Arab-Israeli Politics POSC 377
This course explores the politics of the Middle East with particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Identity and Politics in the region, the role of Islam and the U.S. in the region's politics. Fall 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
About Me
- Name: Muqtedar Khan
- Location: United States
Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is also the Director of the Islamic Studies Program. He is a Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (Amana, 2002), Jihad for Jerusalem: Identity and Strategy in International Relations (Praeger, 2004).
26 Comments:
These two articles attempt to show that there are individuals and governments in the Muslim world that risk their political and physical lives to defend the oppressed. While stereotypes portray Muslims as terrorists or the attitude of, 'they hate us because of our freedom,' these articles show both governmental and extragovernmental individuals who defy the stereotypes. It is commendable to see individuals and even sultans who respect the minority and it shows a great hope that this attitude will expand in the future.
Though, that being said, Albania is a minor country and does not necessarily represent the current attitudes of of the Arab world. Also, the example of the Turks saving the Jews occurred over six hundred years ago, severely limiting its current value. Furthermore, Alfassa condemns the violence against Jews perpetrated by the western Europeans, who have, in general, progressed in their human rights records while much of the Arab governments seem to have regressed.
Relations between Jews, the state of Israel, and the Muslim/Arab's have greatly changed following World War II, and although the two articles clearly show that there is a segment of the population who prefers peace and justice over hatred, the articles are so dated that they hold more nostalgic value than value to the current conflict.
Steven Gold--
I would like to take another point of view. I believe these two articles shows the capacity in the good of all people; like Anne Frank said 'Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart' (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/anne_frank.html).
If countries could respect the minority, why can't other countries do the same? Yes relations between Jews and Muslims has changed drastically in the last 75 years (I am including the land buying by Jews). But hasn't relations changed between African Americans and Whites in America (granted it is not fully equal)?
If countries could do it before, why not now? If Israel wants to fully thank the Arab world for saving them, they should give them equal rights and not suppress them.; instead of just building a museum.
--Steven Gold
Although these articles don't exactly reflect current Muslim/ Jewish relations, they prove that all people, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or upbringing are inherently good.
In today's world it's so easy to think of all Muslims as extreme, violent, terrorists. I think it's very important to step back and think about people in the other two major religions who have the capacity to do heinous, evil things. It's not just the Islamic terrorists. All people have good and bad within them, it just depends on which side of them they choose to regularly express and act upon.
These articles brought about positive and negative emotions within me. While it was encouraging to learn about these people working together to help one another, it's disheartening to think that in today's world people are often too hard-headed to do the same.
This post has been removed by the author.
The article about the relation between Turkey and Jews has its history wrong. First it is not sultan Mehmed that “welcomed” the Jews from Spain, but sultan Beyazid the second (or the first, I might be wrong about that). Second, Beyazid did not welcome them because of his love and altruism, but because the Ottomans had no skills for business or commerce and the sultan saw in the Jews the people that will make the empire richer and more prosperous. Also it is important to note that the sultan did not let the Jews just settle anywhere. The empire was organized in administrative units called millets, which were more or less independent and homogenous, which is to say that it is not like ottomans and Jews lived together in the same town. They were very much separated from each other, and did not really communicate.
The article is really a bit too happy and cheerful, and very misleading. It makes it seem as if even nowadays Turkey and Jews are still best friends, and that Turks and Jews are capable of living together. The truth however is that ordinary Turks are as much anti-Semitic as Greeks (especially the Turks living in the eastern provinces). Even Turkish government has not been always favorable towards Jews (for example: the Istanbul pogroms of 1955). It is only now that the Turkish government makes the relationship between Israel and Turkey so friendly and it is purely for some very important for the Turkish government political reasons: most notably Turkey sees in Israel its only ally in its fight against the PKK (since diplomacy failed to induce the rest of the Arab countries to deal with the Kurdish Worker’s Party and stop protecting it); and maybe even an ally in solving the so-called “Greek Problem”. The only things that unite Israel and Turkey are their fear of terrorism and rise of political Islam. Besides that, there is nothing that makes that relationship friendly.
