1.
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
2.
Districts of Mandatory Palestine
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The districts of Mandatory Palestine formed the first level of administrative division and existed through the whole era of Mandatory Palestine, namely from 1920 to 1948. The number and territorial extent of them varied over time, as did their subdivision into sub-districts, in Arabic, a district was known as a minṭaqah, while in Hebrew it was known as a mahoz. Each district had an administration headed by a District Governor, a role renamed as District Commissioner in 1925, until June 1920, Palestine was under a formal military regime called O. E. T. A. Initially the country was divided into 13 administrative districts, reduced to 10 in 1919, the division was revised after the adoption of a civilian administration in the middle of 1920. In September 1920, the districts were Jerusalem, Galilee, Phoenicia, Samaria, Jaffa, Gaza, in July 1922, administrations of the districts of Phoenicia and Galilee were combined, as were the districts of Jerusalem and Jaffa, and the districts of Gaza and Beersheba. Some reassignment of sub-districts also occurred, at the time of the October,1922, census of Palestine, there were four districts divided into 18 sub-districts. In 1938, the Beersheba and Gaza sub-districts were separated from the Southern District, then in 1939, the Administrative Division Proclamation reshaped the country into six districts. The name of the Galilee and Acre District was changed to Galilee District in December, although not published until June, it stated that the change shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st January,1945
3.
Ramle Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine
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The Ramle Subdistrict was one of the subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine. It was part of Lydda District of the British Mandate of Palestine, the sub-districts main city was Ramle. Its total population in 1944 was estimated at 123,490, of which 88,560 were Muslims,29,420 were Jews, following the war the area that had made up Ramla Subdistrict became a part of Israels Central District
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Palestine grid
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The Palestine grid was the geographic coordinate system used in Mandatory Palestine. The system was chosen by the Survey Department of the Government of Palestine in 1922, the projection used was the Cassini-Soldner projection. The central meridian was chosen as that passing through a marker on the hill of Mar Elias Monastery south of Jerusalem, the false origin of the grid was placed 100 km to the south and west of the Ali el-Muntar hill that overlooks Gaza city. The unit length for the grid was the kilometre, the British units were not even considered, at the time the grid was established, there was no intention of mapping the lower reaches of the Negev Desert, but this did not remain true. The fact that those regions would have negative north-south coordinate then became a source of confusion. For some military purposes,1000 was added to the coordinates of all locations. During World War II, a Military Palestine Grid was used that was similar to the Palestine Grid, the difference between the two projections was only a few meters. It was replaced by the Israeli Transverse Mercator grid in 1994, the Palestine grid is still commonly used to specify locations in the historical and archaeological literature. The basic way of specifying a location on the Palestine grid is to write the east-west coordinate followed by the north-south coordinate using 3 digits each, for example, the Dome of the Rock is at 172132. This specifies the location within one kilometer, if more precision is required, extra digits can be added to each coordinate, for example,17241317 gives the Dome of the Rock to within 100 meters. Many authors separate the two coordinates with punctuation for readability purposes, for example 172-132 or 172/132
6.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
7.
Ayalon Valley
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The place may have been the site of several battles between invaders and the natives. Ajalon is mentioned in the accounts of an invasion of Palestine by the Egyptian king Sheshonk I of Egypt in the 10th century BCE and this event may have been connected to an attack of the Amorites, before the arrival of the Israelites under Joshua. But since the valley stretches as far to the west as to a point halfway between Shaalvim and Latrun, the city referenced in these letters may have been any settlement in the valley. The Valley of Ajalon was first mentioned in the Book of Joshua as where Joshua defeated five Amorite kings, Joshua 10, 11-14 records that the sun cooperated with Joshuas request. Following the conquest, the city of Ajalon was apportioned to the Tribe of Dan and was designated as one of the Levitical cities given to the Kohathites, in spite of Joshua’s initial victory in the Valley of Ajalon, the Amorites continued to live in the city of Ajalon. Constant Philistine pressure to control the valleys of the Shephelah forced the tribe of Dan to retreat westward, reducing the extent of their territory. Eventually, the Danites abandoned their initial inheritance in the Aijalon area and moved to the northern part of Israel, settling in the city of Laish. The location was also the site of a victory over the Philistines by King Saul. After a daring attack by Jonathan on the Philistine garrison at Michmash, they pursued the Philistines to Aijalon, in later years, Aijalon was inhabited by Ephraimites and Benjamites. After the kingdom divided, Ajalon became the boundary between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, rehoboam, the first king of Judah, fortified the city of Aijalon, supplying officers, weapons and food provisions. Ajalons identification with Yalo was made by Edward Robinson during his travels in Palestine in 1838, the antiquities and tourist attractions that exist are Ayalon-Canada Park, as well as Yad La-Shiryon, the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration and the Latrun Monastery. The kibbutz at Ajalon in Mandatory Palestine had a bullet factory. The factory was moved above ground after the war and this kibbutz was near Rehovot and not in Ajalon valley. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton. Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Regions, A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838, later Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Regions, A Journal of Travels in the Year 1852
8.
Tel Aviv
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Tel Aviv-Yafo is a major city in Israel, located on the countrys Mediterranean coastline. It is the center and the technology hub of Israel, with a population of 432,892. Tel Aviv is the largest city in the Gush Dan region of Israel, Tel Aviv is also a focal point in the high-tech concentration known as the Silicon Wadi. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv is a global city, and is the thirty eighth most important financial center in the world. Tel Aviv is known to have the third-largest economy of any city in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, the city receives over a million international visitors annually. Known as The City that Never Sleeps and a party capital, it has a lively nightlife, the city was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It is named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzls 1902 novel, Altneuland, the modern citys first neighbourhoods had already been established in 1886, the first being Neve Tzedek. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffas, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Avivs White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzls Altneuland, translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including Herzliya and it was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for spring, symbolizing renewal, and tel is a man-made mound accumulating layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient. Although founded in 1909 as a settlement on the sand dunes North of Jaffa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment in 1906, wrote, In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city. Since 1886, Jewish settlers had founded new neighborhoods outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv, the first was Neve Tzedek, built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche and inhabited primarily by Mizrahi Jews. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom, Yafa Nof, Achva, Ohel Moshe, Kerem HaTeimanim, once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa. The Second Aliyah led to further expansion, in 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit society. The societys goal was to form a Hebrew urban centre in an environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics
9.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
10.
Ramla
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Ramla is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority, Ramla was founded circa 705–715 CE by the Umayyad governor and future caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Ramla lies along the route of the Via Maris, connecting old Cairo with Damascus, at its intersection with the road connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem. It was conquered many times in the course of its history, by the Abbasids, the Ikhshidids, the Fatimids, the Seljuqs, the Crusaders, the Mameluks, the Turks, the British, and the Israelis. After an outbreak of the Black Death in 1347, which reduced the population. Under Arab and Ottoman rule the city became an important trade center, napoleons French Army occupied it in 1799 on its way to Acre. The town had an Arab majority before most of its Arab inhabitants were expelled or fled during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the town was subsequently repopulated by Jewish immigrants. In 2001, 80% of the population were Jewish and 20% Arab, in recent years, attempts have been made to develop and beautify the city, which has been plagued by neglect, financial problems and a negative public image. New shopping malls and public parks have been built, and a museum opened in 2001. A2013 Israeli police report documented that the Central District ranks fourth among Israels seven districts in terms of drug-related arrests, today, five prisons are located in Ramla, including the maximum-security Ayalon Prison. Its name was derived from the Arabic word raml, meaning sand, the early residents came from nearby Ludd. Ramla flourished as the capital of Jund Filastin, which was one of the five districts of the Syrian province of the Ummayad, Ramla was the principal city and district capital almost until the arrival of the Crusaders in the 11th century. In the 8th century, the Ummayads built the White Mosque, the remains of this mosque, flanked by a minaret added at a later date, can still be seen today. In the courtyard are underground water cisterns from this period, Ramla was sometimes referred to as Filastin, in keeping with the common practice of referring to districts by the name of their main city. The 10th-century geographer al-Muqaddasi describes Ramla at the peak of its prosperity, It is a fine city and it combines manifold advantages, situated as it is in the midst of beautiful villages and lordly towns, near to holy places and pleasant hamlets. Commerce here is prosperous, and the markets excellent. The bread is of the best, the lands are well favoured above all others, and the fruits are the most luscious. This capital stands among fields, walled towns and serviceable hospices. Ramlas economic importance, shared with the city of Lydda, was based on its strategic location
11.
