1.
Hassan Nasrallah
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Nasrallah is often referred to as al-Sayyid Hassan, the honorific Sayyid denoting descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husain ibn Ali. Under his tenor, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization, either wholly or in part, by the United States, Hasan Nasrallah was born the ninth of ten children into a Shia family in Bourj Hammoud, Matn District on 31 August 1960. His father, Abdul Karim, was born in Bazourieh, a village in Jabal Amel located near Tyre, although his family was not particularly religious, Hassan was interested in theological studies. He attended an-Najah school and later a school in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Sin el Fil Beirut. Here he attended school, and briefly joined the Amal Movement. Nasrallah studied at the Shia seminary in the Beqaa Valley town of Baalbek, the school followed the teachings of Iraqi-born Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, who founded the Dawa movement in Najaf, Iraq during the early 1960s. Subsequently, he went for a period of Islamic study at a Shiite seminary in Najaf, around the same time, in 1980, Saddam Hussein had Sadr executed. Nasrallah joined Hezbollah after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and he became noted for his sharp and fiery sermons. In 1989, Hassan Nasrallah traveled to Qom, Iran, where he furthered his religious studies, islam is a religion designed for a society that can revolt and build a community. In 1991, Abbas al-Musawi became secretary general of Hezbollah and Nasrallah returned to Lebanon, Nasrallah replaced Musawi as Hezbollahs leader after the latter was killed by an Israeli airstrike. Nasrallah lived in South Beirut with his wife Fatimah Yasin and five children, Muhammad Hadi, Muhammad Javed, Zainab, Muhammad Ali, Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah after the Israelis assassinated the previous leader, Musawi, in 1992. During Nasrallahs leadership, Hezbollah acquired rockets with a longer range, in 1993 Israel carried out Operation Accountability. Much Lebanese infrastructure was destroyed during the operation, which Israel claimed was successful, an agreement was eventually reached whereby, Israel ended its attacks in Lebanon and Hezbollah agreed to stop attacks on northern Israel. However, after a pause, hostilities resumed. In 1996 Israel launched Operation Grapes of Wrath, blocking important Lebanese harbour cities, after 16 days of Israeli attacks in Lebanon, the Israeli–Lebanese Ceasefire Understanding was agreed upon. Again, Hezbollah agreed to stop rocket attacks in exchange for Israel halting its attacks, however, as in 1993, the peace did not last for long. After heavy Israeli casualties in south lebanon, some Israeli politicians argued that the conflict would end if Israel withdrew from Lebanon. In 2000 Ehud Barak finally withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon, following the Israeli withdrawal, the South Lebanon Army, which was supported by Israel, was quickly overrun by Hezbollah
2.
Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
3.
Nabatieh Governorate
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Nabatieh Governorate is one of the six governorates of Lebanon. The area of this governorate is 1,058 km², the governorate is divided into four districts containing 116 municipalities. 7%, Sunnis are next, at 7. 1%, and Druze were 3. 2%
4.
Lebanese nationality law
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Lebanese nationality law is the law governing the acquisition, transmission and loss of Lebanese citizenship. Lebanese citizenship is the status of being a citizen of the Republic of Lebanon, the Lebanese nationality is transmitted by paternity. Therefore, a Lebanese man who holds Lebanese citizenship can automatically confer citizenship to his children, under the current law, descendants of Lebanese emigrants can only receive citizenship from their father and women cannot pass on citizenship neither to their children nor foreign spouses. The code covering the Lebanese nationality was issued in 1926, according to the Lebanese Ministry for Migration, there has been no restriction on multiple citizenship in The Republic of Lebanon since 1 January 1926. Thus, foreigners who acquire Lebanese citizenship and Lebanese citizens who acquire another citizenship keep their previous citizenship. Since many nationality laws now allow both parents to transmit their nationality to their child, many children automatically acquire multiple citizenship at birth. However, the Lebanese Ministry for Migration specially notes that this has not resulted in any practical problems worth mentioning, military service, the most likely problem to arise, is usually done in the country where the applicant resides at the time of conscription. For instance, a dual Lebanese-Armenian national must do his service in Armenia. All male dual citizens regardless where they live are required to serve in the military as if they were Armenian resident citizen with certain exceptions, most male Armenian citizens living outside of Armenia do not return to serve in the military. Lebanon previously had mandatory military service for men only, all men were required to do 1 year of military service through age 18+. Training was only done whenever they had time or time off school including summer vacations. There were also training done alongside high school, on May 4,2005, a new conscription system was adopted, making for a six-month service, and pledging to end conscription within two years. As of February 10,2007 mandatory military service no longer exists in Lebanon thus making it a conscription-free all-volunteer force, therefore, Jus soli does not apply. A child whose Lebanese citizenship depends on paternal links loses citizenship when those are cut, a Lebanese child adopted by foreign parents is considered to have lost Lebanese citizenship. Where a former Lebanese citizen lost citizenship due to adoption by foreign parents and that adoption is later annulled, there is a public demand for giving the opportunity for Lebanese women to transmit their Lebanese nationality to their children and also to their husbands. Moreover, the Lebanese citizenship to be given to the 8-14 million diaspora of Lebanese living all over the world, on 12 November 2015, the Lebanese Parliament approved a raft of draft laws Thursday, including a law allowing foreigners of Lebanese origin to get citizenship. On 5 May 2016, the Gebran Bassil, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, however, the law would allow only grandchildren of Lebanese paternal grandfathers but not grandchildren of Lebanese maternal grandmothers to apply for citizenship. Article I Every natural person who meets one of the two eligibility requirements has the right to reclaim his/her Lebanese nationality
5.