These articles present heartwarming tales of Muslims and Jews not not only getting along peacfully, but of the earlier saving the latter from death. I think it shows that the worst parts of history are remebered far more often than the quiet righteuous ones.
The Turks most likely did not save the Jews for the sake of saving them, but the fact that they offered them a place to exist is extremely meaningful. The fact is, the Jewish relocation to the Ottoman Turkish empire benefited both groups. The Jews had a place to live and the Ottoamns recieved an educated, productive sect of society.
Today these groups need to realize that assililation can provide both parties with many mutual benefits that go beyond peace just as they have in the past.
mike kirby
The portrayal of Muslims in the media today is one of violence and hatred. Islam is a religion of peace, however the radical elements, and terrorists are the ones who get the most media coverage. Maybe as ivbat stated, the Ottomans were inviting the Jews into the empire, to bring about more wealth. However looking back at history, at the height of the Ottoman Empire, it was a center of learning and trade. I think the article points out that the Ottomans were welcoming to the jews, as was preached by Muhammad in the 600s. The Islamic empire was very tolerant of Jews and Christians, and I think the Ottoman hospitality to the Spanish Jews is just an extension of that. The fact that the Albanians risked themselves to protect Jews during the reign of Nazi Germany shows the continued tolerance of Islam, and the generally good nature of people. It shows that Muslims and Jews truly can live together side by side in peace. Muslims are portrayed in a negative light, when they have a very tolerant religion.
I think that these article affirm an important human principle that when it comes down to it, no matter what color, religion, race, ethnicity, or nationality we are, we are all simply human beings, and as one human being to another, we should always strive to help and protect one another. This shows that despite all the fear mongering, the hatred, and conflicts, when it comes down to it, we must all unite together to fight tyranny and evil. I think that these articles should serve as an important reminder to all Jews – not to be so quick to condemn Muslims as terrorists, as evil people – because when the world was silent on their fate, there were their Muslim brothers, as well as Christian brothers, risking their lives to do what they could. Labeling a group is easy – determining individual character is the hard part. Doug makes an excellent point – the example of the Turks saving the Jews did happen over 600 years ago. I agree with Steven Gold – does that mean just because it happened once, it can’t happen again? Maybe I’m wearing my rosy-colored sunglasses, but if it happened once, it can happen again.
Perhaps the sultan had some more selfish reasons in opening his lands to the Jews – but the fact is that he did. He recognized the capabilities and prosperity of the Jews as something that could aid his own country – and invited them when they were being run off the face of the Earth. I don’t think these articles are necessarily overly cheerful or overly happy – in fact, when counterbalanced with the massive amounts of negative press and publicity about Muslims, Islamofascism, and terrorists, these articles represents the smallest drop in the bucket towards acknowledge the good and humanity of Muslims.
Allison Schwier
I agree that this article demonstrates a much needed sentiment in the muslim world; a unity with people of the jewish faith. Unfortunately, a fact that is downplayed by many of the respondents above is that this happened OVER HALF A CENTURY AGO. Where is there evidence of these type of actions or sentiments in recent histroy, even in the past 25 years? I think that type of evidence would be far more encouraging than manipulating historical events to attempt to show some sort of peaceful sentiment in today's middle east.
Coincidentally enough, I just wrote my final paper on the perceptions that Israelis have of Muslims and Arabs. I didn't include these articles, but I think their most important function is as proof that their is no innate, inbred hatred of one group for the other. Jews and Muslims aren't mongooses and snakes. They're humans, the same humans who kill for each other and die for each other and, now that the technology is available, literally tear the organs out of their bodies to give to one another. We have our differences, yes. Everybody does. But when I was in a Jerusalem hospital, I witnessed an Israeli student play games with a Palestinian child. This was no photo-op, the two were playing simply because that's what people do.