Battles of Latrun (1948)
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Latrun takes its name from the monastery close to the junction of two major highways, Jerusalem to Jaffa/Tel Aviv and Gaza to Ramallah. During the British Mandate it became a Palestine Police base with a Tegart fort, the United Nations Resolution 181 placed this area within the proposed Arab state. In May 1948, it was under the control of the Arab Legion and it commanded the only road linking the Yishuv-controlled area of Jerusalem to Israel, giving Latrun strategic importance in the battle for Jerusalem. Despite assaulting Latrun on five separate occasions Israel was ultimately unable to capture Latrun, the battles were so decisive that the Israelis decided to construct a bypass surrounding Latrun so as to allow vehicular movement between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thus avoiding the main road. Regardless, during the Battle for Jerusalem, the Jewish population of Jerusalem could still be supplied by a new road, named the Burma Road, the Battle of Latrun left its imprint on the Israeli collective imagination and constitutes part of the founding myth of the Jewish State. The attacks cost the lives of 168 Israeli soldiers, but some accounts inflated this number to as many as 2,000, the combat at Latrun also carries a symbolic significance because of the participation of Holocaust survivors. Today, the site has an Israeli military museum dedicated to the Israeli Armored Corps. After the adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in November 1947, the Jews living in Jerusalem constituted one of the weak points of the Yishuv and a main cause for concern to its leaders. With nearly 100,000 inhabitants, a sixth of the total Jewish population in the Mandate, the city was isolated in the heart of territory under Arab control. In January, in the context of the War of the Roads, by the end of March, the tactic proved its worth and the city was cut off. The Haganah then launched Operation Nachshon, 4–20 April, and managed to force through a number of large convoys. In the middle of May, the situation for the 50,000 Arab inhabitants of the city, on 15 May, the situation in the newly declared State of Israel and the remnants of Palestine was chaotic with the British leaving. The Jewish forces gained advantage over the Arab forces, but they feared the intervention of the Arab armies that had announced for that day. Latrun is located at the crossroads between the Tel Aviv–Ramla–Jerusalem and Ramallah–Isdud roads in the allocated to the Arab state by the United Nations Partition Plan. At that point, the Jerusalem road enters the foothills of Judea at Bab al-Wad, the fort dominated the Valley of Ayalon, and the force that occupied it commanded the road to Jerusalem. In 1948, Latrun comprised a detention camp and a police station occupied by the British, a Trappist monastery. They regularly attacked supply convoys heading for Jerusalem, at that time, neither the Israeli nor Jordanian military staffs had prepared for the strategic importance of the place. The Givati Brigade and Harel Brigade were engaged in fighting, notably in the Latrun area, between 9–11 May, a battalion of the Harel brigade attacked and took the village of Bayt Mahsir, used by Palestinians as a base for the control of Bab al-Wad
12.
No man's land
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No mans land is land that is unoccupied or is under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied due to fear or uncertainty. The term was used to define a contested territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms. The same term was used as the name for the piece of land outside the north wall of London that was assigned as the place of execution. The term was applied to an area on ships called the forecastle, a place where various ropes, tackle, block. The British Army did not widely employ the term when the Regular Army arrived in France in August 1914, the terms used most frequently at the start of the war to describe the area between the trench lines included between the trenches or between the lines. The term no mans land was first used in a military context by soldier, Swinton used the term in war correspondence on the Western Front, with specific mention of the terms with respect to the Race to the Sea in late 1914. In World War I, no land often ranged from several hundred yards to in some cases less than 10 yards. The area was devastated by the warfare. It was open to fire from the trenches and hard going generally slowed down any attempted advance. No mans land remained a feature of the battlefield until near the end of World War I. During the Cold War, one example of no land was the territory close to the Iron Curtain. The US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba is separated from Cuba proper by a called the Cactus Curtain. This was dubbed the Cactus Curtain, an allusion to Europes Iron Curtain, US and Cuban troops placed some 55,000 land mines across the no mans land, creating the second-largest minefield in the world, and the largest in the Americas. On 16 May 1996, Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, the US land mines have since been replaced with motion and sound sensors to detect intruders. The Cuban government has not removed the corresponding minefield on its side of the border, the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan were signed in Rhodes with the help of UN mediation on 3 April 1949. Armistice lines were determined in November 1948, between the lines territory was left that was defined as no mans land. Such areas existed in Jerusalem, in the area between the western and southern parts of the Walls of Jerusalem and Musrara, a strip of land north and south of Latrun was also known as no mans land because it was not controlled by either Israel or Jordan in 1948–1967. In 1885, the United States Interior Department ruled that what was called The Neutral Strip was public land, the Strip began to be called No Mans Land around 1886 after one official stated no man can own the land
13.
West Bank
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The West Bank shares boundaries to the west, north, and south with Israel, and to the east, across the Jordan River, with Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. As of July 2015 it has an population of 2,785,366 Palestinians, and approximately 371,000 Israeli settlers. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law and this annexation was recognized only by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan. The term was chosen to differentiate the west bank of the River Jordan from the east bank of this river, the neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and Hungarian. The name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this entity in English. The analogous Transjordan has historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the state of Jordan. From 1517 through 1917, the now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule as part of the provinces of Syria. At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine, the San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was constructed. Faced with the determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the West Bank area, was conquered by Jordan during the 1948 war with the new state of Israel. In 1947, it was designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the United Nations partition plan for Palestine. 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the boundary between Israel and Jordan. In 1950, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River, naming it West Bank or Cisjordan, Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. Jordans annexation was never recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom. King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948. and granted Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, in June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no mans land, the Israeli settlements were, on the other hand, administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approx, 11% of the West Bank which remains subject to Israeli incursions
14.
Trappists
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The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monastics who follow the Rule of St. Benedict. A branch of the Order of Cistercians, they have communities of monks and nuns, commonly referred to as Trappists and Trappistines, respectively. The order takes its name from La Trappe Abbey or La Grande Trappe, a reform movement began there in 1664, in reaction to the relaxation of practices in many Cistercian monasteries. Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, originally the commendatory abbot of La Trappe, as commendatory abbot, de Rancé was a layman who obtained income from the monastery but had no religious obligations. After a conversion of life between 1660 and 1662, de Rancé formally joined the abbey and became its abbot in 1663. In 1892 the reformed Trappists broke away from the Cistercian order, Benedict, written in the sixth century, guides the lives of Trappists. The Rule describes the ideals and values of a monastic life, Strict Observance refers to the Trappists goal of following closely St. Benedicts Rule and taking the three vows described in his Rule, stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. Benedicts insistence on lack of speech has some impact on their way of life, Trappist monks generally speak only when necessary, thus idle talk is strongly discouraged. According to St. Benedict, speech disturbs a disciples quietude and receptivity, speech that leads to unkind amusement or laughter is seen as evil and is banned. A Trappist sign language, distinct from other forms of monastic sign language, has developed to render speaking unnecessary, meals are usually taken in contemplative silence as members of the order are supposed to listen to a reading. Comparing with the Benedictines and the Cistercians, Trappists fully abstain from meat as regards four-footed animals, while living as vegetarians, they may sometimes eat fish and their diet mostly consists of vegetables, beans, and grain products. Usually they will be asked to live in the monastery for a period of time. Postulancy, candidates live as a member of the monastery as a postulant for some months, novitiate, postulants will be clothed with the monastic habit and are formally received as a member of this order. Novices are still guided by the director, and they undergo this stage for two years. After novitiate, novices may take temporary vows and they will live this stage for three to nine years to deepen study, practicing the Gospel in the monastic way and integration within the society. After finishing the stage, the professed members may take final vows for their entire life. The 48th chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict states for then are they monks in truth, following this rule, most Trappist monasteries produce goods that are sold to provide income for the monastery. Monasteries in Belgium and the Netherlands, such as Orval Abbey and Westvleteren Abbey, the TRAPPIST telescope of the University of Liège is named in honour of the beer
15.