Clergy
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Clergy are some of the main and important formal leaders within certain religions. The roles and functions of clergy vary in different religious traditions but these usually involve presiding over specific rituals, some of the terms used for individual clergy are cleric, clergyman, clergywoman, clergyperson and churchman. In Islam, a leader is often known formally or informally as an imam, mufti. In Jewish tradition, a leader is often a rabbi or hazzan. Cleric comes from the ecclesiastical Latin clericus, for belonging to the priestly class. This is from the Ecclesiastical Greek clericus, meaning appertaining to an inheritance, Clergy is from two Old French words, clergié and clergie, which refer to those with learning and derive from Medieval Latin clericatus, from Late Latin clericus. Clerk, which used to mean one ordained to the ministry, in the Middle Ages, reading and writing were almost exclusively the domain of the priestly class, and this is the reason for the close relationship of these words. Now, the state is tied to reception of the diaconate. Minor Orders are still given in the Eastern Catholic Churches, and it is in this sense that the word entered the Arabic language, most commonly in Lebanon from the French, as kleriki meaning seminarian. This is all in keeping with Eastern Orthodox concepts of clergy, which include those who have not yet received, or do not plan to receive. A priesthood is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have religious authority or function. Buddhist clergy are often referred to as the Sangha. This diversity of monastic orders and styles was originally one community founded by Gautama Buddha during the 5th century BC living under a set of rules. The interaction between Buddhism and Tibetan Bon led to a uniquely Tibetan Buddhism, within which various sects, similarly, the interaction between Indian Buddhist monks and Chinese Confucian and Taoist monks from c200-c900AD produced the distinctive Chan Buddhism. In these ways, manual labour was introduced to a practice where monks originally survived on alms, layers of garments were added where originally a single thin robe sufficed and this adaptation of form and roles of Buddhist monastic practice continued after the transmission to Japan. For example, monks took on administrative functions for the Emperor in particular secular communities, again, in response to various historic attempts to suppress Buddhism, the practice of celibacy was relaxed and Japanese monks allowed to marry. This form was then transmitted to Korea, during later Japanese occupation, as these varied styles of Buddhist monasticism are transmitted to Western cultures, still more new forms are being created. This broad difference in approach led to a schism among Buddhist monastics in about the 4th century BCE
6.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
7.
Lebanese people
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The Lebanese people are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The religious groups among the Lebanese people are Shias, Sunnis, Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Druze, Melkites, there is a large diaspora in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa. The term may include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. As the relative proportion of the various sects is politically sensitive and it is therefore difficult to have an exact demographic analysis of Lebanese society. The largest concentration of people of Lebanese ancestry may be in Brazil having a population of 5. The Lebanese have always traveled the world, many of them settling permanently, descendants of Lebanese Christians make up the majority of Lebanese people worldwide, appearing principally in the diaspora. As the second of two languages of Judaism, Aramaic was also retained as a language in the sphere of religion among Lebanese Jews. Arab influence, nevertheless, applies to all aspects of the modern Lebanese culture. The total population of Lebanese people is estimated at 13-18 million, of these, the vast majority, or 8.6 -14 million, are in the Lebanese diaspora, and approximately 4.3 million in Lebanon itself. There are approximately 4.3 million Lebanese people in Lebanon, in addition to this figure, there are an additional 1 million foreign workers, mainly Syrians and about 400,000 Palestinian refugees in the nation. Lebanon is also a multi-ethnic society, prominent ethnic minorities in the country include the Armenians, the Kurds, the Turks, the Assyrians, the Iranians and many European ethnicities. The Lebanese diaspora consists of approximately 8.6 -14 million, the majority of the Lebanese in the diaspora are Christians, disproportionately so in the Americas where the vast majority reside. An estimate figure show that they represent about 75% of the Lebanese in total, Lebanese abroad are considered rich, educated and influential and over the course of time immigration has yielded Lebanese commercial networks throughout the world. The largest number of Lebanese is to be found in Brazil, in the rest of the Americas, significant communities are found in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela, with almost every other Latin American country having at least a small presence. In Africa, Ghana and the Ivory Coast are home to over 100,000 Lebanese, there are significant Lebanese populations in other countries throughout Western and Central Africa. Australia hosts over 180,000 and Canada 250,000, in the Arab world, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf harbour around 400,000 Lebanese. Lebanese people also can be found in all of the 28 member states of the European Union, more than 2,500 ex-SLA members remain in Israel. They are denoted ** for this purpose, Lebanon has several different main religions
8.
Shia Islam in Lebanon
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Shia Islam in Lebanon has a history of more than a millennium. According to CIA study, Lebanese Shia Muslims constitute 27% of Lebanons population of approximately 4.3 million, according to other sources the Lebanese Shia Muslims constitute approximately 40% of the entire population. Most of its adherents live in the northern and western area of the Beqaa Valley, Southern Lebanon, the great majority of Shia Muslims in Lebanon are Twelvers, with an Alawite minority numbering in the tens of thousands in north Lebanon. Few Ismailis remain in Lebanon today, though the quasi-Muslim Druze sect, there is no distinct pattern that shows that one community carries significantly more Phoenician than another. Haplogroup J2 is also a significant marker in throughout Lebanon and this marker found in many inhabitants of Lebanon, regardless of religion, signals pre-Arab descendants, including the Phoenicians. These genetic studies show us there is no significant differences between the Muslims and non-Muslims of Lebanon, genealogical DNA testing has shown that 24. 8% of Lebanese Muslims belong to the Y-DNA haplogroup J1. Although there is common ancestral roots, these show a very small difference was found between Muslims and non-Muslims in Lebanon, of whom only 17. 1% have this haplotype. On the other hand, only 4. 7% of all Lebanese Muslims belong to haplogroup R1b, many historians claim that Shiism entered Lebanon in the 7th century A. D. with the emergence and growth of Islam. The emergence of the Lebanese Shia community began with the entrance of the companion of the Prophet. After having been banished from Medina by the Umayyads for opposing their reign, Abu Dharr moved into Lebanon, there are two Shia shrines to Abu Dhar in Lebanon — in Sarepta and Meiss al-Jabal. A Shia emirate was established in Keserwan a mountain overlooking the coastal area north of Beirut. The growth of Shia Islam in Lebanon stopped around the thirteenth century. Keserwan began to lose its Shia character under the Assaf Sunni Turkomans whom the Mamluks appointed as overlords of the area in 1306, when in 1605 the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din Man II took over Kesrewan, he entrusted its management to the Khazin Maronite family. The Khazins gradually colonized Kesrewan, purchasing Shia lands and founding churches and monasteries and they emerged as the predominant authority in the region at the expense of the Shia Hamedeh clan. By the end of the century, the Khazins owned Kesrewan. During the time of the Ottoman Empire the Shias suffered religious persecution and were forced to flee their homes in search of refuge in the South. One example is the Lebanese city of Tripoli, which had formerly had a Shia Muslim majority, many Lebanese Shia are rumored to have concealed their religious sect and acted as Sunni Muslims in fear of persecution. It is also rumored that some of the Shia permanently adopted the Sunni Muslim sect, the Ottomans and Druze were well allied and a Druze family seized power of Tripoli
9.