Israelis and Arabs have been traveling down a long road of hatred for a number of years. But stories like these tell us that there is always time to turn around.
-Jeff Conrad
To be completely honest, I was unaware that there was such a thing as a European country that had more Jews after World War II than when it started. Between the massacre of 6 million and the constant rejection of immigrants, I would’ve never thought it to be possible. What makes the article even more so astonishing is the fact that so many Muslims were involved in the aiding of saving Jewish lives. I sincerely believe that many would have a different outlook on things knowing this. Granted, its one country at one point in time, while the Arab-Israeli conflict has been going on for practically eternity. However, I am also certain that it is not the only time, that rather, there are many such instances that people are just unaware about.
Muslims and Jews alike both deserve more credit for the individual efforts on both sides to bridge the gap between the two nations. It’s an ignorant and erroneous generalization to say that all Jews and Muslims hate each other. To the contrary, there are many efforts being made by both as exemplified in this article. Muslims put their lives on the line to save Jews, and I’m sure many Jews have done the same at some point in history. If only the two governments can come to an agreement, I believe that the people of the nations will in turn begin to view each other differently, and good deeds towards each other would become a more frequent occurrence.
History is rife with examples of people overcoming their religious differences to lend a helping hand and these two articles are perfect examples. It seems illogical to me that people fight and hate one another because their religious beliefs are different-all religions advocate peace and love for fellow men (perhaps with Satanism being the exception). Therefore, it should not be surprising that Muslims have stood up for Jews and vice versa. Sadly, however, people have lost sight of the basic principles of their religions and now justify killing each other in the name of their gods. The problems in Israel and Palestine are not caused by religious differences but cultural ones. The Palestinians do not seek a homeland because they need a home for their religion. The seek a homeland because they feel they need a place to assert their national identity. Unfortunately, the Israeli's have blurred the line between their culture and religion, making the situation more difficult. If both sides in this conflict would learn from their religions and recognize that it is better to help their fellow man that oppress or eliminate him, maybe some progress would finally be made.
These articles have allowed me to see a different side of what this confrontation is all about. Seemingly the Muslim world has been viewed as a breading ground for antisemitism. Allthough this might be very true in some areas, we are unable to truly understand the level of individuals that are not filled with hatred. This article proves that at times the betterness of people come before there beliefs. The conflict between thses two different worlds does have its legitimate problems, but after some time it seems as if the ihatred is just taught and does not have true feelings behind it. I am not one to say what has been done in the middle east is not wrrong or right but it seems that at times people can do the right thing, and beliefs get in there way. These two articels showed what pople can do if they just truly do the right thing.
Commenting on what dch8 said,
I believe that the muslim world has been projected in a negative light. I think that they have been projected this way because they have become the worlds whipping boy. It seems they have been portrayed like this because the world needed a new bad guy. At the end of the cold war we were left with no one to hate. If you remeber in history we supported Afghanistan when they faught the Soviets. They have used the same weapons we supplied to fight us. We needed someone to hate, so we turned to the middle east. They have been viewed in such a negative light for such a long time due to the mistakes of a few nations. It is extremly unfair that we believe all of the middle east is evil but since most of America is so ignorant we all fall for what the media and government says. The middle east is our new area in the world to blame everything on and we are doing a very good job.
I agree with tyson that since the end of the Cold War America has turned the enemy of the state from the Soviet Union to the Middle East. The Muslim world as a result has been stereotyped as one with a violent nature who hates others. In reality, the Muslim faith is very peaceful and these articles show how there are examples, albeit examples from 600 years ago that peace and goodwill has existed between Jews and Muslims. These articles show the good nature of mankind and hopefully Muslims and Jews will learn how to cooperate peacefully with each other as they did in the past.
I think that this article is a nice story that shows that there is a full spectrum of Muslims, just as there is a full spectrum of Christians or any other religious group.