Mini Israel
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Mini Israel is a miniature park located near Latrun, Israel in the Ayalon Valley. Opened in November 2002, the site contains miniature replicas of hundreds of buildings, the tourist attraction consists of about 350 large models of notable buildings. The scale of 1,25 produces skyscrapers that tower over an adult, the permanent exhibition shows the main sites and structures in Israel of importance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The signs are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, 95% of the visitors are Israeli. The complex covers 60,000 square metres, with the models displayed over 35,000 sq m. The park also includes a shop, a few restaurants and rest areas. An audio guide and motorised buggies are available, the slogan since its inception has been See it all - small. The designers, architects and model builder team consisted of over 100 people from all parts of Israeli society and religions, the park was the brainchild of Israeli entrepreneur Eiran Gazit who conceived the idea after visiting the famous miniature town of Madurodam in the Netherlands in 1986. Delayed by the First Intifada, Gazit began plans to build the park in 1994 and it was funded mainly by two large investing groups, Granite HaCarmel and Secom of the Shikun Ubinui Group. It cost $20 million USD, with 15% of the coming from the Israel Tourism Office. The park was built on land owned by Kibbutz Nachshon and it had 350,000 visitors in its first nine months of opening. A Google Street View of Mini Israel was completed in November 2011, all trees are real bonsai cultivated and planted by Agronoy nursery. The park is shaped like a star of David, with each of the six triangles representing an area or city, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galil, Negev. Models were created in workshops spread throughout Israel using sophisticated computerized evaluations, most of the buildings were built in the scale of 1,25. They were painted with waterproof paint for resistance to weather conditions, many of the models include kinetic moving parts such as trains, planes, a soccer game, heavy equipment, boats, etc
16.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
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SPNI was founded in 1953 by Azaria Alon and Amotz Zahavi in response to plans to drain the Hula Valley. The Israeli government and the JNF ultimately did drain a majority of the Hula wetlands to prevent the spread of malaria, after 40 years of SPNI campaigning, some 10% of the Hula wetlands were re-flooded in the early 1990s. In 1980, SPNI, together with Azaria Alon, Amotz Zahavi and Yoav Sagi, was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to society. Best known to the public for sponsoring hikes, SPNI is also active in political and environmental improvement efforts, the campaign to create the 2004 Coastal Law, which forbids new development in any area within 300 meters from the coastline was a notable accomplishment. With almost 800 employees, SPNI is an enormous non-profit organization, with a range of activities. SPNI’s Environmental Protection Division is the watchdog and advocate for the remaining open space left in Israel. Mass immigration has contributed to a drain on resources, increased land usage for housing and industrial development. Israel today is highly urbanized, with one of the world’s highest population density rates, on a national level, the number of persons per square kilometer is very close to that of Japan, while the Tel Aviv area’s density is higher than that of Hong Kong. SPNI is dedicated to finding solutions to preserve Israel’s fragile ecosystem. Rivers – Israel’s rivers are in a state of crisis, integrated Coastal Management – The Mediterranean coast is one of the country’s greatest recreation and tourist assets. The creation of marinas, coastal housing, and private beaches limit the enjoyment of this asset by the general public, SPNI is working at every level to keep Israel’s beaches clean, ecologically natural, and accessible to all. Sea of Galilee & the Kinneret Trail – Israel’s main source of water is the Sea of Galilee. A major beauty spot for Israelis and visitors, the Kinneret has been threatened for years by overuse of its water, SPNI’s Lake Kinneret Project enlists the cooperation of all involved parties in maintaining the Kinneret water levels and in keeping its shoreline accessible to the public for future generations. Metropolitan Parks – SPNI promotes conserving and establishing new Metropolitan Parks, lobbying for the legal establishment, infrastructure in public areas, for the purpose of using them as parks in population-dense areas that lack parks. The success of project will ensure that there will be 8 open spaces in Israels densely populated central region that will act as recreation, nature. Transportation/Air Quality – Congestion, traffic and the air pollution have created a public health crisis. SPNI is working to develop an urban transportation policy involving alternative means of public transportation. Land has become a commodity, the economic incentive for developers is highly enticing
17.
Yad La-Shiryon
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Yad La-Shiryon is Israels official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. The cornerstone for Yad La-Shiryon was laid on December 14,1982, the site was created through the initiative of veteran officers of the armored corps. The main building, an era, Tegart fortress, houses a library with a publicly accessible computerized record of every fallen Israeli tank soldier. The deeply pocked outer walls of the fort are a reminder of the buildings wartime past, the tower of the fortress has been converted into a Tower of Tears by Israeli artist, Danny Karavan. The inside of the tower is covered by steel taken from a tank, the museum also features a large amphitheater, an auditorium, and has photos, poetry, paintings and cartoons on display. Screenings are held regularly, showing both historical film footage and more recent tributes to Israelis injured and fallen, the Wall of Names, erected outside, displays the names of all the soldiers from the Armored Corps killed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and later wars. The most famous sight at Yad La-Shiryon is most likely that of a tank on top of a tower, which serves as the museums logo. In 1979, by decision of late Major General Moshe Peled, the tank was hoisted on top of a tower on the site, the tank that was chosen is an American M4 Sherman, one of the first tanks that fought in the service of the Israel Defense Forces. Since the water tower was designed to support 25 tons. Yad La-shiryon is famous worldwide for its unique and diverse collection of tanks, there are over a hundred different vehicles in the collection. It is being reconstructed as of December 2011, there is also a birdwatching facility equipped with a radar to track migratory birds. com
18.
Neve Shalom
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The village is located on one of the two Latrun hilltops overlooking the Ayalon Valley, and lies midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Falling under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, in 2015 it had a population of 265, the name Neve shalom is taken from a passage in the Isaiah 32,18, My people shall dwell in an oasis of peace. The village was the brainchild of Bruno Hussar, born in Egypt the son of non-practicing Jews, he converted to Christianity while studying engineering in France. Witnessing at first hand the vitriolic anti-semitism of wartime France sharpened his awareness of his Jewish roots. He joined the Dominican Order, was ordained into the priesthood in 1950, and sent to Jerusalem to establish a centre for Jewish studies in 1953, the area was desolate, treeless, unwatered and covered with brambles, and had not been under cultivation since the Byzantine period. At the outset foreigners came to share the experience with him, at the same time, it would be designed to function as a school of peace where people from all over the country could learn to listen to each other. In Hussars own words, We had in mind a small village composed of inhabitants from different communities in the country, Jews, Christians and Muslims would live there in peace, each one faithful to his own faith and traditions, while respecting those of others. Each would find in this diversity a source of personal enrichment, conditions were harsh, and at first Hussar lived in a bus on the site. Even basic facilities like a bathroom were lacking, and showers could be only by driving once a week the 10 kilometres to kibbutz Nachshon. The first five families, four Jewish and one Palestinian settled there in 1978, among the early members was Major Wellesley Aron, grandfather of the Israeli singer David Broza. The School for Peace was established in 1978, the founding families came mainly from a secular background. The Neve Shalom-Wahat as-Salam model earned the 1989 Beyond War Award, for years it survived as an orphan community devoid of official assistance. As a result, it earned autonomous zoning rights, while assimilation is not promoted, intermarriage is not disapproved of, though instances are rare. The preference is for community to maintain its distinct identity. The forging of a convivial bicultural identity has not erased difficulties, even in schooling, Grace Feuervergers account documents, achingly painful tensions do arise in relationships as children, teachers and families interact. One resident stated the issue in the terms, The Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam experience humanizes the conflict. It is called an oasis, but only as compared to areas in the country. The village has many difficulties but at least we are not being broken and we do have personal squabbles as in any village, but we are living the conflict instead of fighting it
19.
Canada Park
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Canada Park is an Israeli national park stretching over 7,000 dunams, and extending from No mans land into the West Bank. In addition it has picnic areas, springs and panoramic hilltop views, the lands of the 3 villages were confiscated and declared a closed area, and only declared public land to be developed for a recreational park two years later in 1969. According to Meron Benvenisti the function of such re-afforestation projects like that at Canada Park was to confiscate Arab land in the Palestinian territories Israeli occupied after 1967, Canada Park was established on the lands of the two Palestinian Arab villages Imwas and Yalo. The inhabitants were offered compensation but not allowed to return, Imwas, Yalo and Bayt Nuba were demolished as part of strategic plans to widen the Jerusalem corridor. Dayr Ayyub, also on the grounds of the park, had partly destroyed during the fighting in 1948. The settlement of Mevo Horon was built on the lands of Bayt Nuba in 1970, signage in the park indicates that it falls under the Department of Archaeology, Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, Judea and Samaria being the Israeli terms for the West Bank. In 1972, Bernard Bloomfield of Montreal, then President of JNF Canada, the road leading to the park is named for John Diefenbaker, the former Canadian prime minister, who opened it in 1975. The project was completed in 1984, JNF Canada has continued fund-raising towards the maintenance of the park. They did not receive a reply, in 2007, the Israeli NGO Zochrot wrote to Israels minister of defense, Ehud Barak, on behalf of the residents to ask why they could not return to their homes. In 2008, the ministers office informed them that The return of the inhabitants not allowed for security considerations. In 2013 the Palestinian National Authoritys Negotiations Affairs Department launched a campaign to have the 50-km, contiguous to the Green Line restored to it as vital and integral part of the State of Palestine as defined by the 1967 border. Canada Park covers an area of 7,000 dunams and it is filled with wooded areas, walking trails, water features and archaeological sites. Trees in the park include olive, carob, pomegranate, pine, the area is also home to a range of wildlife from lizards and turtles to gray ravens and blue jays. Historical ruins on the grounds of the include a Roman bathhouse, a Hasmonean cemetery. Two Second Temple-era ritual baths were discovered there. At the foot of one of the hills overlooks the city of Modiin is a large reservoir built by the Jewish National Fund for irrigating local fields. In the middle of the park is a forest planted to commemorate over 300 American and Canadian Jews who died in Israels wars or were victims of terror, an annual memorial ceremony is organized by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel. In 2011, the ceremony was attended by the US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, ajalon Emmaus Nicopolis List of national parks and nature reserves of Israel Official website
20.