Hezbollah
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Hezbollah —also transliterated Hizbullah, Hizballah, etc. —is a Shia Islamist militant group and political party based in Lebanon. Hezbollahs paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its wing is Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese parliament. After the death of Abbas al-Musawi in 1992, the group has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by Iran primarily to harass the Israeli occupation. Hezbollah waged a campaign in South Lebanon and as a result, Israel withdrew from Lebanon on May 24,2000. Backed by Iran, Hezbollah fighters fought against Serbian forces during the Bosnian War, Hezbollahs military strength has grown so significantly that its paramilitary wing is considered more powerful than the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah is part of the March 8 Alliance within Lebanon, in opposition to the March 14 Alliance, Hezbollah maintains strong support among Lebanons Shia population, while Sunnis have disagreed with the groups agenda. Hezbollah receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran, Hezbollah and Israel fought each other in the 2006 Lebanon War. It has deployed its militia in both Syria and Iraq to fight or train local forces to fight against ISIS, Hezbollahs status as a legitimate political party, a terrorist group, a resistance movement, or some combination thereof is a contentious issue. The Arab League, United States, France, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the European Union, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have proscribed Hezbollahs military wing as a terrorist organization, while making a distinction with Hezbollahs political wing. Russia considers Hezbollah a legitimate sociopolitical organization, the Peoples Republic of China remains neutral, and maintains contacts with Hezbollah. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israel occupied a strip of south Lebanon, which was controlled by the South Lebanon Army, Hezbollah was conceived by Muslim clerics and funded by Iran primarily to harass the Israeli occupation. Scholars differ as to when Hezbollah came to be a distinct entity, another version states that it was formed by supporters of Sheikh Ragheb Harb, a leader of the southern Shia resistance killed by Israel in 1984. These designations are considered to be synonymous with Hezbollah by the US, Israel, Hezbollah emerged in South Lebanon during a consolidation of Shia militias as a rival to the older Amal Movement. Hezbollah played a significant role in the Lebanese civil war, opposing American forces in 1982–83 and opposing Amal, however, Hezbollahs early primary focus was ending Israels occupation of southern Lebanon following Israels 1982 invasion and siege of Beirut. Amal, the main Lebanese Shia political group, initiated guerrilla warfare, in 2006, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak stated, When we entered Lebanon … there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted with perfumed rice and flowers by the Shia in the south and it was our presence there that created Hezbollah. Hezbollah waged a war using suicide attacks against the Israel Defense Forces. Hezbollah also employed more conventional military tactics and weaponry, notably Katyusha rockets, in the 1990s, Hezbollah transformed from a revolutionary group into a political one, in a process which is described as the Lebanonisation of Hezbollah
10.
Israel Defense Forces
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The Israel Defense Forces, commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the forces, air force, and navy. It is the military wing of the Israeli security forces. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel, Lieutenant general Gadi Eizenkot has served as Chief of Staff since 2015. The number of wars and border conflicts in which the IDF has been involved in its history makes it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world. The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, differences include the mandatory conscription of women and its structure, which emphasizes close relations between the army, navy, and air force. Since its founding, the IDF has been designed to match Israels unique security situation. The IDF is one of Israeli societys most prominent institutions, influencing the economy, culture. In 1965, the Israel Defense Forces was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to education, the Uzi submachine gun was invented in Israel and used by the IDF until December 2003, ending a service that began in 1954. The Israeli cabinet ratified the name Israel Defense Forces, Tzva HaHagana LeYisrael, literally army for the defense of Israel, the other main contender was Tzva Yisrael. The name was chosen because it conveyed the idea that the role was defense, and because it incorporated the name Haganah. Among the primary opponents of the name were Minister Haim-Moshe Shapira, the IDF traces its roots to Jewish paramilitary organizations in the New Yishuv, starting with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a defense force after the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine with an organized structure. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, the IDF was founded following the establishment of the State of Israel, after Defense Minister and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion issued an order on 26 May 1948. The order called for the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces, although Ben-Gurion had no legal authority to issue such an order, the order was made legal by the cabinet on 31 May
11.
