Israel and Jordan Tour August 28, 2019 Group Meeting 1 Modern Israel & Jordan Floris UMC Holy Land Pilgrimage 23 Oct. – 5 Nov. 2019 2 Israel: Diverse Geography 3 4 5 The Galilee Region • Sea of Galilee • Lake Tiberias • The Kinneret (Harp) 6 7 Jordan River Valley 8 Dead Sea: Lowest Spot on Earth 9 Jordan: Mainly Plateau Divided by Ridges & Gorges 10 Jordanian Plateau Descends to Jordan Valley 11 East Bank oF Desert 12 Jordan: Land of Contrasts 13 Snow in Amman?! Jerusalem, too 14 Who Are the Peoples We Call “Arabs”? 15 16 Palestinian Diaspora 17 18 19 No Nation-States in the Region Identity Tied to Clan, Tribe 20 World War I Ottoman Turks Allied with Germany 21 Arab Revolt Against Turks 22 Battle oF Megiddo: UK DeFeats Turks 23 24 25 Hashemite Kingdom oF Transjordan 26 Jewish Immigration Grows; Tensions Escalate 27 Independence Declared Israel Attacked by 5 Arab Nations 28 1949-1967 Building a Nation; ReFugees; Arab Hostility 29 Jordanian Succession 30 Egypt’s Nasser Threatens Attack 31 Six-Day War 1967 Israel Captures Sinai from Egypt 32 Golan Heights Seized From Syria 33 Jerusalem Old City, West Bank in Israeli Hands 34 6-Day War 1967 35 For Palestinians – More Refugees, Occupation 36 Israel vs. PLO: Security and Palestinian Rights 37 Israeli Reaction: Repression, Settlements 38 Jordan: King Hussein Expels PLO 39 October 1973: Yom Kippur War 40 Egypt, Syria Surprise Israel 41 Historic Camp David: Land For Peace 42 Intifadas: Palestinian Resentment Boils Over 43 Oslo Peace Accords 44 Israel & Jordan Sign Peace Treaty 45 Israeli Prime Minister Rabin Assassinated 46 Second Intifada 47 “The Wall” – Drastic Action Cuts Violent Attacks 48 Meanwhile: 9/11, AFghanistan, Iraq 49 PLO’s AraFat Dies; Palestinian Leadership fractures 50 Israel’s Arab Neighbors in Turmoil 51 Nuclear Iran – Israel’s Greatest fear 52 Israeli – Arab/Palestinian Enduring Issues 53 The “Two-State” Solution 54 55 West Bank, Gaza Powder Kegs 56 “The Wall” 57 Israeli Settlement Policy: Source oF U.S Frustration, Palestinian Anger 58 Jerusalem - Al Quds The Most Contested Real Estate on Earth 59 60 Jerusalem – Modern & Ancient 61 Palestinian Diaspora - Right of Return 62 Water: Scarce Commodity 63 Complex U.S. Mediator Role 64 Jordanian Society - Tensions 65 Israeli Society Study in Contrasts 66 Secular vs. Orthodox Jews 67 Israeli Economy - Booming 68 Israeli Politics 69 PM Netanyahu – Controversial Leader 70 Israeli Arabs: Citizens but Separate 71 Israelis Embody the Meaning oF the Word “Israel” 72 Questions 73 Demographics • Israel total population – 8.6 million (median age 30 yrs.) o Jewish – 6.8 million - 70% Sabra (42% - Tel Aviv area; Jerusalem 1 million) o Arab – 1.8 million - 82% Sunni Muslims; 9% Druz; 9% Christian o Other - .5 million – Cops, Armenians, Samaritans, Assyrians, etc. o About 1 million Israelis live outside Israel – mostly in the U.S. • Palestinians/West Bank – 3 million • Palestinians – Gaza – 2 million • Jordan – 10 million (4% Christian) o Palestinians (citizens) – 2 million o Refugees, other – 2 million (largest in world) 74 Party Leader Seats Conservative/Center Right Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu Binyamin Netanyahu 35 Israel Our Home Avigdor Lieberman 5 Union of Right Wing Parties Rafi Peretz 5 Kulanu Moshe Kahlon 4 Center/Left Blue & White (Center/Left) Benny Gantz 35 Labor Party Avi Gabbay 6 Meretz (SD/Green) Tamar Zandberg 4 Religious (ultra orthodox) Shas Aryeh Deri 8 United Torah/Judaism Yaakov Litzman 8 Arab United Arab List-Ta'al Mansour Abbas 4 Hadash-Ta’al (Arab/Jewish) Ayman Odeh 6 (24 parties with no Knesset representation) 75 76 Israel Invades Lebanon; PLO Flees 77 78 Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary. Jews and Christians call it the Temple Mount. Built atop Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, this Te most contested 36-acre site is the place where seminal events in Islam, Judaism and Christianity are said to have taken place, and it has been a flash point of conflict for millenniums. Many aspects of its meaning and history are still disputed by religious and political real estate on Earth? leaders, scholars, and even archaeologists. Several cycles of building and destruction have shaped what is on this hilltop today. Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine to commemorate the prophet Golden Gate (blocked) Summer Al-Kas Dome of Yusuf Agha Al-Aqsa mosque, Solomon's Muhammad’s ascension into heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. It was is regarded as a holy Pulpit is “the cup” is thought to have meaning “the farthest Stables built in the late 600s A.D. on top of the site of the Second Temple, restored by site in Judaism (arrival where the Fountain been built by Saladin, mosque,” is also are under the King Herod and destroyed by the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. of the Messiah), imam stands is an the first sultan of known as Bayt southeastern Christianity (entrance to deliver ablution Egypt and Syria, in the al-Muqaddas. Tought courtyard of the of Jesus on Palm sermons. It fountain for late 1100s afer his to have been originally Temple Mount. It is Sunday) and Islam (site was built in Muslim armies recaptured constructed in thought that the Dome of the Ascension was built by of future resurrection). the 1200s. worshipers. Palestine from the A.D. 705 atop King Crusaders, not the governor of Jerusalem in 1200. Crusaders, who had Herod’s temple Solomon, used Gates of Solomon’s conquered it 88 years extension. Much of the this area as earlier. building as it stands stables. Te area Gate of Darkness Gate of the Tribes Trone Gate of dates to its rebuilding was recently Remission Atonement afer an earthquake in converted into a Dome of al-Khalili Solomon’s 1033. Muslim prayer hall Dome NORTH for up to 7,000 Iron Gate GARDENS worshipers. Council Gate EAST GARDENS Dome of Dome of the Chain Tablets Te Single Gate (blocked) Dome of Joseph Te Triple Gate (blocked) Te Double Gate MUSLIM (blocked) QUARTER WESTERN White Cotton Tower Merchants WALL Women’s Gate Men Mosque Bab al-Silsila Women Ruined towers Minaret Te city walls were was built in Dome destroyed in an of Moses Remains of 1329. Robinson’s Arch earthquake in 1033, and a new tower was built to protect the Double Western Wall Gate entrance. Afer Jews consider the exposed JEWISH the city fell to the portion to be the closest QUARTER Crusaders, the accessible site to the holiest core Knights Templar of previous temples, and they expanded the tower and converted it into come from around the world to pray Tere is a small but growing movement among here. A separate section is reserved a massive defensible for Jewish women to pray. Jewish activists who want time and space to structure, blocking pray on the Temple Mount, or, as it is called by the Double Gate. Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary, home to the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque. Jews are allowed to enter the compound through the Mughrabi Gate, but non-Muslim prayer is forbidden. Now some Jews surreptitiously pray as they wander the grounds. Muslims warn that changing the delicate status quo could be an explosive issue. Mughrabi Gate Islamic Museum is thought to have been created in the Established by the early 1200s and named afer nearby Supreme Muslim Council residents who had come to Jerusalem in 1923, it is housed in a from Morocco. Te gate is open via a wing added by the covered wooden bridge. It is the only access to Photo reference source: Knights Templar during the al-Aqsa Mosque compound for non-Muslims. Hanan Isachar Photography their tenure in the 1100s. Five stages in the development of the Noble Sanctuary: A Muslim shrine supplants a Jewish temple Before any temple or mosque was built on Mount Moriah, there was only an outcropping of bedrock. Among the significant associations attached to the rock by various traditions are that it originated in the Garden of Eden (or that dirt from it went to the Garden of Eden), that the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from it, that Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son on it, and that it is the source of all Earth’s water. According to the Bible, King Solomon built the first temple there about 1000 B.C. 700 B.C. 168 B.C. Israel’s King Hezekiah expanded the Afer Seleucid King Antiochus IV 20 B.C. Temple Mount afer his predecessor, Epiphanes ransacked the city, he built King Herod ordered a major renovation and Ahaz, plundered the temple. He built a fortress called Akra adjacent to the 142 to 63 B.C. expansion of the Second Temple and greatly A.D. 691 the walls and platform that form the grounds and erected an altar to Zeus Under the Hasmonean Dynasty, enlarged the square. All four New Testament During the Umayyad period, the Dome of the Rock was built over courtyard. Te first temple stood until in the temple. Oppressive anti-Judaism founded by the Maccabees, the gospels tell the story of Jesus chasing money what was thought to be the innermost portion of the original Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar destroyed laws sparked the Maccabean revolt temple was “purified” and changers out of this temple. It was destroyed in temple, including the Holy of Holies, which only the high priest it in 586 B.C., and Jews built a second that Hanukkah commemorates, and restored and its platform A.D. 70 during a Roman invasion commanded by could enter. Al-Aqsa mosque was erected over part of Herod’s temple a generation later. the fortress was demolished.