Reading Reponse Week 6

http://rt.com/op-edge/final-settlement-palestinian-issue-472/

I chose to search articles from three different sources. This first one is about the demolitions of thousands of Palestinian homes throughout East Jerusalem from the news source, RT. I would like to start out with of all the media sources I ever looked at in my entire life, this is the only one I like and rely on. One, it is because they are not biased. They are not puppets of the western powers that manipulate what we see and this is why I choose to read their articles. Also they speak from the views of a Palestinian in their articles. Not only or not just interviewing an elected official from Israel. The photos they use are touching and illustrates the truth behind demolishing homes and how two percent of those thousands of homes had a published reason. We also will know that most homes did not have permits to build so this will imply that RT is neutral because they would not have mentioned this if they were biased and siding with either sides, if that makes sense.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25983130

However, look at this article. BBC has been known to be biased. If you can pinpoint the way this article is written. It is emphasizing the Israeli side of things stating that Netanyahu "gave an account of the Jewish people's deep connection to the land" while Abbas " avoiding the subject of recognising a Jewish state of Israel." This is biased in my opinion. I dislike the way that they briefly fly over this part and then just utter, he was not even trying to talk about this topic with the interviewer.

http://news.sky.com/story/1202574/israel-must-divide-ancient-west-bank-village

Then we return to take a look at Sky News, another media source whose articles are not biased such as BBC. This article is about the plans of wanting to extend the wall fragmenting more Palestinian towns and villages just as Betty spoke about last Thursday. You may read this article to decipher for yourselves.


http://news.sky.com/story/1202574/israel-must-divide-ancient-west-bank-village

Last but not least, this is an Arabic article from Sky News Arabia. They cover things that your mainstream media news do not cover. Such as support of other countries for Palestine and they are not biased in their writing. Of course I have a biased opinion though so I would lean towards reading these articles instead of the usual Fox and CNN media sources. Especially for the topic of Syria and what is going on there.

Discussion Response - Betty Herschman

I very much enjoyed the discussion with Betty from Ir Amim today. She was very informative despite the lags and cut offs of her voice due to bad internet there I am assuming. Another thing that helped a lot was the map that was presented showing that detailed layout of "settlements" and Palestinian territories.

While she was pointing out the many different areas that settlements were developed in, it just made me think again like how can Israel come and make settlements spread throughout Palestine smack dab in the middle? Everything that was laid out on that map showed clearly that everything was fragmented and staggered. There is no consistent presence of actual settlements however, with time, it is becoming more consistent especially with highways and parks just as Betty stated.

It is so nice and interesting to see people like Betty actually in Palestine working towards solutions to this long drawn out, dragged out conflict. I just kept thinking to myself, I hope to be there one day. Seeing and talking to people like Betty really motivates me a lot despite my absences from class due to my illnesses.



Final Project idea: I want to do a video and demonstration of Palestinian folk music, primarily focusing on Dabke. The traditional dance that originated from the Levant.

Reading Repsonse Ch 8-13

In chapter 11, Karen goes in to the history of the first Ka'aba in Islamic history which used to be Al-Quds and talked about the Khalifat that ruled after Rsool Allah's death (PBUH). However, when she was talking about his how Abu Bakr was his successor, and the Ummah broke apart, and Abu Bakr was trying to fight against rebel tribes. I was wondering, is she talking about when the Ummah split apart and became Shia or Sunni? I know that Imam Ali and Ahl Al-Bayt had many enemies and there was a lot of bloodshed over who would assume the position after Rsool Allah's death Alahu Assalam. I am just speaking from someone who would be Shia. I have been learning about Shia Islam and it really made me think about who exactly she was referring to about the rebel tribes. I know that the split came after but at the same time she was talking about Omar, Abu Bakr, Yazid and Muawiya, where was Imam Ali, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein? What were they doing? Did they have any impact on Jerusalem as well? Did they ever go there too?

Then moving on to chapter 13, Karen stated that by now the Muslimeen had developed a system where all three religions could live among each other in Al-Quds. Then after some pages, there came a little information that mentioned "Shii". The Fatimid Caliphate, which are descendents of Seyadtna Fatima Alaiha Assalam, Rsool Allah's daughter. You might be wondering why I am speaking this way about Shia. I respect their values and their beliefs just as I would respect any other religion. Shia are Muslims and we all read the same Quran and go to the same place for Hajj. Karen stated in her book that the Shiite ideals were to conquer the entire Islamic World and crack down on teachings of the Sunnah. I am not sure if this is true. Shia Muslims follow Sunnah. Maybe back then it was different but they follow Sunnah. In fact, they take Sunnah very serious. From dissecting how Rsool Allah did things and to how he treated Imam Ali.


These things really made me think more and associate my response with Shia Islam. After reading these chapters, I felt as if this history became bias about Islam but I have yet to know about what other relationships did Shia Muslims have with Al-Quds.

Tina