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Jewish History Job Candidates• Amos Bitzan, “Reading the Talmud like Rousseau's 'Julie':
How Female Pleasure Readers and their Critics Transformed Modern Judaism, 1770-1870” (Tues, 22 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 211)
• Liora Halperin, “Babel in Zion: Hebrew and the Politics of Language Diversity in Mandate Palestine” (Mon, 28 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 141)
• Jessica Marglin, title TBA (Tues, 5 Feb, 5pm, HLMS 201)• Saskia Coenen Snyder, title TBA (Tues, 12 Feb, 5pm,
HLMS 201)
Reading Maps of Israel and Palestine
• Themes:– Sacred claims to territory
– Erasure
– Palestinian homeland(s)
– Weapons
– Vulnerability
Mapai Poster(early 1950s)
• “Growth under Siege”
• Depicts Israel under attack from all sides
• Perceived threats from land, sea, & air
Vulnerability (Israeli)
Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 813-814.
Likud Election Poster (1981)
• “Likud will prevent this! 2.5 million Israelis are within firing range if an ‘Arafat state’ is founded.”
• Depicts serious threat due to Israel’s lack of strategic depth
Vulnerability (Israeli)
Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 823-825.
Original source unknown (2000s, revised 2010)
• “Loss of Land” over time
Vulnerability (Palestinian)
Original source unknown (2007)
• “Map of occupation” coupled with iconic images
• Roughly same dates as previous poster
Vulnerability (Palestinian)
Original source unknown (2009)
• “Stealing of Pal. Land by the Zionist State”
• Emphatic coloring
Vulnerability (Palestinian)
Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)
• Size comparisons to European and South American countries, and the US and US states (plus Turkey and India)
Vulnerability (Israeli)
Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)
• Size comparisons emphasize Israel’s smallness
Vulnerability (Israeli)
Zionist PR FirmPoster (~2004)
• “Israel is tiny! . . . . Imagine living in New Jersey while most people living in the other 49 states want to see you destroyed.”
Vulnerability (Israeli)
Conclusions
• Maps used by range of Israeli and Palestinian groups to convey their arguments
• Images of the same (or roughly the same) territory or iconography can be used to support opposing arguments
• Groups on both sides address both internal and external audiences
Conclusions
• Hobsbawm:– many national symbols are “invented
traditions”
– Invented traditions use history as legitmator
Conclusions
• Nations claim to be natural and ancient, but are constructed and new
• Maps help construct the nation
Religious Narratives
• Narratives can be constructed to serve specific goals
– via invention of tradition (Hobsbawm)
– via remembering and forgetting (Renan)
• Role of religion in narratives re conflict
Arguments
• Can’t generalize re Jewish, Muslim, or Christian views
• Religion plays a role in how (some) people think about this conflict
Intro: Judaism
• Rabbis interpret God’s instructions
• Torah = “teachings”
– “Promised land” given to Jews
Intro: Judaism
• 1st c CE: Roman dispersion of Jews
• Jewish diaspora: W Asia, N Africa, Europe
• Oral tradition (Mishnah) and commentary (Gemara) form Talmud (intstruction)
Intro: Christianity
• Based on teachings of Jesus Christ
• Christ both divine and human
• Christ’s death and resurrection provided salvation and eternal life
Intro: Christianity
• 1st three centuries: spread into W Asia, N Africa, and Europe
• Bible = Old and New Testament
Intro: Christianity
• Holy Land and esp. Jerusalem sacred
• Birth in Bethlehem
• Miracles at Galilee
• Death and resurrection at site of Church of Holy Sepulchre
Country2009 Muslim Population
Percentage of Muslims
Indonesia 202,867,092 88.2%Pakistan 174,082,000 96.3%India 160,945,000 13.4%Bangladesh 145,312,000 89.6%Egypt 78,513,000 94.6%Nigeria 78,056,000 50.4%Iran 73,777,000 99.4%Turkey 73,619,000 ~98%Algeria 34,199,000 98.0%Morocco 31,993,000 ~99%
Intro: Islam
• Spread from 7th c. on through W Asia, N Africa, parts of Europe
• Five central requirements:
– Faith
– Prayer
– Zakat [alms]
– Fasting
– Hajj [pilgrimage]
British Perceptions of Islam
• British concerns about Muslim violence
• Fears of fanaticism and jihad
• But Islam not monolithic