Crusades
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The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II. Urban urged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I, the response to Urbans preaching by people of many different classes across Western Europe established the precedent for later Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the church. Some were hoping for apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins, others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, gain glory and honour, or find opportunities for economic and political gain. Many modern Historians have polarised opinions of the Crusaders behaviour under Papal sanction, to some it was incongruous with the stated aims and implied moral authority of the papacy and the Crusades, to the extent that on occasions that the Pope excommunicated Crusaders. Crusaders often pillaged as they travelled, while their leaders retained control of captured territory rather than returning it to the Byzantines. During the Peoples Crusade thousands of Jews were murdered in what is now called the Rhineland massacres, Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade rendering the reunification of Christendom impossible. These tales consequently galvanised medieval romance, philosophy and literature, but the Crusades also reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. Crusade is not a term, instead the terms iter for journey or peregrinatio for pilgrimage were used. Not until the word crucesignatus for one who was signed with the cross was adopted at the close of the century was specific terminology developed. The Middle English equivalents were derived from old French, croiserie in the 13th–15th centuries, croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760. By convention historians adopt the term for the Christian holy wars from 1095, the Crusades in the Holy Land are traditionally counted as nine distinct campaigns, numbered from the First Crusade of 1095–99 to the Ninth Crusade of 1271/2. Usage of the term Crusade may differ depending on the author, pluralists use the term Crusade of any campaign explicitly sanctioned by the reigning Pope. This reflects the view of the Roman Catholic Church that every military campaign given Papal sanction is equally valid as a Crusade, regardless of its cause, justification, generalists see Crusades as any and all holy wars connected with the Latin Church and fought in defence of their faith. Popularists limit the Crusades to only those that were characterised by popular groundswells of religious fervour – that is, only the First Crusade, Medieval Muslim historiographers such as Ali ibn al-Athir refer to the Crusades as the Frankish Wars. The term used in modern Arabic, ḥamalāt ṣalībiyya حملات صليبية, campaigns of the cross, is a loan translation of the term Crusade as used in Western historiography. The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the resulting unified polity in the seventh and eighth centuries led to a rapid expansion of Arab power. This influence stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, tolerance, trade, and political relationships between the Arabs and the Christian states of Europe waxed and waned
21.
Penitent thief
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The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief or the Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed persons mentioned in a version of the Crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. In the accounts in the Gospel of Mark and Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke describes one asking Jesus to remember him when Jesus will have come into his kingdom. The other, as the impenitent thief, asks Jesus why he cannot save himself and he is given the name Dismas in the Gospel of Nicodemus and is not formally canonized by the Catholic Church but is venerated in some Catholic traditions as Saint Dismas . Other traditions have bestowed other names, In Coptic Orthodox tradition, in the Codex Colbertinus, he is named Zoatham. In Russian Orthodox tradition, he is named Rakh, two men were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on his right hand and one on his left, which the Gospel of Mark interprets as fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53,12. 40 The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, Have you no fear of God,41 And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal. 42 Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,43 He replied to him, Amen I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise. 23, 39–43 The phrase translated Amen I say to you today you will be in paradise in Luke 23,43 is disputed in a minority of versions and commentaries. The majority of ancient Bible translations also follow the majority view, as a result, some prayers recognize the good thief as the only person confirmed as a saint—that is, a person known to be in Paradise after death—by the Bible, and indeed by Jesus himself. Only the Gospel of Luke describes one of the thieves as penitent, Augustine of Hippo does not name the thief, but wonders if he might not have been baptized at some point. According to tradition, the Good Thief was crucified to Jesus right hand, for this reason, depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus often show Jesus head inclined to his right, showing his acceptance of the Good Thief. The footrest is slanted, pointing up towards the Good Thief, according to John Chrysostom, the thief dwelt in the desert and robbed or murdered anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. According to Pope Gregory I, he was guilty of blood, further, the argument is presented that baptism is not necessary for salvation since the thief had no opportunity for it. However, in some traditions he is regarded as having a baptism of blood. Lukes unnamed penitent thief was later assigned the name Dismas in the Gospel of Nicodemus, the name Dismas was adapted from a Greek word meaning sunset or death. The other thiefs name is given as Gestas, anne Catherine Emmerich saw the Holy Family exhausted and helpless, according to Augustine of Hippo and Peter Damian, the Holy Family met Dismas, in these circumstances. Pope Theophilus of Alexandria wrote a Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief, in Coptic Orthodoxy, he is named Demas. This is the given to him in the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea
22.
Joshua
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Joshua /ˈdʒɒʃuə/ or Jehoshua is the central figure in the Hebrew Bibles Book of Joshua. According to the books of Exodus, Numbers and Joshua, he was Moses assistant and his name was Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him Yehoshua the name by which he is commonly known. The name is shortened to Yeshua in Nehemiah, according to the Bible he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus. According to the Hebrew Bible, Joshua was one of the spies of Israel sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, 1–16, and after the death of Moses, he led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, according to Biblical chronology, Joshua lived between 1355 and 1245 BCE, or sometime in the late Bronze Age. According to Joshua 24,29, Joshua died at the age of 110, Joshua also holds a position of respect among Muslims. According to Islamic tradition, he was, along with Caleb, all Muslims also see Joshua as the leader of the Israelites, following the death of Moses. Some Muslims also believe Joshua to be the attendant of Moses mentioned in the Qurān, before Moses meets Khidr, the English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew language Yehoshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation. The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea—the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name, Jesus is the English of the Greek transliteration of Yehoshua via Latin. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word Yehoshua are rendered as Ἰησοῦς, thus, in Greek, Joshua is called Jesus son of Naue to differentiate him from Jesus Christ. This is also true in the Slavic languages following the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Joshua was a major figure in the events of the Exodus. He was charged by Moses with selecting and commanding a group for their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim. He later accompanied Moses when he ascended biblical Mount Sinai to commune with God, visualize Gods plan for the Israelite tabernacle and receive the Ten Commandments. Joshua was with Moses when he descended from the mountain, heard the Israelites celebrations around the Golden Calf, and broke the tablets bearing the words of the commandments. However, when Moses returned to the mountain to re-create the tablets recording the Ten Commandments, Joshua was not present, according to Joshua 1, 1-9, God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses as leader of the Israelites along with giving him a blessing of invincibility during his lifetime. The first part of the book of Joshua covers the period when he led the conquest of Canaan, at the Jordan River, the waters parted, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea. The first battle after the crossing of the Jordan was the Battle of Jericho, Joshua led the destruction of Jericho, then moved on to Ai, a small neighboring city to the west. However, they were defeated with thirty-six Israelite deaths, the defeat was attributed to Achan taking an accursed thing from Jericho, and was followed by Achan and his family and animals being stoned to death to restore Gods favor
23.
Amorites
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The term Amurru in Akkadian and Sumerian texts refers to them, as well as to their principal deity. The ethnic terms Mar. tu, Amurru and Amar were used for them in Sumerian, Akkadian, from the 21st century BC, possibly triggered by a long major drought starting about 2200 BC, a large-scale migration of Amorite tribes infiltrated southern Mesopotamia. Known Amorites wrote in a dialect of Akkadian found on tablets at Mari dating from 1800–1750 BC, since the language shows northwest Semitic forms, words and constructions, the Amorite language is a Northwest Semitic language, and possibly one of the Canaanite languages. The main sources for the limited knowledge about Amorite are the proper names, not Akkadian in style. The Akkadian language of the native Semitic states, cities and polities of Mesopotamia, was from the east Semitic, in the earliest Sumerian language texts, all western lands beyond the Euphrates, including the modern Levant, were known as the land of the mar. tu. This term appears in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, which describes it in the time of Enmerkar as one of the inhabited by speakers of a different language. Another text known as Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird describes how, fifty years into Enmerkars reign, for the Akkadian kings of central Mesopotamia Mar. tu was one of the Four Quarters surrounding Akkad, along with Subartu/Assyria, Sumer, and Elam. Naram-Sin of Akkad records successful campaigns against them in northern Syria c.2240 BC and these Amorites appear as nomadic clans ruled by fierce tribal chiefs, who forced themselves into lands they needed to graze their herds. TU who know no grain. The MAR. TU who know no house nor town, the boors of the mountains, the MAR. TU who digs up truffles. Elsewhere, the armies of Elam in southern Iran were attacking and weakening the empire, many Amorite chieftains in southern Mesopotamia aggressively took advantage of the failing empire to seize power for themselves. Leaders with Amorite names assumed power in various places, usurping native Akkadian rulers, including in Isin, Eshnunna, Babylon, hitherto a small, politically and military unimportant town was raised to the status of a minor independent city state under Sumu-abum in 1894 BC. The Elamites finally sacked Ur in c.2004 BC, some time later, the Old Assyrian Empire became the most powerful entity in Mesopotamia immediately preceding the rise of the Amorite king Hammurabi of Babylon. There is a range of views regarding the Amorite homeland. One extreme is the view that kur mar. tu/māt amurrim covered the area between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Peninsula included. The other extreme is the view that the “homeland” of the Amorites was an area in northern Syria. The rise of the Amorite kingdoms in Mesopotamia brought about deep and lasting repercussions in its political, social, the division into kingdoms replaced the Babylonian city-states in southern Mesopotamia. Men, land, and cattle ceased to belong physically to the gods or to the temples, the priest assumed the service of the gods, and cared for the welfare of his subjects, but the economic life of the country was no longer exclusively in their hands. The religious, ethical, technological, scientific and artistic directions in which Mesopotamia had been developing since the fourth millennium BC were not greatly affected by the Amorites hegemony
24.