Beqaa Valley
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The Beqaa Valley, also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ and Becaa and known in Classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanons most important farming region, industry also flourishes in Beqaa, especially that related to agriculture. The Beqaa is located about 30 km east of Beirut, the valley is situated between Mount Lebanon to the west and Anti-Lebanon mountains to the east. It forms the northeasternmost extension of the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from Syria to the Red Sea, Beqaa Valley is 120 kilometres long and an average 16 kilometres wide on average. It has a Mediterranean climate of wet, often snowy winters and dry, the region receives limited rainfall, particularly in the north, because Mount Lebanon creates a rain shadow that blocks precipitation coming from the sea. The northern section has an annual rainfall of 230 millimetres ). Two rivers originate in the valley, the Orontes, which flows north into Syria and Turkey, and the Litani, which flows south and then west to the Mediterranean Sea. From the 1st century BC, when the region was part of the Roman Empire, today the valley makes up 40 percent of Lebanons arable land. The northern end of the valley, with its scarce rainfall and less fertile soils, is used primarily as grazing land by pastoral nomads, farther south, more fertile soils support crops of wheat, corn, cotton, and vegetables, with vineyards and orchards centered on Zahlé. The valley also produces hashish and cultivates opium poppies, which are exported as part of the drug trade. Since 1957 the Litani hydroelectricity project—a series of canals and a dam located at Lake Qaraoun in the end of the valley—has improved irrigation to farms in Beqaa Valley. Zahlé is the largest city and the capital of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies just north of the main Beirut–Damascus highway, which bisects the valley, the majority of Zahlés residents are Lebanese Christian, including those who are Melkite Greek Catholic, Maronite Catholic, and Greek Orthodox Christians. The town of Anjar, situated in the part of the valley, has a predominately Armenian Lebanese population and is also famous for its 8th-century Arab ruins. The majority of the inhabitants of the districts of Beqaa, Baalbek and Hermel, are Lebanese Shia, with the exception of the town of Deir el Ahmar. The Baalbeck and Hermel districts have a Christian and Sunni minority, the western and southern districts of the valley also have a mixed population of Muslims, Christians and also Druze. The town of Jib Janine with a population of about 9,000, is situated midway in the valley, Jib Janine is the governmental center of the region known as Western Beqaa, with municipal services like the emergency medical services, a fire department, and a courthouse. Other towns in the Western Beqaa district are Machghara, Sabghine, Kamed al Lawz, Qab Elias and these towns are all a mix of different Lebanese religious confessions
12.
Najaf
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Najaf is a city in central Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2013 was 1,000,000 people and it is the capital of Najaf Governorate. It is widely considered the third holiest city of Shia Islam, the Shia world’s spiritual capital, Najaf is considered sacred by Shia Muslims. Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Hazrat Alī ibn Abī Tālib, sunnis consider Ali the fourth Rashidun. The city is now a center of pilgrimage throughout the Shia Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims, as the burial site of Shia Islams second most important figure, the Imam Ali Mosque is considered by Shiites as the third holiest Islamic site. The Imam Ali Mosque is housed in a structure with a gold gilded dome. Nearby is the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery, which is the largest cemetery in the world and it contains the tombs of several prophets and many of the devout from around the world aspire to be buried there, to be raised from the dead with Imām Alī on Judgement Day. Over the centuries, numerous hospices, schools, libraries and Sufi convents were built around the shrine to make the city the center of Shīʻa learning, the Najaf seminary is one of the most important teaching centres in the Islamic world. Ayatollah Khomeini lectured there from 1964 to 1978, many of the leading figures of the new Islamic movement that emerged in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon in the 1970s had studied at Najaf. This climate is considered to be BWh according to the Köppen climate classification, the average annual temperature is 23.6 °C. The rainfall here averages 97 mm, the Najaf area is located 30 km south of the ancient city of Babylon and 400 km north of the ancient Biblical city of Ur. Archaeological discoveries show the existence of a populace dating back to the times of Jesus, Najaf possesses one of the largest burial grounds in the vicinity for Christians. The centuries following have proven this to also be a city that possessed a multicultural and we have found indications of Christianity on the graves through representations of crosses and stones with Christ-like engravings. There are also relics that date back to the pre-Islamic Sassanid period, also discovered in the excavation was proof of a thriving glass industry. Pots were decorated with the cross, as well as Hebrew writings, indicating a community of religious coexistence. According to legend, the body of Ali was placed on a camel which was driven from Kufa. The camel stopped a few miles west of the city where the body was secretly buried, no tomb was raised and nobody knew of the burial place except for a few trusted people
13.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
14.
Ruhollah Khomeini
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Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian Shia Muslim religious leader, philosopher, revolutionary and politician. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and he was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June,1989. Khomeini was a marja in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih and author of more than 40 books and he spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last Shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of velayat-e faqih and this principle, was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum. According to New York Times, Khomeini called democracy the equivalent of prostitution, whether Khomeinis ideas are compatible with democracy and whether he intended the Islamic Republic to be democratic is disputed. He was named Man of the Year in 1979 by American news magazine TIME for his international influence, in 1982, Khomeini survived one military coup attempt. Khomeini held the title of Grand Ayatollah and is known as Imam Khomeini inside Iran. He is generally referred to as Ayatollah Khomeini by others, in Iran, his gold-domed tomb in Tehrāns Behesht-e Zahrāʾ cemetery has become a shrine for his supporters, and he is legally considered inviolable, with Iranians regularly punished for insulting him. During their rule they extensively invited, and received, a stream of Persian scholars, poets, jurists, architects. The family eventually settled in the town of Kintoor, just outside Lucknow. Ayatollah Khomeinis paternal grandfather, Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi, was born in Kintoor and he left Lucknow in 1830, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Imam Ali in Najaf, Ottoman Iraq and never returned. According to Moin, this migration was to escape from the spread of British power in India, in 1834 Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi visited Persia, and in 1839 he settled in Khomein. Although he stayed and settled in Iran, he continued to be known as Hindi, indicating his stay in India, there are also claims that Seyyed Ahmad Musavi Hindi departed from Kashmir, instead of Lucknow. Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, whose name means spirit of God, was born on 22 or 24 September 1902 in Khomeyn, Markazi Province. He was raised by his mother, Hajieh Agha Khanum, and his aunt, Sahebeth, following the murder of his father, Seyed Mostafa Hindi, Ruhollah began to study the Quran and elementary Persian at the age of six. The following year, he began to attend a school, where he learned religion, noheh khani. Throughout his childhood, he continued his religious education with the assistance of his relatives, including his mothers cousin, Jafar, after World War I arrangements were made for him to study at the Islamic seminary in Esfahan, but he was attracted instead to the seminary in Arak. He was placed under the leadership of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi, in 1920, Khomeini moved to Arak and commenced his studies
15.
