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On the Present-Day Veneration of Sacred Trees in the Holy Land
ON THE PRESENT-DAY VENERATION OF SACRED TREES IN THE HOLY LAND Amots Dafni Abstract: This article surveys the current pervasiveness of the phenomenon of sacred trees in the Holy Land, with special reference to the official attitudes of local religious leaders and the attitudes of Muslims in comparison with the Druze as well as in monotheism vs. polytheism. Field data regarding the rea- sons for the sanctification of trees and the common beliefs and rituals related to them are described, comparing the form which the phenomenon takes among different ethnic groups. In addition, I discuss the temporal and spatial changes in the magnitude of tree worship in Northern Israel, its syncretic aspects, and its future. Key words: Holy land, sacred tree, tree veneration INTRODUCTION Trees have always been regarded as the first temples of the gods, and sacred groves as their first place of worship and both were held in utmost reverence in the past (Pliny 1945: 12.2.3; Quantz 1898: 471; Porteous 1928: 190). Thus, it is not surprising that individual as well as groups of sacred trees have been a characteristic of almost every culture and religion that has existed in places where trees can grow (Philpot 1897: 4; Quantz 1898: 467; Chandran & Hughes 1997: 414). It is not uncommon to find traces of tree worship in the Middle East, as well. However, as William Robertson-Smith (1889: 187) noted, “there is no reason to think that any of the great Semitic cults developed out of tree worship”. It has already been recognized that trees are not worshipped for them- selves but for what is revealed through them, for what they imply and signify (Eliade 1958: 268; Zahan 1979: 28), and, especially, for various powers attrib- uted to them (Millar et al. -
The-Legal-Status-Of-East-Jerusalem.Pdf
December 2013 Written by: Adv. Yotam Ben-Hillel Cover photo: Bab al-Asbat (The Lion’s Gate) and the Old City of Jerusalem. (Photo by: JC Tordai, 2010) This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position or the official opinion of the European Union. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, international humanitarian non- governmental organisation that provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide. The author wishes to thank Adv. Emily Schaeffer for her insightful comments during the preparation of this study. 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. Background ............................................................................................................................ 6 3. Israeli Legislation Following the 1967 Occupation ............................................................ 8 3.1 Applying the Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration to East Jerusalem .................... 8 3.2 The Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel ................................................................... 10 4. The Status -
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Nisan / The Levantine Review Volume 4 Number 2 (Winter 2015) Identity and Peoples in History Speculating on Ancient Mediterranean Mysteries Mordechai Nisan* We are familiar with a philo-Semitic disposition characterizing a number of communities, including Phoenicians/Lebanese, Kabyles/Berbers, and Ismailis/Druze, raising the question of a historical foundation binding them all together. The ethnic threads began in the Galilee and Mount Lebanon and later conceivably wound themselves back there in the persona of Al-Muwahiddun [Unitarian] Druze. While DNA testing is a fascinating methodology to verify the similarity or identity of a shared gene pool among ostensibly disparate peoples, we will primarily pursue our inquiry using conventional historical materials, without however—at the end—avoiding the clues offered by modern science. Our thesis seeks to substantiate an intuition, a reading of the contours of tales emanating from the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Levantine area, to Africa and Egypt, and returning to Israel and Lebanon. The story unfolds with ancient biblical tribes of Israel in the north of their country mixing with, or becoming Lebanese Phoenicians, travelling to North Africa—Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya in particular— assimilating among Kabyle Berbers, later fusing with Shi’a Ismailis in the Maghreb, who would then migrate to Egypt, and during the Fatimid period evolve as the Druze. The latter would later flee Egypt and return to Lebanon—the place where their (biological) ancestors had once dwelt. The original core group was composed of Hebrews/Jews, toward whom various communities evince affinity and identity today with the Jewish people and the state of Israel. -
The Cultural Landscape Analysis of the Domain-Centered Place-Based Community of Ave Maria, Florida Brad Huff
