by side: one
for Israelis, and one for Palestinians (see Maps,
pdf 58KB). But when Israel was created in 1948, the surrounding
nations attacked immediately and lost badly. The result
was a larger state of Israel and no Palestinian state. Rather,
some Palestinians found themselves in Israel, and others
in the expanded states of Syria, Jordan and Egypt (again,
see Maps).
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In 1967, the situation changed dramatically again. A war
between Israel and Syria-Jordan-Egypt resulted in a crushing
and quick defeat for the Arab nations and the Israeli occupation
of parts of their land (the Golan Heights of Syria, the
West Bank of Jordan, and the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula
of Egypt; see Maps).
The occupied territories included the ancient capital, Jerusalem
(In the photo to the left, Jewish men are praying at the
retaining wall of the ancient Temple Mount). The reconquest
of all of King David's original empire led some Israelis
to believe that it was their destiny to retain the occupied
lands. Since then, Israel has cemented its hold on these
territories through a slow process of building Jewish settlements
in them, and, most recently, constructing a wall along the
borders ostensibly to keep terrorists out (see the picture
at the top of the page).
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- Rosemary Radford Ruether is a feminist theologian at Garrett
Evangelical Seminary in a north Chicago suburb. She has
long been involved in the struggle for justice in Israel;
three of her most important works address the question (see
the list below). As you review the timeline
(pdf 15KB) and maps
and read the text of her talk, make a list of the issues
related to justice and how she connects these to religious
faith.
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- Assigned Readings
- Secondary: Maps
& Timeline
(here rather than on ERes); Ruether talk, "The
Oslo 'Peace Process' and the Betrayal of Peace";
online class prep
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- Further Reading
- Ateek,
Naim, Mark H. Ellis and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds. Faith
and the Intifada: Palestinian Christian Voices. Maryknoll, New York:
Orbis, 1992.
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- Ruether,
Rosemary Radford. The Wrath of Jonah: The
Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict. New York: Harper & Row, 1989.
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- Ruether,
Rosemary Radford and Mark H. Ellis, eds. Beyond
Occupation: American Jewish, Christian, and Palestinian
Voices for Peace. Boston: Beacon, 1990.
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- Links
- General Information
- For background on Zionism
- The
World Zionist Organization, as defined by
the Jewish Virtual Library (a division of the American-Israeli
Cooperative Enterprise).
- Homeward
Bound - The Zionist Movement Pavilion of
the Zionist Exhibition, sponsored by Hagshama: Department
of the World Zionist Organization.
- Israel
and Zionism - The Pedagogic Center of the
Department for Jewish Zionist Education; maps, timelines,
important names, but only current to 1997.
- Jewish views of the Occupation
- Brit
Tzedek vShalom - "Covenant of Justice
and Peace," an American Jewish group that supports
the restoration of the occupied territories to the
Palestinians.
- Communities
in Yesha and the Jordan Valley - A settler
group maintains this site in support of the settlers.
- Gush
Emunim - as described by University of Calgary
Religious Studies Professor Eliezer Segal, for his
course, Judaism in the Modern World.
- Temple
Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement
- One of many movements interested in preparing
the way for the messiah by rebuilding the Jewish
Temple on the site where it once stood -- where
the Moslem Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site
in Sunni Islam, stands.
- The
Temple Institute - Also interested in rebuilding
the Temple.
- Islamic groups concerned about Temple Mount
- Al-Aqsa
Association - Muslim association linked
to the radical wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
- Al
Nakba (the cataclysm) - Palestinian web
site detailing the history of the Israeli occupation
of Palestinian territory.
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- Sources
- Photographs:
- "The Wall": Lynsey Addario/Corbis, for The New York
Times; printed in article by David Rieff, "Arafat
among the Ruins," New York Times Magazine,
25 April 2004, online, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/magazine/25ARAFAT.html.
- "Jewish Men Praying at Western Wall": C. Murphy,
"Men's Section of Western Wall, Temple Mount, Jerusalem
(O-196)," 1994. >/
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