Hawza
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A Hawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary where Shia Muslim clerics are trained. Several senior Grand Ayatollahs constitute the hawza, the institutions in Najaf, Iraq and Qom, Iran, are the preeminent seminary centers for the training of Shia clergymen. Hawza Ilmiyya in Najaf, Iraq was established in 430 AH by Shaykh al-Tusi, at present Ayatollah Sistani heads Hawza Ilmiyya Najaf, which includes three other Ayatollahs - Mohammad Ishaq Al-Fayyad, Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim and Bashir al-Najafi. The famous teachers of that era included Mulla Sadra and Shaykh Bahai, the modern Qom hawza was revitalized by Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi and Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi and is barely a century old. There are nearly three hundred thousand clerics in Iran’s seminaries, there are also a number of womens hawza, mostly located in Iran. Already in the early 1800s, the Salehiyya madrasa in Qazvin ran a section where several lady mujtahids were trained. In Qom, the earliest seminary for women was established by grand ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari who in 1973 added a section to his hawza Dar al-Tabligh. Next, the Haghani school opened a wing in 1974/75. Outside Qom, womens seminaries included Maktab-e Fatema of Fasa, Maktab-e Zahra of Shiraz, Maktab-e Fatimah of Isfahan, Zahra-i Athar of Tehran, after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the state began to centralize the womens hawza system. The womens seminaries in Qom were centralized into one large school, in Khorasan with its clerical center of Mashhad, the womens maktabs came under the aegis of the state-run Centre for Management of Women’s Seminaries of Khorasan. In the rest of the country, womens seminaries were integrated into the Centre for Management of Women’s Seminaries, since the mid-1990s the latter center has established more than 300 seminaries across Iran. Hawza students begin their studies by learning fiqh, kalam, hadith, tafsir, philosophy, natural, once these studies have been completed, they may begin preparation to become a mujtahid by studying advanced old textbooks known as sath, and research courses known as kharij. To be a one has to excel in the advanced levels of the Hawza including Muqaddimmaat, Sotooh, Sotooh Ulya, Uloom ukhra
16.
Marja'
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After the Quran and the prophets and imams, marājiʿ are the highest authority on religious laws in Usuli Shia Islam. Currently, marājiʿ are accorded the title Grand Ayatollah, however when referring to one, previously, the titles of Allamah and Imam have also been used. Shiite authorities in the history of Shiism have an important role in the religious, one example is the fatwa of Mirza Mohammed Hassan Husseini Shirazi imposing sanctions on the use of tobacco during Qajar rule, which led to the abolition of the tobacco concession. The risālah contains an ayatollahs fatwas on different topics, according to his knowledge of the most authentic Islamic sources, traditionally only the most renowned ayatollahs of the given time published a risālah. Today, however, many ayatollahs of varying degrees of illustriousness have published one, where a difference in opinion exists between the marājiʿ, each of them provides their own opinion and the Muqallid will follow his/her own marjaʿs opinion on that subject. Several senior Grand Ayatollahs preside over hawzas, religious seminaries, the hawzas of Qom and Najaf are the preeminent seminary centers for the training of Shia clergymen. However, there are other smaller hawzas in other cities around the world, such as Karbala in Iraq, there are 64 living Maraji worldwide as of 2014, mainly living in Najaf and Qom. Ijtihad Hawza Risalah Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom List of Ayatollahs List of Maraji Slate Magazines So you want to be an Ayatollah, explaining how Shiite clerics earn the title
17.
Sayyid
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Women sayyids are given the titles Sayyida, Alawiyah, or Sharifa. In some regions of the Islamic world, such as in India, children of a Sayyida mother but a non-Sayyid father are referred to as Mirza. In the Arab world, sayyid is the equivalent of the English word liege lord or master when referring to a descendant of Muhammad, the word sidi is often used in Arabic. Although not verified, many Arabic language experts state that it has its roots in the word Al Asad Arabic, الأسد meaning lion, probably because of the qualities of valour and leadership. In the early period, the Arabs used the term Sayyid, however, in the modern era, the term Sharif has been used to denote descendants from Hasan, and the term Sayyid has been used to denote descendants from Husayn. Although reliable statistics are unavailable, conservative estimates put the number of Sayyids in the tens of millions, Sayyids often include the following titles in their names to indicate the figure from whom they trace their descent. The descendants of Ali and his wives are called Alvi sayyid, they are titled Shah, Sain. Note, When transliterating Arabic words into English there are two approaches, the user may transliterate the word letter for letter, e. g. الزيدي becomes a-l-z-ai-d-i. The user may transcribe the pronunciation of the word, e. g. الزيدي becomes a-zz-ai-d-i and this is because in Arabic grammar, some consonants cancel the l from the word the al. When the user sees the prefixes an, ar, as, ash, at, az, an i, wi, or vi ending could perhaps be translated by the English suffixes -ite or -ian. The suffix transforms a personal name or place name into the name of a group of people connected by lineage or place of birth, hence Ahmad al-Hassani could be translated as Ahmad, the descendant of Hassan, and Ahmad al-Manami as Ahmad from the city of Manami. For further explanation, see Arabic names, 1Also, El-Husseini, Al-Husseini, Husseini, and Hussaini. 2Those who use the term Sayyid for all descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib regard Allawis or Alavis as Sayyids. However, Allawis are not descendants of Muhammad, as they are descended from the children of Ali and those who limit the term Sayyid to descendants of Muhammad through Fatima, do not consider Allawis/Alavis to be Sayyids. Some Sayyids also claim to be Najeeb Al Tarfayn, meaning Noble on both sides, which indicates both of their parents are Sayyid. But in actuality this term is applied only to those Sayyids who have both Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain in their ancestry, many feel proud to attach Al Hashmi bil Quraishi at the end as well. The importance of this concept of Najeeb AlTarfayn has its source in the Hadeeth of Muhammad wherein he stated that the Mahdi, or The Hidden One, hence, Shia and Sunni Sayyids have different interpretations of this concept. However, the descendants of many Sufi Saints such as Abdul-Qadir Gilani, Bande Nawaz, the existence of any descendant of Imam Hasan al Askari is disputed by many people
18.