Judas Maccabeus
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Judah Maccabee was a Jewish priest and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, the Jewish feast of Hanukkah commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE, after Judah Maccabee removed the Hellenistic statuary. Judah was the son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, a Jewish priest from the village of Modiin. After Mattathiass death in 166 BCE, Judah assumed leadership of the revolt in accordance with the disposition of his father. The First Book of Maccabees praises Judahs valor and military talent, in the early days of the rebellion, Judah received a surname Maccabee. Several explanations have been put forward for this surname, one suggestion is that the name derives from the Aramaic maqqaba, hammer or sledgehammer, in recognition of his ferocity in battle. It is also possible that the name Maccabee is an acronym for the Torah verse Mi kamokha baelim Adonai, Who among the gods is like you, rabbi Moshe Schreiber writes that it is an acronym for his fathers name Mattityahu Kohen Ben Yochanan. Some scholars maintain that the name is a form of the Hebrew maqqab-ya ¯hû. The strategy enabled Judah to win a string of victories, at the battle of Nahal el-Haramiah, he defeated a small Seleucid force under the command of Apollonius, governor of Samaria, who was killed. Judah took possession of Apolloniuss sword and used it until his death as a symbol of vengeance, after Nahal el-Haramiah, recruits flocked to the Jewish cause. Shortly thereafter, Judah routed a larger Seleucid army under the command of Seron near Beth-Horon, then in the Battle of Emmaus, Judah proceeded to defeat the Seleucid forces led by generals Nicanor and Gorgias. This force was dispatched by Lysias, whom Antiochus left as viceroy after departing on a campaign against the Parthians, by a forced night march, Judah succeeded in eluding Gorgias, who had intended to attack and destroy the Jewish forces in their camp with his cavalry. While Gorgias was searching for him in the mountains, Judah made an attack upon the Seleucid camp. The Seleucid commander had no alternative but to withdraw to the coast, the defeat at Emmaus convinced Lysias that he must prepare for a serious and prolonged war. He accordingly assembled a new and larger army and marched with it on Judea from the south via Idumea, after several years of conflict Judah drove out his foes from Jerusalem, except for the garrison in the citadel of Acra. He purified the defiled Temple of Jerusalem and on the 25th of Kislev restored the service in the Temple, the reconsecration of the Temple became a permanent Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, which continued even after the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. The liberation of Jerusalem was the first step on the road to ultimate independence, upon hearing the news that the Jewish communities in Gilead, Transjordan, and Galilee were under attack by neighboring Greek cities, Judah immediately went to their aid. He personally led the campaign in Transjordan, taking him his brother Jonathan
25.
Seleucid Empire
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Seleucus received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexanders near eastern territories. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The Seleucid Empire was a center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek political elite dominated. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by immigration from Greece, Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army. Their attempts to defeat their old enemy Ptolemaic Egypt were frustrated by Roman demands, contemporary sources, such as a loyalist degree from Ilium, in Greek language define the Seleucid state both as an empire and as a kingdom. Similarly, Seleucid rulers were described as kings in Babylonia and he refers to either Alexander Balas or Alexander II Zabinas as a ruler. Alexander, who conquered the Persian Empire under its last Achaemenid dynast, Darius III, died young in 323 BC. Alexanders generals jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire, Ptolemy, a former general and the satrap of Egypt, was the first to challenge the new system, this led to the demise of Perdiccas. Ptolemys revolt led to a new subdivision of the empire with the Partition of Triparadisus in 320 BC, Seleucus, who had been Commander-in-Chief of the Companion cavalry and appointed first or court chiliarch received Babylonia and, from that point, continued to expand his dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the used as the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants. Following his and Lysimachus victory over Antigonus Monophthalmus at the decisive Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus took control over eastern Anatolia, in the latter area, he founded a new capital at Antioch on the Orontes, a city he named after his father. An alternative capital was established at Seleucia on the Tigris, north of Babylon, Seleucuss empire reached its greatest extent following his defeat of his erstwhile ally, Lysimachus, at Corupedion in 281 BC, after which Seleucus expanded his control to encompass western Anatolia. He hoped further to take control of Lysimachuss lands in Europe – primarily Thrace and even Macedonia itself, nevertheless, even before Seleucus death, it was difficult to assert control over the vast eastern domains of the Seleucids. Seleucus invaded the Punjab region of India in 305 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya and it is said that Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants. Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and it is generally thought that Chandragupta married Seleucuss daughter, or a Macedonian princess, a gift from Seleucus to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants, an asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, Megasthenes wrote detailed descriptions of India and Chandraguptas reign, which have been partly preserved to us through Diodorus Siculus
26.
Emmaus Nicopolis
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Emmaus Nicopolis was the Roman name for one of the towns associated with the Emmaus of the New Testament, where Jesus is said to have appeared after his death and resurrection. Emmaus was the seat of the Roman Emmaus Nicopolis was the name of the city from the 3rd century CE until the conquest of Palestine by the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate in 639. In the modern age, the site was the location of the Palestinian Arab village of Imwas, near the Latrun junction, Emmaus Nicopolis appears on Roman geographical maps. The Peutinger Table situates it about 31 kilometres west of Jerusalem, the geographical position of Emmaus is described in the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Sheviit 9.2, From Bet Horon to the Sea is one domain. Yet is it one domain without regions, rabbi Johanan said, ‘Still there is Mountain, Lowland, and Valley. From Bet Horon to Emmaus it is Mountain, from Emmaus to Lydda Lowland, then there should be four stated. The name for Emmaus was hellenized during the 2nd century BCE and appears in Jewish and Greek texts in many variations, Ammaus, Ammaum, Emmaus, Emmaum, Maus, Amus, a spring of Emmaus, or alternatively a spring of salvation is attested in Greek sources. Emmaus is mentioned by name in Midrash Zutta for Song of Songs 6,8 and Midrash Rabba for Lamentations 1,45. But they urged him, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening, and it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, a Christian scholar and writer born in Jerusalem, Julius Africanus, who said he had interviewed descendants of Jesus relatives, put Emmaus once more on the map. He headed an embassy to Rome and had an interview with the Roman emperor Elagabalus on behalf of Emmaus, due to its strategic position, Emmaus played an important administrative, military and economic role in history. The first mention of Emmaus occurs in the 1st book of Maccabees, chapters 3-4, the first battles of the Hasmoneans are traditionally believed occurred in this area. During the Hasmonean period, Emmaus became an administrative centre in the Ayalon Valley. Josephus Flavius mentions Emmaus in his writings several times and he speaks about the destruction of Emmaus by the Romans in the year 4 BCE. In 130 or 131 CE, the city was destroyed by an earthquake, in 132, the ruins of Emmaus fortress were briefly reconstructed by Judean rebels under Simon Bar Kokhba and used as a hideout during the revolt. The city of Nikopolis was founded on the ruins of Emmaus in early 3rd century CE, soon after it was refounded to become a city, which quickly became famous, and was given the qualification of Nicopolis. St. Eusebius writes Emmaus, whence was Cleopas who is mentioned by the Evangelist Luke, today it is Nicopolis, a famous city of Palestine. In 222 CE, a basilica was erected there, which was rebuilt first by the Byzantines, during the Byzantine period Emmaus-Nicopolis became a large city and a bishopric
27.