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 The Cultural Landscape Analysis of the Domain-Centered Place-Based Community of Ave Maria, Florida Brad Huff Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC POLICY THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS OF THE DOMAIN-CENTERED PLACE-BASED COMMUNITY OF AVE MARIA, FLORIDA By BRAD HUFF A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2012 Brad Huff defended this dissertation on July 10, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Jon Anthony Stallins Professor Co-Directing Dissertation Victor Mesev Professor Co-Directing Dissertation Karen L. Laughlin University Representative Mark W. Horner Committee Member James B. Elsner Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii No one is an island entire of itself … an appropriate metaphor for geographers made all the more profound by those who complete us. I dedicate this to the person who completes me, my wife, Toni. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the five members of my committee. I have been privileged to have as my co-directors Drs. Anthony Stallins and Victor Mesev who are each fine geographers and truly decent human beings. They share a fierce commitment to their students, a commitment from which I have repeatedly benefitted. -
Religious Colombo: the Secret City Hiding in Plain Sight
ColomboArts Biannual Refereed Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Volume II |Issue 4 2018 Religious Colombo: The Secret City Hiding in Plain Sight Catherine M. West Deakin University, Australia [email protected] Recommended Citation West, C.M. (2018) Religious Colombo: The Secret City Hiding in Plain Sight. ColomboArts Biannual Refereed Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, II (4) Available at: https://colomboarts.cmb.ac.lk/?p=416 26 ColomboArts Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities West, C.M. Deakin University Religious Colombo: The Secret City [email protected] Hiding in Plain Sight Abstract When we read and hear about Colombo, Sri Lanka, we don’t often read and hear about religion experience. However, when we step outside on to the streets of Colombo religious experience is obvious and ubiquitous. This project reviews the scholarly and anecdotal record and compares it to the social and spatial life of the contemporary inner-city. As well as temples, churches and mosques, the spatiality of religion extends to the street, markets and homes of the city: religious experience is more than worship and sanctioned ritual. It is felt through all the senses in Colombo. For example, the cool shade of a bo tree allowed to grow through the hot pavement; the colours and styles of dress; the aromas and flavours of the richly syncretic cuisine; small acts of kindness; and the sounds of observance: voices and instruments connecting the humans, their material realm and the cosmological world. When religious experience and innovation determine the spatial and the social to such a high degree, why is it that history does not acknowledge their presence? This blindness to ‘urban religion’ is evident in the literature on Colombo, but also in urban studies more generally. -
Palestinian Territories MIDDLE EAST UNITARY COUNTRY and WEST ASIA
Palestinian territories MIDDLE EAST UNITARY COUNTRY AND WEST ASIA Basic socio-economic indicators Income group - LOWER MIDDLE INCOME Local currency - Israeli new shekel (ILS) Population and geography Economic data AREA: 6 020 km2 GDP: 19.4 billion (current PPP international dollars) i.e. 4 509 dollars per inhabitant (2014) POPULATION: million inhabitants (2014), an increase 4.295 REAL GDP GROWTH: -1.5% (2014 vs 2013) of 3% per year (2010-2014) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 26.9% (2014) 2 DENSITY: 713 inhabitants/km FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, NET INFLOWS (FDI): 127 (BoP, current USD millions, 2014) URBAN POPULATION: 75.3% of national population GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION (GFCF): 18.6% of GDP (2014) CAPITAL CITY: Ramallah (2% of national population) HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX: 0.677 (medium), rank 113 Sources: World Bank; UNDP-HDR, ILO Territorial organisation and subnational government RESPONSIBILITIES MUNICIPAL LEVEL INTERMEDIATE LEVEL REGIONAL OR STATE LEVEL TOTAL NUMBER OF SNGs 483 - - 483 Local governments - Municipalities (baladiyeh) Average municipal size: 8 892 inhabitantS Main features of territorial organisation. The Palestinian Authority was born from the Oslo Agreements. Palestine is divided into two main geographical units: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is still an ongoing State construction. The official government of Cisjordania is governed by a President, while the Gaza area is governed by the Hamas. Up to now, most governmental functions are ensured by the State of Israel. In 1994, and upon the establishment of the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government (MoLG), 483 local government units were created, encompassing 103 municipalities and village councils and small clusters. Besides, 16 governorates are also established as deconcentrated level of government. -
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Biomed Central