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
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Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was an Iraqi Shia cleric, philosopher, and ideological founder of the Islamic Dawa Party, born in al-Kazimiya, Iraq. He is the father-in-law of Muqtada al-Sadr and also a cousin of his father Muhammad Sadeq al-Sadr and his father Haydar al-Sadr was a well-respected high-ranking Shia cleric. His lineage goes back to Muhammad, through the seventh Shia Imam, Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr was executed in 1980 during the Saddam Hussein regime. He was born in al-Kazimiya, Iraq into the prominent Sadr family which originates from Jabal Amel in Lebanon and his father died in 1937, leaving the family penniless. In 1945 the family moved to the city of Najaf. He was a prodigy who, at ten, was delivering lectures on Islamic history. At 24 he wrote a book to refute materialistic philosophy, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr completed his religious studies at religious seminaries under al-Khoei and Muhsin al-Hakim at the age of 25 and began teaching. His first works were detailed critiques of Marxism that presented early ideas of an alternative Islamic form of government, perhaps his most important work was Iqtisaduna on Islamic economics and Our Philosophy. These works were critiques of socialism and capitalism. He was subsequently commissioned by the government of Kuwait to assess how that countrys oil wealth could be managed in keeping with Islamic principles and this led to a major work on Islamic banking that still forms the basis for modern Islamic banks. This attracted the attention of the Baath Party, which resulted in numerous imprisonments for the Ayatollah and he was often subjugated to torture during his imprisonments, but continued his work after being released. In 1977, he was arrested following the uprisings in Najaf, upon his release however, he was put under house arrest. In 1980, after writing in the defence of the Islamic Revolution, Sadr was once imprisoned, tortured. He was forced to watch his sisters, Amina Sadr bint al-Huda, torture and it has been alleged that Sadr was killed by having an iron nail hammered into his head and then being set on fire. Baqir al-Sadr is buried in Wadi-us-Salaam, Najaf, Al-Sadr explained that throughout history there have been …two lines. Man’s line and the Prophet’s line, the former is the khalifa who inherits the earth from God, the latter is the shahid. Al-Sadr demonstrated that khilafa is ‘a right given to the whole of humanity’ and explained it to be a given from God to the human race to ‘tend the globe. This was an advancement of Islamic political theory
19.
Islamic Dawa Party
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The Islamic Dawa Party, also known as the Islamic Call Party, is a political party in Iraq. The party is led by Nouri al-Maliki, who was Prime Minister of Iraq between 20 May 2006 and 8 September 2014, hizb Al-Dawa was formed in 1957 by Mohammed Sadiq Al-Qamousee. His aim was to create a party and a movement which would promote Islamic values and ethics, political awareness, combat secularism and this came at a time when politics in Iraq was dominated by secularist Arab nationalist and socialist ideas. Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr – who was recognized as a leading philosopher, theologian. One of their goals was to destroy Saddam. It was he who laid out the foundations for the party and its political ideology, a twin Islamic Dawa Party was also founded in Lebanon by clerics who had studied in Najaf and supported Muhammad Baqr al-Sadrs vision of a resurgent Islam. Al-Qamousee was also known for organizing and leading with the creation of a party in Lebanon known as Hizbollah. Hizb Al-Dawa gained strength in the 1970s recruiting from among the Shia ulama, during the 1970s, the government shutdown the Shia journal Risalat al-Islam and closed several religious educational institutions. The government passed a law obligating Iraqi students of the hawza to undertake military service. The Baathists then began specifically targeting Al-Dawa members, arresting and imprisoning them from 1972 onwards, in 1973, someone killed the alleged head of Al-Dawas Baghdad branch in prison. In 1974,75 Al-Dawa members were arrested and sentenced to death by the Baathist revolutionary court, in 1975, the government canceled the annual procession from Najaf to Karbala, known as marad al-ras. Although subject to repressive measures throughout the 1970s, large-scale opposition to the government by Al-Dawa goes back to the Safar Intifada of February 1977, despite the governments ban on the celebration of marad al-ras, Al-Dawa organized the procession in 1977. They were subsequently attacked by police, after this period it also interacted with the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the future spiritual leader of Iran, during his exile in Najaf in Iraq. Widely viewed in the West as a terrorist organization at the time, Dawa supported the Islamic Revolution in Iran and in turn received support from the Iranian government. During the Iran–Iraq War, Iran backed a Dawa insurgency against Saddam Husseins Baathist government in Iraq, in 1979, Dawa moved its headquarters to Tehran, the capital of Iran. It bombed the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut in December 1981, the first of its international attacks, one of those convicted for the bombing was Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, a member of Iraqs parliament and military commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces. Despite this cooperation, al-Sadrs and Khomeinis visions of an Islamic Republic differed sharply in certain respects, while Khomeini argued the power of the state should rest with the ulema, Al-Dawa supported the notion of power resting with the ummah, or in other words, the people. This disagreement was one factor that led to the formation of SCIRI as a group from Al-Dawa
20.
William R. Higgins
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William Richard Rich Higgins was a Colonel of the United States Marine Corps who was captured in 1988 while serving on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. He was held hostage, tortured and eventually murdered by his captors, william Higgins was born in Danville, Kentucky on January 15,1945. He graduated from Southern High School in Louisville and earned his Bachelors degree from Miami University in Oxford, a scholarship student in the Navy ROTC, he received the Marine Corps Association Award and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1967. He later obtained Masters degrees from Pepperdine University and Auburn University and he graduated from the Army Infantry Officers Advanced Course, the Air Force Command and Staff College, and the National War College. Returning to the States, Lt. Higgins served at Headquarters Marine Corps in 1969, in 1970, he served as the Officer-in-Charge of the Officer Selection Team in Louisville, Kentucky. From 1973 to 1977, Captain Higgins served at the Staff Noncommissioned Officers Academy and Officer Candidate School, upon promotion to major, he was reassigned as the Logistics Officer for Regimental Landing Team 2, 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade. He was promoted to Colonel on March 1,1989, while in captivity, during his captivity, he was interrogated and tortured. As a reaction to his abduction, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 618, a year and a half after his abduction, images of his body, hanged by the neck, were televised around the world from a videotape released by his captors. The exact date of Higgins murder is uncertain, he was declared dead on July 6,1990 and his remains were recovered on December 23,1991, by Major Jens Nielsen of the Royal Danish Army, who was attached to the United Nations Observation Group in Beirut. Higgins remains were found beside a mosque near a south Beirut hospital and his remains were interred at Quantico National Cemetery on December 30,1991. On March 18,1992, President George Bush awarded Col. Higgins the Presidential Citizens Medal, the medal was accepted by his wife, Robin, and daughter, Chrissy. Col. Higgins was also survived by two sisters, on February 17,1994, the Secretary of the Navy announced a new Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer would be named for Col. Higgins. On October 4,1997, the USS Higgins was christened by Col. Higgins widow and it was commissioned on April 24,1999. In April 2003, he was granted a Prisoner of War Medal. The Navy later overruled her after it was determined that the 1989 expansion of the eligibility criteria allowed the award, Colonel Rich Higgins USMC - POW or Hostage. Patriot Dreams, The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins, Quantico, VA, The Marine Corps Association
21.
