The Holy Land

“Throughout comedy the emphasis is on human limitations rather than on human greatness” (John Morreal Comedy Tragedy and Religion). To what extent does Jez Butterworth focus on human weakness and ineptitude in his play ‘Jerusalem’?

For ages the Jewish population did not have a place to call home. They had been wandering around deserts, were once slaves in Egypt, but didn’t have any land to their name. Following the Holocaust, after many Jews had been persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis, a good portion of the overall amount of Jews in the world let alone Europe had been exterminated. As a result, Harry Truman and the UN suggested Israel, a homeland for the Jews. Tensions had been growing throughout the beginning of the 20th Century regarding the Palestinian area in the Middle East. This area was off to the side of Asia, near Africa. When the Jews and Arabs were offered part of this land, war broke out and still continues today. Even though a war happened as a result

Jerusalem should be solely their own in order to bring closeness to their God. But in fact the

In the biblical text, Jerusalem is characterized as a “differentiated” religious place by portraying it as God’s selection for Israel people. In the book Genesis, God tested Abraham by commanding him to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. The language in Hebrew Bible specifically emphasized how the “land of Moriah” is divinely mandated: “…one of the mountains that I shall show you”, “…went to the place in the distance that God had shown him”, and “when they came to the place that God had shown him” all highlight that it is the Israelite God who explicitly chose the “land of Moriah” as the place for Abraham’s test. Because of such divinely mandated feature, the “land of Moriah,” where the city of Jerusalem is located, differentiated itself from other generic

Any reference to conflict turns history into a reservoir of blame. In the presence of conflict, narratives differ and multiply to delegitimize the opponent and to justify one’s own action. Narratives shape social knowledge. The Israeli Palestinian conflict, both Jews and Muslims, view the importance of holding the territories through religious, ideological, and security lenses, based on belief that Palestine was given by divine providence and that the land belongs to either the Israelis or Palestinian’s ancestral home. Understanding these perspectives is required for understanding Palestinians’ and especially Israel’s strategy and role in entering the Oslo peace process. Despite

The Crusades, a series of wars, are an extremely important part of history in the 12th century, occurring during the Middle Ages. The Middle East or the Holy Land was always a place that Christians traveled to to make pilgrimages. The Seljuk Turks eventually took control of Jerusalem and all Christians were not allowed in the Holy City. As the Turks power grew, they threatened to take over the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, asked Pope Urban II for help and Pope agreed, hoping to strengthen his own power. He He united the Christians in Europe and In 1095, Pope Urban II waged waged war against muslims in order to “reclaim the holy land.”

When asking someone there first thought about Israel, each person will have their own version of what they believe that it is. One might say that it is the land of the Jews, while others say that it is Jesus Christ’s birthplace. The excerpts from My Promised Land by Ari Shavit capture the true essence of what Israel really is.

Comic resolution is seen symbolically as an act of rebirth, renewal and affirmation in the final act of Jerusalem. Act 3 is the scene where all problems that have arisen in Act 1 and Act 2 are solved.

Since the Independence of Israel in 1948, there has been a greater tension between the Israelis and the Palestinian community. It is very important to know that both have been living Israel before it was considered an independent state. Not only Palestinians have been in conflict with the Israelis but also Arabs and Muslims. They might not have the same issues with Israel as the Palestinians do, but they both dislike Israelis for different reasons. Palestinians issue has been over property ownership while the Arabs and Muslims community has been over religious reasons. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Israel belongs to

According to scholars the crusades can simply be described as a series of military-religious campaigns by European Catholics to increase Christian influence in Palestine from the 11th to 14th centuries. Originally, these Roman Catholic crusades including attempts to re-capture the Holy Land from the Muslims were often led by none other then the papacy themselves. These holy leaders between the 11th and 14th century included many important figures including Pope Urban II and Pope Innocent III. These men helped in organizing the first and fourth crusades and their reasons behind doing so included a seek to serve God & Church in a bold, heroic way, to spread Christianity, and Fight Islam which they viewed as evil. All these reason behind crusading are most obvious in the first crusade led and organized by Pope Urban II. According to the crusades 1099 document stated "the Pope (Pope Urban II) exhorted the assembled multitude to wrest the Holy Land from the hands of the Infidel and assured them that God would absolve them from any sin associated with the venture." Once he said this people began to shout, "It is the will of God." Those few words from the pope are what set the stage for not only the first crusades but all the ones to follow. Once the crusade began 100,000 crusader stormed towards the gates of Jerusalem and while doing so killed thousands in their way, including many Jews. Once they finally invaded Jerusalem they obtained an easy victory and in the eyes of many this

Through the deliverance of a speech the former Pope Urban II incited Catholics all over Europe to take action in reclaiming the Holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslims in the Middle East. It was in this year,1095, that the beginning of the first, of nine, Crusades and thus the first series of religious wars between the Catholics and Muslims begun. The focus of this paper will remain on the Third Crusade (1189-1192 A.D)- more specifically the actions of ‘Islam’s Warrior Hero’ Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb who was better known to the English as Saladin- Sultan of Egypt. How did one individual gain the respect of both his Muslim followers and his enemies- the Catholic Europeans? Throughout history Saladin has been portrayed as a charismatic, honourable, virtuous and chivalrous man by the historians and chroniclers of the Middle East and Europe. Even the Europeans who sought to dislike this man due to his religious affiliations could not, as he encompassed all the qualities in which a great leader and a good ‘Christian’ was thought to possess.

The cover page of this TIME magazine, an issue of 1979 invoked purely the orientalist idea of the Middle East. It represented the faulty equation of Islam= Muslim= Arab= terrorist or religious fanatics.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict, and the struggle for a religious homeland, is a complex and somewhat mystified conflict. The tensions between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples can be traced back to Biblical times, when Abraham allocated for one of his sons, Isaac, to lay claim to Judea or modern day Israel. Muslims claimed that the elder son Ishmael had been allocated the region in the Qur’an. Although many historians believe otherwise, these claims are still the more popular historical context amongst monotheistic practitioners.

Throughout the period of World War II, many Jewish people had fled to Israel seeking a place for sanctuary due to Hitler’s reign of terror, but who knew that one of the most largest movements in the history of Europe would cause one of the biggest renowned issues that still remains today. We can easily conclude that both Palestinian and Israeli people both believe that Israel is a land of sacred, where both religions had made history in this land. Although one of the biggest issues that still remains today is who really deserves the land the most. The Palestinian people currently live in the land of Israel before the Jews had made their movement, but after letting in countless Jewish refugees into their land, the Jewish people had realized

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. Located in between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, It is the main destination for those tourists that have a desire of getting a grasp of the Western East Countries, and for many, a unique religious experience. However, Jerusalem: also called the "Holy Land" has by its name a very controversial meaning: " The City of Peace". Once ago in this place, according to the Hebrew Bible (The Tanakh), the Temple of Solomon was built. According to the Muslim Bible (The Quran), also the location of the Dome of the Rock. From the Christian point of view and The Bible, It was once the place where the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus took place. This series of religious events have brought up along with it a conflict in between Middle Eastern Countries for more than 50 years long with one main question on the plate: Who fairly and ethically deserves to live in the Holy Land?