Challenges for Religions in

Southwest Asia

Intense religious disputes in Central and Southwest Asia have become entwined with ethnic and political conflicts, as discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. Two particular conflicts with religious undertones are discussed here. Ethnic and political dimensions of these regions’ conflicts are discussed in Chapters 7 and 8.

Jews, Christians, & Muslims in the Eastern Mediterranean

Conflict in the portion of Southwest Asia often referred to as the Middle East or the Eastern Mediterranean is among the world’s longest standing and most intractable. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have fought for many centuries to control the same small strip of land.

To some extent, tensions among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle East stem from their shared heritage. All three groups trace their origins to Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, and all three religions have strong connections to Jerusalem.

Judaism considers the land of Israel to be holy and Jerusalem its holiest city. The major events in the development of Judaism took place there, and the religion’s customs and rituals acquired meaning from the agricultural life of the ancient Israelite tribes. Descendants of 10 of Jacob’s sons, plus two of his grandsons, constituted the 12 tribes of Israelites who escaped slavery in Egypt according to the Book of Exodus. Around 3,000 years ago, David established the Kingdom of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital.

Jerusalem, Israel

Mahane Yehuda Market.

After the Romans gained control of this land, which they later renamed the province of Palestine, they expelled most of the Jews, and only a minority of Jews were able to live in the region until the twentieth century. While small numbers of Jews returned to the land over the centuries, Jews around the world maintained a strong connection to the land through the Hebrew Bible and daily prayers oriented to Jerusalem.

Christianity considers this area to be the Holy Land and Jerusalem the Holy City because the major events in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection were concentrated there. Most inhabitants of Palestine accepted Christianity after the religion was officially adopted by the Roman Empire.

In the seventh century C.E., Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula came and captured most of the Middle East, including Palestine and Jerusalem. The Arab Islamic presence diffused the Arabic language across the Middle East and subsequently converted most of the people in that region from Christianity to Islam. Muslims regard Jerusalem as their third-holiest city, after Makkah and Madinah, because it is the place from which Muhammad is thought by Muslims to have ascended to heaven.

To recapture the Holy Land from its Islamic conquerors, European Christians launched a series of military campaigns, known as Crusades, over a 200-year period. Crusaders captured Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099 during the First Crusade, lost it in 1187 (which led to the Third Crusade), regained it in 1229 as part of a treaty ending the Sixth Crusade, and lost it again in 1244. The Crusades ended when the Muslims defeated the Christians in 1291 at Acre, the last Christian stronghold.

The Islamic Ottoman Empire controlled the Palestine region for most of the four centuries between 1516 and 1917. Inspired by other nationalist movements and the rise of anti-Semitism in the late nineteenth century, Jews began returning in larger numbers to their historic homeland. Upon the Ottoman Empire’s defeat in World War I, the United Kingdom took over Palestine, under a mandate from the League of Nations.

For a few years, the British allowed some Jews to return to the Palestine Mandate, but immigration was restricted again during the 1930s, in response to intense pressure by Arabs in the region. As violence initiated by both Jewish and Islamic settlers escalated after World War II, the British announced their intention to withdraw from Palestine, setting the scene for the region’s contemporary disputes.

Pause & Reflect 6.4.2

How does the market street in Jerusalem differ from where you get your food?

Arab-Israeli Wars

The conflict in the Middle East is now played out primarily among various countries and groups of people aspiring to control territory. But differences in religious traditions and their uses in nationalist ideologies underlie the origins of the conflicts and the challenges in peacefully resolving them.

The United Nations voted in 1947 to partition the U.K. Palestine Mandate into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab. Jerusalem was to be an international city, open to all religions, and run by the U.N. (Figure 6-66a). When the British withdrew in 1948, Jews declared an independent State of Israel within the boundaries prescribed by the U.N. resolution. Over the next quarter-century, neighboring Arab states fought four wars with Israel.

Territorial Changes in Israel and its Neighbors

(a) The 1947 U.N. Partition Plan, (b) After the 1948-49 War, and (c) After the 1967 Six-Day War. The current status of the West Bank is shown in more detail in Figure 6-68.

1948–1949 War

The day after Israel declared independence, five Arab states (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) began a war. Israel survived the attack, and the combatants signed an armistice in 1949. Israel’s boundaries were extended beyond the U.N. partition, including the western suburbs of Jerusalem. Jordan gained control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City, where holy places are clustered. Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip (Figure 6-66b).

1956 Suez War

Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, a key shipping route between Europe and Asia, that had been built and controlled up until then by France and the United Kingdom. Egypt also blockaded international waterways near its shores that Israeli ships were using. Israel, France, and the United Kingdom attacked Egypt and got the waterways reopened, although Egypt retained control of the Suez Canal.

1967 Six-Day War

Israel’s neighbors massed a quarter-million troops along the borders and again blocked Israeli ships from using international waterways. In retaliation, Israel launched a surprise attack, destroying the coalition’s air forces. Israel captured territory (Figure 6-66c):

• From Jordan, the Old City of Jerusalem and the West Bank (the territory west of the Jordan River taken by Jordan in the 1948–1949 war).

• From Syria, the Golan Heights.

• From Egypt, the Gaza Strip (taken by Egypt in the 1948-1949 war) and the Sinai Peninsula.

1973 Yom Kippur War

A surprise attack on Israel by its neighbors took place on the holiest day of the year for Jews. The war ended without a change in territorial control.

Peace Treaty

Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace treaty in 1979, following a series of meetings with U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and in return Egypt recognized Israel’s right to exist. Sadat was assassinated by Egyptian soldiers, who were extremist Muslims opposed to compromising with Israel, but his successor Hosni Mubarak carried out the terms of the treaty. In 2005, Israel withdrew completely from Gaza, leaving it under Palestinian control. Over a half-century after the Six-Day War, the status of other territories controlled by Israel has not been settled.