Lebanese Civil War
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The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. As of 2012, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon, there was also an exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war. The government of Lebanon had been run under a significant influence of the elites among the Maronite Christians, however, the country had a large Muslim population and many pan-Arabist and left-wing groups opposed the pro-western government. Fighting between Maronite and Palestinian forces began in 1975, then Leftist, pan-Arabist and Muslim Lebanese groups formed an alliance with the Palestinians, during the course of the fighting, alliances shifted rapidly and unpredictably. Furthermore, foreign powers, such as Israel and Syria, became involved in the war, Peace keeping forces, such as the Multinational Force in Lebanon & UNIFIL, were also stationed in Lebanon. The 1989 Taif Agreement marked the beginning of the end of the fighting, in January 1989, a committee appointed by the Arab League began to formulate solutions to the conflict. In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that all political crimes prior to its enactment. In May 1991, the militias were dissolved, with the exception of Hezbollah, religious tensions between Sunnis and Shias remained after the war. An 1860 civil war between Druze and Maronites erupted in the Ottoman Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, which had been divided between them in 1842 and it resulted in the massacre of about 10,000 Christians and at least 6,000 Druzes. The 1860 war was considered by the Druze as a military victory, World War I was hard for the Lebanese. While the rest of the world was occupied with the World War, with the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish rule ended. France took control of the area under the French Mandate for Syria, the French created the state of Greater Lebanon as a safe haven for the Maronites, but included a large Muslim population within the borders. In 1926, Lebanon was declared a republic, and a constitution was adopted, however, the constitution was suspended in 1932. Various factions sought unity with Syria, or independence from the French, in 1934, the countrys first census was conducted. In 1936, the Maronite Phalange party was founded by Pierre Gemayel, World War II and the 1940s brought great change to Lebanon and the Middle East. Lebanon was promised independence and on 22 November 1943, during World War II, Free French troops, who had invaded Lebanon in 1941 to rid Beirut of the Vichy French forces, left the country in 1946. The Maronites assumed power over the country and economy, a parliament was created, in which both Muslims and Christians each had a set quota of seats. Accordingly, the President was to be a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in late 1947 led to civil war in Palestine, the end of Mandatory Palestine, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948
22.
Theocratic state
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Theocracy is a form of government in which a deity is the source from which all authority derives. The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition,1, a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god. The commonwealth of Israel from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as King, an ecclesiocracy is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler, religiously endorsed monarchies fall between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Most forms of theocracy are oligarchic in nature, involving rule of the many by the few, some of whom so anointed under claim of divine commission. In some religions, the ruler, usually a king, was regarded as the favorite of God who could not be questioned, sometimes even being the descendant of. Today, there is also a form of government where clerics have the power, taken literally or strictly, theocracy means rule by God or gods and refers primarily to an internal rule of the heart, especially in its biblical application. The common, generic use of the term, as defined above in terms of rule by a church or analogous religious leadership, in a pure theocracy, the civil leader is believed to have a personal connection with the civilizations religion or belief. For example, Moses led the Israelites, and Muhammad led the early Muslims, there is a fine line between the tendency of appointing religious characters to run the state and having a religious-based government. According to the Holy Books, Prophet Joseph was offered an essential governmental role just because he was trustworthy, wise and knowledgeable. As a result of the Prophet Josephs knowledge and also due to his ethical and genuine efforts during a critical economic situation, when religions have a holy book, it is used as a direct message from God. Law proclaimed by the ruler is also considered a divine revelation, as to the Prophet Muhammad ruling, The first thirteen of the Prophets twenty-three year career went on totally apolitical and non-violent. Yet, interestingly, the Prophet did not establish a theocracy in Medina, instead of a polity defined solely by Islam, he founded a territorial polity based on religious pluralism. This is evident in a document called the ’Charter of Medina’, according to the Quran, Prophets were not after power or material resources. ”While, in theocracy many aspects of the holy book are overshadowed by material powers. Due to be considered divine, the regime entitles itself to interpret verses to its own benefit and abuse them out of the context for its political aims. An ecclesiocracy, on the hand, is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler, religiously endorsed monarchies fall between these two poles, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Theocracy is distinguished from other, secular forms of government that have a religion, or are influenced by theological or moral concepts
23.