Hasmonean dynasty
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The Hasmonean dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea, some modern scholars refer to this period as an independent kingdom of Israel. In 63 BCE, the kingdom was conquered by the Roman Republic, broken up, the dynasty had survived for 103 years before yielding to the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE. Even then, Herod the Great tried to bolster the legitimacy of his reign by marrying a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne, the dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt. However, the power vacuum that enabled the Jewish state to be recognized by the Roman Senate c. 139 BCE was later exploited by the Romans themselves. Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, Simons great-grandsons, became pawns in a war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The deaths of Pompey and Caesar, and the related Roman civil wars temporarily relaxed Romes grip on Israel and this short independence was rapidly crushed by the Romans under Mark Antony and Octavian. The installation of Herod the Great as king in 37 BCE made Israel a Roman client state, in AD6, Rome joined Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea into the Roman province of Iudaea. In AD44, Rome installed the rule of a Roman procurator side by side with the rule of the Herodian kings, an alternative view posits that the Hebrew name Hashmonai is linked with the village of Heshbon, mentioned in Joshua 15,27. Gott and Licht attribute the name to Ha Simeon, a reference to the Simeonite Tribe. Between 319 and 302 BC. Under Antiochus III the Seleucids wrested control of Israel from the Ptolemies for the final time and it was in Antioch that the Jews first made the acquaintance of Hellenism and of the more corrupt sides of Greek culture, and it was from Antioch that Judea henceforth was ruled. The books are considered part of the Biblical canon by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and apocryphal by most Protestants, the books include historical and religious material from the Septuagint that was codified by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The other primary source for the Hasmonean dynasty is the first book of The Wars of the Jews by the Jewish historian Josephus, Josephus account is the only primary source covering the history of the Hasmonean dynasty during the period of its expansion and independence between 110 to 63 BCE. The books of Maccabees use the names Judea and Israel as geographical descriptors throughout for both the land and people over whom the Hasmoneans would rule, the Talmud includes one of the Hasmonean kings under the description Kings of Israel. Scholars refer to the state as the Hasmonean Kingdom to distinguish it from the kingdoms of Israel. The Hellenization of the Jews in the period was not universally resisted. Generally, the Jews accepted foreign rule when they were required to pay tribute. Nevertheless, Jews were divided between those favoring Hellenization and those opposing it, and were divided over allegiance to the Ptolemies or Seleucids, when the High Priest Simon II died in 175 BCE, conflict broke out between supporters of his son Onias III and his son Jason
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Knights Templar
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The order was founded in 1119 and active from about 1129 to 1312. The order, which was among the wealthiest and most powerful, became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and they were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades, the Templars were closely tied to the Crusades, when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded. Rumours about the Templars secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – took advantage of the situation to control over them. In 1307, he had many of the members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions. Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip, the abrupt reduction in power of a significant group in European society gave rise to speculation, legend, and legacy through the ages. The re-use of their name for later organizations has kept the name Templar alive to the modern day, after Europeans in the First Crusade recovered Jerusalem in 1099, many Christians made pilgrimages to various sacred sites in the Holy Land. Although the city of Jerusalem was under relatively secure Christian control, in 1119, the French knight Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and proposed creating a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims. The Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as Solomons Temple, and from this location the new order took the name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or Templar knights. The order, with about nine knights including Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard, had few financial resources and their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasising the orders poverty. The impoverished status of the Templars did not last long, another major benefit came in 1139, when Pope Innocent IIs papal bull Omne Datum Optimum exempted the order from obedience to local laws. This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes, with its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the Battle of Montgisard, although the primary mission of the order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure, the Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman who was interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away, based on this mix of donations and business dealing, the Templars established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. The Order of the Knights Templar arguably qualifies as the worlds first multinational corporation, in the mid-12th century, the tide began to turn in the Crusades. The Muslim world had become united under effective leaders such as Saladin, and dissension arose amongst Christian factions in, and concerning
29.
Palestine Exploration Fund
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The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865 and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study of the Levant region, today now known as Palestine. Consequently, it had a relationship with Corps of Royal Engineers. The beginnings of the Palestine Exploration Fund are rooted in a society founded by British Consul James Finn. Many photographs of Palestine have survived from this period, on 22 June 1865, a group of Biblical archaeologists and clergymen financed the fund, with initial funding of £300. The most notable of the founders were Arthur P. Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, and George Grove and its founders established the fund for the purpose of investigating the Archaeology, Geography, manners, customs and culture, Geology and Natural History of the Holy Land. It is interesting to note that the General Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund recognized a connection with the earlier Society. The preliminary meeting of the Society of the Palestine Exploration Fund took place in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey, William Thomson, the Archbishop of York, read out the original prospectus at the first organisational meeting, ur object is strictly an inductive inquiry. No country should be of so much interest to us as that in which the documents of our Faith were written, at the same time no country more urgently requires illustration. Even to a traveller in the Holy Land the Bible becomes, in its form, and therefore to some extent in its substance. Much would be gained by. bringing to light the remains of so many races and generations which must lie concealed under the accumulation of rubbish and ruins on which those villages stand. The PEF conducted many early excavations of biblical and post biblical sites around the Levant, as well as studies involving natural history, anthropology, history, in 1867, Charles Warren led PEFs biggest expedition. Warren and his team improved the topography of Jerusalem and discovered the ancient water systems that lay beneath the city of Jerusalem, the water system was later named Warrens Shaft, after Charles Warren, due to the discovery. Scattered over the world, a people without a country and it was one of the earliest usages by a prominent politician of a phrase which was to become widely used by advocates of Jewish settlement in Palestine. In 1878, the Treasurers statement listed over 130 local associations in the United Kingdom, there were also branches in Canada and Australia as well as Gaza City and Jerusalem. Expenditure in 1877 amounted to £2,959 14s 11d, regarding the latter, great emphasis was placed upon the nomenclature Holy Land, so the notion of religion could never have been far away. Also stress was laid upon the fact that The Society numbers among its supporters Christians, originally the survey was led by a Captain Stewart but he was forced home due to ill health. He was replaced by Major Wilson with Lieutenant Conder, following the death of Tyrwhitt Drake from malaria Lieutenant Kitchener joined the group
30.
Adobe
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Adobe is a building material made from earth and often organic material. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world, modern methods of construction allow the pouring of whole adobe walls that are reinforced with steel. In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, cases where adobe structures were widely damaged during earthquakes include the 1976 Guatemala earthquake, the 2003 Bam earthquake and the 2010 Chile earthquake. Puebloan peoples built their structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe. Adobe bricks were used in Spain from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and manufacture, and economics. A distinction is made between the smaller adobes, which are about the size of ordinary baked bricks, and the larger adobines. The word adobe /əˈdoʊbiː/ has existed for around 4000 years with little change in either pronunciation or meaning. The word can be traced from the Middle Egyptian word ɟbt mudbrick, Middle Egyptian evolved into Late Egyptian, Demotic or pre-Coptic, and finally to Coptic, where it appeared as τωωβε tōʾpə. This was borrowed into Arabic as الطوب aṭ-ṭawbu or aṭ-ṭūbu, with the definite article al- attached, tuba, English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century. In more modern English usage, the adobe has come to include a style of architecture popular in the desert climates of North America. An adobe brick is a material made of earth mixed with water. The soil composition typically contains sand, silt and clay, straw is useful in binding the brick together and allowing the brick to dry evenly, thereby preventing cracking due to uneven shrinkage rates through the brick. The most desirable soil texture for producing the mud of adobe is 15% clay, 10–30% silt, another source quotes 15–25% clay and the remainder sand and coarser particles up to cobbles 50 to 250 mm with no deleterious effect. Modern adobe is stabilized with either emulsified asphalt or Portland cement up to 10% by weight, no more than half the clay content should be expansive clays with the remainder non-expansive illite or kaolinite. Too much expansive clay results in uneven drying through the resulting in cracking. Typically the soils of the Southwest United States, where construction is in use, are an adequate composition. Adobe walls are bearing, i. e. they carry their own weight into the foundation rather than by another structure
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Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
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Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the title raising the rank of the see of the Latin Church Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction over all Latin Church Roman Catholics in the Holy Land as well as Cyprus, in Jerusalem, the Latin Catholic community is the largest Christian community, with some 4,500 people out of an estimated Christian population of about 11,000. Presently Sede vacante, the most recent Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was Fouad Twal who resigned in 2016, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem also holds the office of Grand Prior of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. In the Catholic Church, the title Patriarch is customarily reserved to the highest ranking bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches. The Patriarch of Jerusalem is one of four Archbishops of the Latin Church to be called a patriarch, the others being the Patriarchs of Venice, Lisbon, the honorary patriarchal titles Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch were abolished in 1964, other ones earlier. The title of Patriarch of Jerusalem is also used by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jerusalem was one of the Apostles original bishoprics. It was renamed Aelia Capitolina in 135 AD, again Jerusalem in 325, in 451 it was promoted as Patriarchal See. After 649, Pope Martin appointed John of Philadelphia as Patriarchal vicar of Jerusalem to replace Sergius of Jaffa, apart from the Maronites, most Christians in the Holy Land came under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 1099, the Western Crusaders captured Jerusalem, set up the Kingdom of Jerusalem and established a Latin hierarchy under a Latin Patriarch, the Latin Patriarch resided in Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, while Orthodox Patriarchs continued to be appointed, but resided in Constantinople. In 1187, the Crusaders were forced to flee Jerusalem, the Catholic Church continued to appoint residential Latin Patriarchs. With the fall of Acre, the Latin Patriarch moved to Cyprus in 1291, from 1374, the Catholic Church continued to appoint titular Patriarchs of Jerusalem, who were based at the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome. A resident Latin Patriarch was re-established in 1847 by Pius IX, though officially superseding the Franciscans, Valerga was also the Grand Master of the Order. On Valergas death in 1872, Vincent Braco was appointed, and following his death in 1889, the Grand Masters of the Order continued to be named as Latin Patriarchs until 1905. The Co-Cathedral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus is the principal, or mother Church of the Latin Patriarchate, however, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre has the title of cathedral of the patriarchate. In 1987, Michel Sabbah became the first native Palestinian to be appointed Latin Patriarch, in 2008, Sabbah also signed the Kairos Palestine Document against Israeli occupation. Pope Francis appointed the Pierbattista Pizzaballa as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Prior to the Great Schism, there were no separate Latin and Greek Orthodox Churches, and thus no separate Patriarchs. For Patriarchs of Jerusalem of the unified Church prior to the Schism, the bull declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church, unless someone was specifically appointed in the honorary office. Raymond Bequin, O. P. (1324-1329 Died Peter Paludanus, O. P. Élie de Nabinal, guillaume Amici Philippe de Cabassole Guglielmo Militis, O. P. Guilherme Audibert de la Garde Philippe dAlençon de Valois Guglielmo da Urbino, O. F. M
32.