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine BioMed Central Research Open Access The supernatural characters and powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land Amots Dafni* Address: Institute of Evolution, the University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel Email: Amots Dafni* - [email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 25 February 2007 Received: 29 November 2006 Accepted: 25 February 2007 Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2007, 3:10 doi:10.1186/1746-4269-3-10 This article is available from: http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/3/1/10 © 2007 Dafni; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract This article surveys the beliefs concerning the supernatural characteristics and powers of sacred trees in Israel; it is based on a field study as well as a survey of the literature and includes 118 interviews with Muslims and Druze. Both the Muslims and Druze in this study attribute supernatural dimensions to sacred trees which are directly related to ancient, deep-rooted pagan traditions. The Muslims attribute similar divine powers to sacred trees as they do to the graves of their saints; the graves and the trees are both considered to be the abode of the soul of a saint which is the source of their miraculous powers. Any violation of a sacred tree would be strictly punished while leaving the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness. The Druze, who believe in the transmigration of souls, have similar traditions concerning sacred trees but with a different religious background. -
Israel 2019 International Religious Freedom Report
ISRAEL 2019 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT Executive Summary This section covers Israel, including Jerusalem. In December 2017, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is the position of the United States that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties. The Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises no authority over Jerusalem. In March 2019, the United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. A report on the West Bank and Gaza, including areas subject to the jurisdiction of the PA, is appended at the end of this report. The country’s laws and Supreme Court rulings protect the freedoms of conscience, faith, religion, and worship, regardless of an individual’s religious affiliation, and the 1992 “Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty” protects additional individual rights. In 2018, the Knesset passed the “Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People.” According to the government, that “law determines, among other things, that the Land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people; the State of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish People, in which it realizes its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination; and exercising the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish People.” The government continued to allow controlled access to religious sites, including the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif (the site containing the foundation of the first and second Jewish temple and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque). -
Religious Fundamentalism in Eight Muslim‐
JOURNAL for the SCIENTIFIC STUDY of RELIGION Religious Fundamentalism in Eight Muslim-Majority Countries: Reconceptualization and Assessment MANSOOR MOADDEL STUART A. KARABENICK Department of Sociology Combined Program in Education and Psychology University of Maryland University of Michigan To capture the common features of diverse fundamentalist movements, overcome etymological variability, and assess predictors, religious fundamentalism is conceptualized as a set of beliefs about and attitudes toward religion, expressed in a disciplinarian deity, literalism, exclusivity, and intolerance. Evidence from representative samples of over 23,000 adults in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey supports the conclusion that fundamentalism is stronger in countries where religious liberty is lower, religion less fractionalized, state structure less fragmented, regulation of religion greater, and the national context less globalized. Among individuals within countries, fundamentalism is linked to religiosity, confidence in religious institutions, belief in religious modernity, belief in conspiracies, xenophobia, fatalism, weaker liberal values, trust in family and friends, reliance on less diverse information sources, lower socioeconomic status, and membership in an ethnic majority or dominant religion/sect. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding fundamentalism and the need for further research. Keywords: fundamentalism, Islam, Christianity, Sunni, Shia, Muslim-majority countries. INTRODUCTION -
Bernard Sabella, Bethlehem University, Palestine COMPARING PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS on SOCIETY and POLITICS: CONTEXT and RELIGION