1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires
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The attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was a suicide bombing attack on the building of the Israeli embassy of Argentina, located in Buenos Aires, which was carried out on 17 March 1992. Twenty-nine civilians were killed in the attack and 242 additional civilians were injured, the embassy, a Catholic church, and a nearby school building were destroyed. Four Israelis died, but most of the victims were Argentine civilians, the blast killed 29 and wounded 242. It was Argentinas deadliest terror attack until the AMIA Bombing of 1994, priest Juan Carlos Brumana was one of the people killed in the suicide bombing. He died in the Catholic Church Mater Admirabilis that is in front of the embassy, among the dead there were two Israeli women who were the wives of the embassys consul and first secretary. Islamic Jihad also released surveillance footage they took of the embassy before the blast, after the bombing, Israel sent investigators to Argentina to search for clues. They learned that the planned the attack in the Tri-Border area, where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil meet. Messages intercepted by the American National Security Agency revealed Iranian knowledge of the impending attack, in fact, Mugniyeh was formally charged by Argentina with participating in the bombings of the Israeli embassy. However, none of the suspects was prosecuted, a number of sources report on Hezbollah involvement with the assistance of Syria. In 1999, the Argentine government issued an arrest warrant for Imad Mugniyah in connection with this attack and the 1994 AMIA Bombing in Buenos Aires and it is suspected that the two attacks are linked. When he was president, Néstor Kirchner pronounced that allowing these two incidents to happen, with no real inquiries to be followed, equalled a national disgrace and he reopened, and kept open files from these incidents, most to be read by Justice Juan Jose Galeano. In the same process Kirchner hoped to lift the ban for former Intelligence Officers to testify, a former president of Argentina also claimed that she wanted to get to the bottom of the case. Today there is a set up in place of where the building stood. In the memorial plaza stand twenty one trees and seven benches in memory of the victims, a plaque describing the event and listing the victims is located in the memorial in both Hebrew and Spanish. The Secret War with Iran, The 30-Year Clandestine Struggle Against the Worlds Most Dangerous Terrorist Power, ISBN 1-4165-5839-X Context of March 17,1992, Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires Is Bombed, Hezbollah and Iran Accused Despite Lack of Evidence -History Commons
24.
Ronen Bergman
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Ronen Bergman is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He is a political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth. He is also interviewed frequently by the media in the United States and Europe and he has published four books in Hebrew, which were all well received, and which topped Israeli non-fiction best-seller lists. His books cover corruption in the Palestinian Authority, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Iranian nuclear project, a translation of his third book, The Secret War with Iran, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. The book appeared in the Boston Globe’s recommended reading list for summer 2009 and he is a regular co-anchor of a daytime news and current affairs magazine on Israeli TV. He often appears on major U. S. broadcasting networks and the BBC, Bergman lectures frequently to academic and military audiences, as well as to the general public. Bergman was born in 1972, and grew up in Kiryat Bialik and his mother was a teacher and his father was an accountant. He is the youngest of three children, as a boy, he was a reporter for a youth television show. He studied law at the University of Haifa, and graduated cum laude from its law school and he is a member of the Israeli Bar. He is a member of the Körber Foundation Munich Young Leaders 2010 and he is a former senior staff feature writer for Haaretz. Bergman is the recipient of the 1995 Bnei Brith Worlds Center Award for Journalism and the 1996 Ha’aretz award for Best Story
25.
Ehud Barak
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Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and he previously held the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Benjamin Netanyahus second government from 2009 to 2013. He is the joint most highly decorated soldier in Israels history, having taken part in many battles and he is a graduate in physics, mathematics, and economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Stanford University. He served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, following a highly decorated career, he was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1991, serving until 1995. On 26 November 2012 he announced that he would retire from politics after the election in January 2013. He was born on 12 February 1942 in kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in what was then Mandatory Palestine and he is the eldest of four sons of Esther and Yisrael Mendel Brog. His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas in the northern Lithuania in 1912, Baraks maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, died at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust. Ehud hebraized his family name from Brog to Barak in 1972 and it was during his military service that he met his future wife, Nava. They had three daughters together, Michal, Yael and Anat, Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On 30 July 2007, Barak married Nili Priel in a ceremony in his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Barak joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1959 and he served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf, the highest in the Israeli military. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet, led to the dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September and it has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on 16 April 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was killed. Later he served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate, head of Central Command and he served as Chief of the General Staff between 1 April 1991 and 1 January 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him the most decorated soldier in Israeli history, in 1992 he was awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States. In 2012, he was awarded by the United States with the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. On 7 July 1995, Barak was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Yitzhak Rabin, when Shimon Peres formed a new government following Rabins assassination in November 1995, Barak was made Minister of Foreign Affairs
26.
JSTOR
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JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of journals, it now also includes books and primary sources. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries have access to JSTOR, most access is by subscription, but some older public domain content is freely available to anyone. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, JSTOR originally was conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a collection of journals. By digitizing many journal titles, JSTOR allowed libraries to outsource the storage of journals with the confidence that they would remain available long-term, online access and full-text search ability improved access dramatically. Bowen initially considered using CD-ROMs for distribution, JSTOR was initiated in 1995 at seven different library sites, and originally encompassed ten economics and history journals. JSTOR access improved based on feedback from its sites. Special software was put in place to make pictures and graphs clear, with the success of this limited project, Bowen and Kevin Guthrie, then-president of JSTOR, wanted to expand the number of participating journals. They met with representatives of the Royal Society of London and an agreement was made to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dating from its beginning in 1665, the work of adding these volumes to JSTOR was completed by December 2000. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded JSTOR initially, until January 2009 JSTOR operated as an independent, self-sustaining nonprofit organization with offices in New York City and in Ann Arbor, Michigan. JSTOR content is provided by more than 900 publishers, the database contains more than 1,900 journal titles, in more than 50 disciplines. Each object is identified by an integer value, starting at 1. In addition to the site, the JSTOR labs group operates an open service that allows access to the contents of the archives for the purposes of corpus analysis at its Data for Research service. This site offers a facility with graphical indication of the article coverage. Users may create focused sets of articles and then request a dataset containing word and n-gram frequencies and they are notified when the dataset is ready and may download it in either XML or CSV formats. The service does not offer full-text, although academics may request that from JSTOR, JSTOR Plant Science is available in addition to the main site. The materials on JSTOR Plant Science are contributed through the Global Plants Initiative and are only to JSTOR
27.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
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Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
listen)) Arabic: عباس الموسوي; 26 October 1952 – 16 February 1992) was an influential Lebanese Shia cleric, co-founder and Secretary General of Hezbollah. He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in 1992.