Our Lady of Sorrows
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As Mater Dolorosa, it is also a key subject for Marian art in the Catholic Church. The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular Roman Catholic devotion, in common religious Catholic imagery, the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed in a sorrowful and lacrimating affect, with seven daggers piercing her heart, often bleeding. Devotional prayers that consist of meditation began to elaborate on her Seven Sorrows based on the prophecy of Simeon. Common examples of piety under this title are Servite rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is liturgically celebrated every 15 of September, while a feast of Friday of Sorrows is observed in some Catholic countries. The Seven Sorrows are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary that are a popular devotion and are depicted in art. These Seven Sorrows should not be confused with the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, the escape and Flight into Egypt. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Via Dolorosa. The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary, the Piercing of the Side of Jesus, and His Descent from the Cross. The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea and it is a common practice for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each. Earlier, in 1233, seven youths in Tuscany founded the Servite Order, five years later, they took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. Over the centuries several devotions, and even orders, arose around meditation on Marys Sorrows in particular, the Servites developed the two most common devotions to Our Ladys Sorrows, namely the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows and the Black Scapular of the Seven Dolours of Mary. The Black Scapular is a symbol of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows, most devotional scapulars have requirements regarding ornamentation or design. The devotion of the Black Scapular requires only that it be made of woollen cloth. It depicts the Virgin Mary at the moment that Simeon the Righteous says, Yea and she stands with her hands upraised in prayer, and seven swords pierce her heart, indicative of the seven sorrows. This is one of the few Orthodox icons of the Theotokos which do not depict the infant Jesus, the refrain Rejoice, much-sorrowing Mother of God, turn our sorrows into joy and soften the hearts of evil men. The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows grew in popularity in the 12th century, some writings would place its roots in the eleventh century, especially among the Benedictine monks. The first altar to the Mater Dolorosa was set up in 1221 at the Cistercian monastery of Schönau, the formal feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows was originated by a provincial synod of Cologne in 1423. It was designated for the Friday after the third Sunday after Easter and had the title and its object was the sorrow of Mary during the Crucifixion and Death of Christ
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Priory
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A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters, or monasteries of monks or nuns, houses of canons regular and canonesses regular also use this term, the alternative being canonry. In pre-Reformation England, if an Abbey church was raised to cathedral status, the bishop, in effect, took the place of the abbot, and the monastery itself was headed by a prior. Priories first came to existence as subsidiaries to the Abbey of Cluny, many new houses were formed that were all subservient to the abbey of Cluny and called Priories. As such, the priory came to represent the Benedictine ideals espoused by the Cluniac reforms as smaller, lesser houses of Benedictines of Cluny. There were likewise many conventual priories in Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, the Benedictines and their offshoots, the Premonstratensians, and the military orders distinguish between conventual and simple or obedientiary priories. Conventual priories are those autonomous houses which have no abbots, either because the required number of twelve monks has not yet been reached. Simple or obedientiary priories are dependencies of abbeys and their superior, who is subject to the abbot in everything, is called a prior. These monasteries are satellites of the mother abbey, the Cluniac order is notable for being organised entirely on this obedientiary principle, with a single abbot at the Abbey of Cluny, and all other houses dependent priories. Priory may also refer to schools operated or sponsored by the Benedictines, Priory is also used to refer to the geographic headquarters of several commanderies of knights. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles
34.
Abbey
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An abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. It provides a place for activities, work and housing of Christian monks. The concept of the abbey has developed over centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic, an abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the religious order. Abbeys are often self-sufficient while using any abundance of produce or skill to provide care to the poor and needy, some abbeys offer accommodation to people who are seeking spiritual retreat. There are many famous abbeys across Europe, the earliest known Christian monasteries were groups of huts built near the residence of a famous ascetic or other holy person. Disciples wished to be close to their man or woman in order to study their doctrine or imitate their way of life. In the earliest times of Christian monasticism, ascetics would live in social isolation and they would subsist whilst donating any excess produce to the poor. However, increasing religious fervor about the ways and or persecution of them would drive them further away from their community. For instance, the cells and huts of anchorites have been found in the deserts of Egypt, in 312 AD, Anthony the Great retired to the Thebaid region of Egypt to escape the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Anthony was the best known of the anchorites of his due to his degree of austerity, sanctity. The deeper he withdrew into the wilderness, the more numerous his disciples became and they refused to be separated from him and built their cells close to him. This became a first true monastic community, Anthony, according to Johann August Wilhelm Neander, inadvertently became the founder of a new mode of living in common, Coenobitism. At Tabennae on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, Saint Pachomius laid the foundations for the life by arranging everything in an organized manner. He built several monasteries, each with about 1,600 separate cells laid out in lines and these cells formed an encampment where the monks slept and performed some of their manual tasks. There were nearby large halls such as the church, refectory, kitchen, infirmary, an enclosure protecting all these buildings gave the settlement the appearance of a walled village. This layout, known as the laurae, became popular throughout Palestine, as well as the laurae, communities known as caenobia developed
35.
Edmond James de Rothschild
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Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild was a French member of the Rothschild banking family. A strong supporter of Zionism, his large donations lent significant support to the movement during its early years and he grew up in the world of the Second Republic and the Second Empire and was a soldier Garde Mobile in the first Franco-Prussian War. Edmond de Rothschild inherited Château Rothschild, Boulogne-Billancourt and owned the Château Rothschild dArmainvilliers in Gretz-Armainvilliers in the Seine-et-Marne département, included in this gift were more than one hundred engravings and drawings by Rembrandt. A portion of his art collection was bequeathed to his son James A. de Rothschild and is now part of the National Trust collection at Waddesdon Manor, however, in 1882 Edmond cut back on his purchases of art and began to buy land in Southern Syria. He became a proponent of the Zionist movement, financing the first site at Rishon LeZion. In his goal for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, he promoted industrialization, in 1924, he established the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, which acquired more than 125,000 acres of land and set up business ventures. Edmond de Rothschild also played a role in Israels wine industry. Under the supervision of his administrators in Ottoman Palestine, farm colonies and vineyards were established and it is estimated that Rothschild spent over $50 million in supporting the settlements and backed research in electricity by engineers and financed development of an electric generating station. Jews and Arabs lived amicably on Rothschilds land, with no Arab grievances, according to historian Albert M. Hyamson, Rothschild recognised that the overriding interest of the Jews of Palestine was the confidence and the friendship of their Arab neighbours. The interests of the Arab cultivators of the land he bought were never overlooked and he suggested in 1931 to Judah Magnes that We must hold them down with a strong hand. In a 1934 letter to the League of Nations, Edmond de Rothschild stated that the struggle to put an end to the Wandering Jew, could not have as its result, in 1934, Baron de Rothschild died at Château Rothschild, Boulogne-Billancourt. His wife died a year later on 29 December 1935 and they were interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris until April 1954 when their remains were transported to Israel aboard a naval frigate. At the port of Haifa, the ship was met with sirens, for his Jewish philanthropy Baron Edmond became known as HaNadiv HaYadua, and in his memory his son bequeathed the funds to construct the building for the Knesset. Israels 1982/5742 Independence Day coin is dedicated to the memory of Edmond de Rothschild, from 1982 until 1986, the Bank of Israel used his portrait on the 500 Israeli sheqel note. Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv is named after him, as well as various localities throughout Israel which he assisted in founding, Rishon LeZion, the city which he helped to found named one of the central streets Rothschild Street, and in 1996 Rothschild Mall was built. Also named after him is the Parc Edmond de Rothschild in Boulogne-Billancourt, Edmond de Rothschild, lhomme qui racheta la terre sainte. Aharonson, Ran. Rothschild and Early Jewish Colonization in Palestine, two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel
36.