Bernard Sabella, Bethlehem University, Palestine COMPARING PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS: CONTEXT AND RELIGION IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE Palestinian Christians, both in the Palestinian Territories (Palestine) and in Israel, number close to 180,000 altogether. Close to 50,000 of them live in the Palestinian Territories while roughly 130,000 live in Israel. In both cases, Christian Palestinians make up less than 2 percent of the overall population. In Israel, Christians make up 11% of the Arab population of over one million while in Palestine the Christians make up less than two percent (1.7%) of the entire population of three million. (1). In 1995 a survey of a national sample of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza on attitudes to society, politics and economics was conducted. It included surveying a group of 340 Christians from different localities in the West Bank and Gaza. (2). This survey provided a basis for comparing attitudes of Christians to those of their Muslim compatriots. In March 2000, a survey was conducted for the purpose of comparing the attitudes of Palestinian Christians in both Palestine and Israel. The same questionnaire was used, except for some modifications, in both the 1995 and 2000 surveys. (3). While the two surveys do not add up to a longitudinal study they, nevertheless, provide a basis to compare between two samples of Palestinian Christians in Palestine in 1995 and 2000 and between Palestinian Christians in Palestine and Israel for the year 2000. The responses of Muslim Palestinians in the 1995 survey also provide an opportunity to compare their responses with those of Christians in Israel and Palestine. -
Palestine PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY and ISRAELI-OCCUPIED TERRITORIES by Suheir Azzouni
palestine PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND ISRAELI-OCCUPIED TERRITORIES by Suheir Azzouni POPULATION: 3,933,000 GNI PER CAPITA: US$1,519 COUNTRY RATINGS 2004 2009 NONDISCRIMINATION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE: 2.6 2.6 AUTONOMY, SECURITY, AND FREEDOM OF THE PERSON: 2.7 2.4 ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: 2.8 2.9 POLITICAL RIGHTS AND CIVIC VOICE: 2.6 2.7 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS: 2.9 2.6 (COUNTRY RATINGS ARE BASED ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, WITH 1 REPRESENTING THE LOWEST AND 5 THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF FREEDOM WOMEN HAVE TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS) INTRODUCTION Palestinian women have been socially active since the beginning of the 20th century, forming charitable associations, participating in the nation- alist struggle, and working for the welfare of their community. Originally established in Jerusalem in 1921, the General Union of Palestinian Women organized women under occupation and in the Palestinian diaspora so that they could sustain communities and hold families together. The character of women’s involvement shifted in the late 1970s, as young, politically oriented women became active in the fi ght against Israeli occupation, as well as in the establishment of cooperatives, training cen- ters, and kindergartens. They formed activist women’s committees, which were able to attract members from different spheres of life and create alli- ances with international feminist organizations. Women also played an ac tive role in the fi rst intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation in 1987, further elevating their status in the society. Soon after the beginning of peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis in 1991, which resulted in the 1993 Oslo Accord, women’s organizations formed a coalition called the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) to advocate for the equal rights of women. -
After One Offering As an Experimental Course)
Proposal for Final Course Approval (after one offering as an Experimental Course) THE BASICS: Course Title: “Interfaith Leadership in Business and the Professions” (Busad 108) Proposer/Instructor: Barbara A. McGraw School/Department/Program: School of Economics and Business Administration; Management Department; Business Administration Program 1. UPPER DIVISION JUSTIFICATION: As the attached syllabus shows, this course has a rigorous schedule of readings and requires considerable engagement in discussion of those readings and associated questions throughout the semester, reflecting an in-depth study of the subject. The expectations for the course are high, as shown by the list of objectives in the syllabus (also listed below), which require high levels of cognitive and affective achievement. The course also has prerequisites in English 4 and 5, as well as one seminar course, to ensure that students are prepared for the course with argument-framing skills, coherent writing skills, and the ability to participate in engaging conversations on in-depth topics. 2. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE COURSE: This course was developed to address a need in the discipline.1 Today cross-cultural and cross-religious contacts are almost unavoidable, whether one pursues professional goals outside of the U.S. or remains in the U.S. As a consequence, it is necessary to know and respect the religious and spiritual orientations of those who we encounter in our personal and professional lives in the U.S. and abroad – and to be able to lead in religiously diverse environments. However, engagement with religion remains taboo in most professions, leading to heedless ignorance, harm to relationships, organizational dysfunction, and even litigation.