When considering world politics and generalizations about groups stories like this make me think that a lot of the hate toward the US isn’t really about religion, but about other factors. In this, religion is just an excuse and a simple way to bond a group of people to gather, who might otherwise have no reason to. It’s hard to draw a cause and effect relationship between Islam and hate towards the west, when considering information like that presented in the article.
I agree with what Steven Gold said about "the capacity in the good of all people". While Albania was probably the last country I would expect to have made such a humanitarian gesture like that, especially considering their recent problems with racial discord. This serves as a prime example of the potential for different cultures to live together harmoniously and with mutual benefits. I do wonder, however, how long it took for the refugees to become assimilated and accepted into the Albanian society. Just allowing them into the country doesn’t mean Jews and Muslims immediately made carpools and took turns hosting barbecues. Even in the United States, a country that advertises itself as a melting pot of ethnicities was extremely oppressive towards all immigrants (particularly from eastern European and Southeast Asian) during the time period following WW2.
-David Schwartz
I think that these two stories are great, especially from an identity perspective. Yes, these two articles could be seen as "light" stories, but I believe that they provide a decent insight to the fact that both religion and history play major roles in the current conflict. These two stories show that both Jews and Muslims were able to cooperate in the past, which only gives hope for the future. Also, countries such as Turkey and Albania can show other third-party countries, in Europe or elsewhere, that they can play a role in this conflict. The Albanians took in a great number of Jewish people after the Holocaust - they offered their hand in rebuilding and peace. European countries today can do they same thing - they can rightfully offer peace to the Israelis and Palestinians When other countries turned a blind eye, Albania opened their door. In fact, they were rewarded for this effort. Israel honored 63 Albanians as "Righteous Among the Nations," which is "a title granted to non-Jews who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution." Who is to say that those who help out Palestinian refugees today will not be rewarded similarly in the future? The generosity can go both ways here: since the Muslims were so generous to the Jewish people in the past, the Jewish people can open their doors today and return the favor.
- Andrew Shine
I think the interesting thing about these articles is that there was no hate for Jews in the Arab world. Yes, they did live separately but so did everyone back then. Anti-Semitism comes almost exclusively from Europe. The rise of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Middle East comes from Israel and not some deep seeded prejudice.
This article did have a very nice message but I agree with doug in that they are so dated that they offer no real value now other than to prove that things change over time.
Both of these articles are very interesting, but the fact that Muslims saved Jews should not be surprising. This is not the first time Turkish people have saved Jews. During the Spanish Inquistion the Ottoman Empire was the only place that was willing to take Jews. They brought them to their land and allowed them to work and have prosperous lives.
Many people assume that Muslims and Jews hate each other by default and this is a poor assumption. The situation in Palestine today leads people to this false assumption. Throughout many Muslim Empires Jews were allowed to live with many freedoms and were not persecuted.
The myth that Muslims and Jews are destined to be enimies is only as recent as the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hopefully articles like these will continue to spread the truth.
There are many barriers in life that distinguish one from many, and some from others. Religion, skin color, ethnicity, language are all examples. No matter which type of person you identify yourself as everyone and certain inalienable rights especially the right to life itself. Therefore, no matter what religion you identify yourself as you dont lose that right to life because its different from what someone else identifies themselves as. These articles prove that it is possible to look beyond these barriers and live in peace as well as to extend a helping hand.
Furthermore, it is necessary to look beyond these barriers and accept that people will be different because its inevitable and everyone has a right to life and freedom and their pursuit of happiness. Living in a world of peace with someone who is slightly different is better than living in a world of war and hatred.
People have a tendency towards forgetfulness. Historical accounts often find themselves hidden by the heat of the moment. The relationship between Muslims and Jews has not historically been one of tension and hostility as exemplified by the Arab-Israeli conflict. Like the article said, its all about good people and stereotyping different groups shows narrow minded ignorance. Historically, there has been more anti-Semitism in states now apart of Europe and it still persists. More interestingly was the statement in the Article that unlike the great empires in Christian Europe, the Ottoman Empire never had a government sponsor on hate-based, genocidal programs.