Carmel-Mizrahi Winery
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Carmel Winery is a vineyard and winery in Israel. Founded in 1882 by Edmond James de Rothschild, its products are exported to over 40 countries and it is the largest winery in Israel, with a local market share of almost 50%. Carmel Winery manufactures mainly wine, brandy and grape juice and it is the prime producer of wine in Israel, as it produces nearly half of the Israeli wine market, and one of the largest wine producers in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is the first and oldest exporter of wine, brandy and grape juice in the country, the company is owned by the council of the Vine-growers Union and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Its parent company is Societe Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves Richon Le Zion & Zikhron Yaakov Ltd, the company holds the two largest wineries in Israel, as well as two new boutique wineries - Yatir Winery and the Kayoumi Winery. In addition, the company owns 1,400 hectares of vineyards in Israel, Carmels production reaches 15 million bottles per year and its profit from export adds up to US$5 million from 40 countries. Their representatives traveled to France, where they met Baron Edmond de Rothschild, as a Zionist, Rothschild provided financial and moral assistance to the settlers. His first vineyards were planted near Rishon LeZion, south east of Jaffa, in 1882, French rootstock was imported, and the Baron sent his own wine specialists to advise the pioneers in this enterprise. Construction began on a wine cellar in Rishon LeZion. Later, a winery was established in Zikhron Yaakov, situated on Mount Carmel just south of Haifa. In 1895 Carmel Wine Co. was formed to export wines of Rishon LeZion and Zikhron Yaakov, first in Poland, then in Austria, Great Britain, in 1902 Carmel Mizrahi was founded in Palestine to market and distribute wines to the cities of the Ottoman Empire. In 1896, the first Carmel wines were presented at the International Exhibition of Berlin at a pavilion devoted to the industries of the Jewish colony in Palestine. Over a hundred people visited the exhibition, looked at the products. A year later, a world gardening exhibition was held in Hamburg where the wines were well received. Rishon LeZion wines won a medal at the Paris Worlds Fair in 1900. In 1906, both the vineyards and the management of the two wineries were deeded to the winegrowers, forming the Societé Cooperative Vigneronne des Grandes Caves, interestingly, many of Israels historical figures worked in the vineyards and in the wineries. Perhaps the two most famous were the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion and his successor, through the early decades of the 20th century the wine business bloomed. However, the businesses fell sharply when the war was over, the industry lost its principal markets in Russia due to the October Revolution, in the United States because of Prohibition, and in Egypt and the Middle East because of Arab nationalism
37.
Mandatory Palestine
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Mandatory Palestine was a geopolitical entity under British administration, carved out of Ottoman Southern Syria after World War I. British civil administration in Palestine operated from 1920 until 1948, further confusing the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, promising British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. At the wars end the British and French set up a joint Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in what had been Ottoman Syria, the British achieved legitimacy for their continued control by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in June 1922. The civil Mandate administration was formalized with the League of Nations consent in 1923 under the British Mandate for Palestine, the land west of the Jordan River, known as Palestine, was under direct British administration until 1948. The land east of the Jordan, a region known as Transjordan, under the rule of the Hashemite family from the Hijaz. The divergent tendencies regarding the nature and purpose of the mandate are visible already in the discussions concerning the name for this new entity. As a set-off to this, certain of the Arab politicians suggested that the country should be called Southern Syria in order to emphasise its close relation with another Arab State. During the British Mandate period the area experienced the ascent of two major nationalist movements, one among the Jews and the other among the Arabs, following its occupation by British troops in 1917–1918, Palestine was governed by the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. In July 1920, the administration was replaced by a civilian administration headed by a High Commissioner. The first High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, a Zionist recent cabinet minister, arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920, following the arrival of the British, Muslim-Christian Associations were established in all the major towns. In 1919 they joined to hold the first Palestine Arab Congress in Jerusalem and its main platforms were a call for representative government and opposition to the Balfour Declaration. The Zionist Commission was formed in March 1918 and was active in promoting Zionist objectives in Palestine, on 19 April 1920, elections were held for the Assembly of Representatives of the Palestinian Jewish community. The Zionist Commission received official recognition in 1922 as representative of the Palestinian Jewish community, Rutenberg soon established an electric company whose shareholders were Zionist organizations, investors, and philanthropists. Palestinian-Arabs saw it as proof that the British intended to favor Zionism, when Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Kamil al-Husayni died in March 1921, High Commissioner Samuel appointed his half-brother Mohammad Amin al-Husseini to the position. Amin al-Husseini, a member of the clan of Jerusalem, was an Arab nationalist. As Grand Mufti, as well as the influential positions that he held during this period. In 1922, al-Husseini was elected President of the Supreme Muslim Council which had created by Samuel in December 1921. The Council controlled the Waqf funds, worth annually tens of thousands of pounds, in addition, he controlled the Islamic courts in Palestine
38.
Muslim
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A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
39.
Tegart fort
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A Tegart fort is a type of militarized police fort constructed throughout Palestine during the British Mandatory period, initiated as a measure against the 1936–39 Arab Revolt. In Israel, the name for these prisons is spelled Taggart, the forts are named after their designer, British police officer and engineer Sir Charles Tegart. In Israel, the name is spelled as Taggart, Sir Charles Tegart designed the forts in 1938 based on his experiences in the Indian insurgency. They were built of reinforced concrete with water systems that would allow them to withstand a month-long siege, two types of forts were erected. Five structures were built to reinforce the so-called Tegarts wall of the border with Lebanon and Syria. Dozens more, of a different design to the northern forts, many of them can still be seen in Israel today, and continue to be used as police stations and jails. One houses Camp 1391 prison for high-risk prisoners, in the West Bank, several such forts, now known as Mukataa are used as offices and administrative centers of the Palestinian National Authority. It was destroyed in 2002 when the city was reconquered by Israeli forces in Operation Defensive Shield, the Tegart fort in Maalot-Tarshiha, now a police station, is being restored as a historical landmark, attracting the attention of preservationists and tourists. British name of the fort, current location name, history, also Ein at-Tina, Ein-a-Tina, Ein et-Tina. Also Suqat as-Sufi, Shoket es Sufi, was on the Egyptian border about 6-7km SE of Rafah, at 0791/0741, now in the Gaza Strip
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Cistercian architecture
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Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was headed by Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, who believed that churches should avoid superfluous ornamentation so as not to distract from the religious life, Cistercian architecture was simple and utilitarian. Although images of subjects were allowed in very limited instances, such as the crucifix. Their capacity for distracting monks was criticised in a letter by Bernard. Early Cistercian architecture shows a transition between Romanesque and Gothic architecture, later abbeys were also constructed in Renaissance and Baroque styles, though by then simplicity is rather less evident. In terms of construction, buildings were made where possible of smooth, pale, columns, pillars and windows fell at the same base level, and if plastering was done at all, it was kept extremely simple. The sanctuary kept a simple style of proportion of 1,2 at both elevation and floor levels, to maintain the appearance of ecclesiastical buildings, Cistercian sites were constructed in a pure, rational style, and may be counted among the most beautiful relics of the Middle Ages. Most Cistercian abbeys and churches were built in remote valleys far from cities and populated areas, many Cistercian establishments display early examples of hydraulic engineering and waterwheels. After stone, the two most important building materials were wood and metal, why these unsightly monkeys, why these fierce lions, why the monstrous centaurs, why semi-humans, why spotted tigers, why fighting soldiers, why trumpeting huntsmen. …In short there is such a variety and such a diversity of strange shapes everywhere that we may prefer to read the marbles rather than the books. However, the order itself was receptive to the improvements of Gothic principles of construction. This new Cistercian architecture embodied the ideals of the order, and was in theory at least utilitarian, the same rational, integrated scheme was used across Europe to meet the largely homogeneous needs of the order. Various buildings, including the chapter-house to the east and the dormitories above, were grouped around a cloister, crucifixes were allowed, and later some painting and decoration crept back in. The building projects of the Church in the High Middle Ages showed an ambition for the colossal, with vast amounts of stone being quarried, foigny Abbey was 98 metres long, and Vaucelles Abbey was 132 metres long. Monastic buildings came to be constructed entirely of stone, right down to the most humble of buildings, in the 12th and 13th centuries, Cistercian barns consisted of a stone exterior, divided into nave and aisles either by wooden posts or by stone piers. The Cistercians acquired a reputation in the task of administering the building sites for abbeys. St Bernards own brother, Achard, is known to have supervised the construction of many abbeys, others were Raoul at Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, who later became abbot there, Geoffrey dAignay, sent to Fountains Abbey in 1133, and Robert, sent to Mellifont Abbey in 1142. The Cistercians made it a point of honour to recruit the best stonecutters and it is from the 12th century Byland Abbey in Yorkshire that the oldest recorded example of architectural tracing is found
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