The problem now lies in the horrible stereotypes of the Muslims in the Middle East as terrorists and their society a hotbed of injustice. Islam is a peaceful religion that people completely misinterpret. These articles show that when it come to doing what is right and just, color, religion, and state does not matter. And in response to some peoples post, this article does nothing to imply that the Muslim world wants ‘credit’ for past pro-Jewish action, but as a REMINDER of the strong and tolerant ties they have had in the past.
I think this article tries to paint a really touching picture of the way that people CAN get along, but I don’t think it’s very realistic. I would love to think that people can put aside religion and race when dealing with issues, but it really is not done that easily. Yes, people can show compassion, but there are still so many problems rooted in who we are. It is comforting to know that so many people were willing to help end the Jews throughout WWII, but at the same time think of what was happening to Jews simply because so many people felt no compassion and were governed by hate. This has been true for many different races all throughout history. It’s great to hear stories where individuals can get past cultural differences, and maybe this is just absolute pessimism, but I think it is rare. A lot of the Arab Israeli conflict comes down to identity plain and simple. There are still many obstacles this world has to overcome with stereotyping and alleviating cultural/religious disparities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9OIqy6md9w&feature=related
This video, featuring Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, shows him describing how "On Yom Kippur in the old city, the Muslim families used to babysit the Jewish children when their mothers went for Yom Kippur celebrations."
Educational discourse with regards to the history of Jewish/Muslim relations is evolving out of the stranglehold of Zionist academia, meaning Israeli historians who dominate the interpretation of history for political reasons. History cannot be written. And it is increasingly clear that Muslim people have hosted the Jewish people in their lands for over a thousand years. Mu'ammar Ghadafi, the slightly crazy leader of Libya, once said, "The Jewish people sought refuge in the Arab world, even getting their own Jewish quarter in our cities, as the Europeans oppressed and slaughtered them- on the banks of the Volga, in Spain during the Inquisition, etc.."
The growing understanding of the scope of the positive past relationship between Jewish people and Muslims deflates the "they hate us for our freedom and religion" theories, and gives more credibility to those in Palestine that are fighting jihad simply because they are being victimized, tortured, oppressed and "caged" as Rashid Khalidi puts it.
-Drew Marshall
These articles really opened my eyes. Muslims saving Jews is something that you never hear in America, especially about the Holocaust. Mostly everyone has seen Schindler's List or read the Diary of Anne Frank about Europeans risking their lives to save Jews, but nothing from Muslims. I think that this is great for Muslim-Jewish relations in America and in the world. In an area where so much hatred is present it is difficult to imagine helping the other side. Then again, the world wide Muslim population is peaceful, probably more so than most Christians. It is the media and possibly the Jewish Lobby that supplant the image that all Muslims are terrorists out to destroy Western culture and Israel. If people caught wind of this article it would really turn heads because it is finally a story that shows Muslims as the great and righteous people that they really are.
The Ottoman case is also very interesting. My catholic school upbringing never mentioned that the Muslims saved many Jews during the time of the Inquisition. Sultan Mehmet was a great reformer and a great man for all of the world and it should be recognized more often the work that the Muslim community has done for the world. If the general population just knew about random acts of kindness such as this the world would be such a better place.
The articles amaze me because they are able to go against our held beliefs. Most of us are growing up in a time where Israel is assumed to have a justified existence and that the Muslims are terrorists. This has not been the case forever and things like this really make one think.
The article is erroneous; Catholic Spain ended up with more Jews than at the beginning of the war as did Lutheran Sweden and Finland. Some Albanian families were quiet courageous and sheltered a couple hundred Jews, but so did a large number of German families – tiny numbers like these betray nothing of overall national opinion. I think it is telling that since the fall of communism all but 2 (that’s right, 2) of Albania’s Jews have fled. Individual actions are noteworthy, but shouldn’t be extrapolated to form opinions of whole races or religions.
Post a Comment
<< Home