The Holy Church of Sepulcher and Suplexes.

In her book “The Israelis, Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land” Donna Rosenthal focused a chapter on the traditionally diverse Christian population in Israel. She mentions the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to showcase the diversity of worldly denominations and the hostile yet sacred environment that surrounds the Christian community living in the Jewish State.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located in Jerusalem between Suq Khan e-Zeit and Christian Quarter Rd. According to the churches non-denominational website, Christians believe this is the site in which Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. The church holds the cross Jesus was hung on, the cave in which he was laid to rest (short rest), and also a rock known either as Calvary (Roman Catholic name) or Golgotha (Greek Orthodox name) that was present at his crucifixion. The first church was built on this land in the year 306 when Constantine conquered Jerusalem, destroying and rebuilding on top of the Roman temple for the God Venus that was supposedly constructed to hide the sacred site of Jesus. It has been an important and dramatic site of religious interest ever since. It has been destroyed by Muslim invaders twice, rebuilt and renovated by different Christian communities, and remains a major pilgrimage site for most Christians.

For centuries the various denominations of Christianity including but not limited to the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Franciscan, Syrian Orthodox, Egyptian, and Ethiopian Coptic clerics have argued and fought for control of the church. So much so that in 1852, the Ottoman government issued a mandate known as the “Status-Quo” that stated that the care of the Church of Holy Sepulchers is shared by the six denominations: the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Egyptian Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syrian Orthodox churches. The entire church grounds are carefully divided into sections, while some are commonly shared; some other parts are reserved to each particular sect.

This separation of ancient sacred space has caused a lot of drama even in recent times. According to Matti Friedman in his article titled “Christians feud over Church of Holy Sepulcher” a quarrel erupted in 2002 when a Coptic monk moved his chair into the shade and too close to the Ethiopians side, chaos ensued between the holy men and in the end 11 people were hospitalized for their holy battle wounds.

Fighting between the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian congregants over the rights to areas of the church during holidays has happened on multiple occasions recently. According to the BBC article “Monks brawl at Jerusalem Shrine”, both in 2002 and 2008 the two denominations have resorted to violence to challenge, push boundaries, or uphold the status quo that divides the Church of the Holy Sepulchers. The brawls have become youtube viral videos.

Rosenthal’s point of view reflected in her book “The Israelis” looks down upon the history of religious communities fighting over the church. She spends a great deal of the section on the church focusing on the violence and bickering. She also ends the discussion with a judgmental tone towards the holy men, telling them that they have much worse problems they should be paying attention too besides this religious landmarks status quo.

The church's website is supposedly from a non denominational point of view (certain denominations such as the Franciscans have their own sites for the Church). With this position the site doesn't seem to take a side to the discussion of fighting but does reveal the frustration of the slow process of any type of denominational cooperation in its language.

Matti Friedman’s point of view in his article “Christian’s feud over Church of Holy Sepulcher” is of disappointment towards the Christian groups that practice at their. He repeatedly refers to police involvement and his bewilderment on how to fix what he considers a ridiculous situation. Similarly the BBC article had a shocked point of view. The fighting is presented in a way that makes the situation seem unbelievable. Even in the title “Monks brawl at Jerusalem shrine” makes the whole issue seem like a bad joke.

The information and data gathered for this blog from the various sources all seem reliable. The historical information from the church's website was cross checked with library and other reliable website sources. The information on denominational fighting in the BBC article and Matti Friedman’s article published in USA today is also trustworthy. The BBC is a respected news agency in regards to their data reliability and the same goes for USA today.

Israel is the land of sacred religious sites for all religious denominations. Israel is also the land of constant disputes and fighting. The Church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem represents both of these aspects of Israel’s identity.

The Israeli Bedouin Community: The Struggle of Land and Lifestyle

“The biggest issue and root cause of the majority of problems that the Israeli government has with the Bedouin, stem from their misunderstanding of what it means to be Arab.”. This statement by Rasha Athamni (An Israeli Arab youth delegate to the U.N. [Representing Israel]) illustrates the difficulty and confusion of the experience of the Bedouin in Israel. Donna Rosenthal spends a chapter in her book “The Israelis: Ordinary people in an extraordinary land” focusing on various experiences of the close to 200,000 Bedouin that live in Israel today. This feeling of confusion and being misunderstood mentioned by Rasha is also a primary theme in Rosenthal’s chapter. These issues have evolved and persist today, focusing on the sensitive Israeli dispute over land.

Bedouin city of Rahat

The majority of modern day Bedouin in Israel and across the Middle East are descendants of the independent semi nomadic tribes that once roamed the Middle East. They ignored borders and lacked allegiance to any nation, constantly moving around the vast area they consider their rightful property. The Israeli government website for the Knesset has a section titled “Bedouins in the State of Israel”, 4 pages stating the governing bodies official understanding of the history of Israeli Bedouin. The pages mention that when Israel became a state in 1948 the Bedouins were on movement restrictions and had their living grounds reduced, many flew to Galilee and Gaza but around 11,000 stayed. In 1951 they were forced into a small triangle in the Negev and after the passing of legislation of the Land Purchasing Law in 1953, the Bedouins lost all rights to the any land outside of their living area, which was currently forced upon them. The Israeli government then began to develop the Bedouins previous land into Jewish settlements, nature reserves, military camps and firing zones.

According to Professor Kassem Nabulsi, this issue of land is the biggest obstacle in the way of a comfortable Israeli Bedouin relationship. In his discussion at California State University Northridge he explained that the Bedouin issue is diverse among the northern and southern Bedouin but they unify on the feeling of the injustice of stolen lands and their growing frustration towards the Israeli government.

This anger and confusion rooted in land disputes from over 50 years ago have developed into modern day racial tensions between the Bedouin Israelis and the Israeli police. In his article “Is Rahat the Ferguson of Israel”, Ben Sales covers the 3 days of riots in the Bedouin town of Rahat in protest against the Israeli police killing of an unarmed young man. The police say that he was a bystander in a drug dealer and the residence of the city claim he was murdered while innocently on his doorstep, the disagreement took to violence in the streets. The citizens of Rahat interviewed in the article said that the Bedouin public finds itself in despair at the amount of racism and that they have lost hope at a diplomatic future.

Rahat and the treatment of Bedouins have become an example of the social inequality of Israel in the national sense. In her article “How Rahat Became a Symbol of Israeli Inequality”, Allison Deger talks about how the city that was at one point the image of a path to peace, Rahat has become the symbol for the terrible mistreatment of Arabs in Israel. Whether it be the failing school systems, deprived government funding, or police brutality, the Bedouin of Rahat or losing patience working with the Israeli government.

This growing tension in the Bedouin Israeli community may have begun in relation to land rights but has evolved into a racial, cultural, and overall debilitating social dispute.

Rosenthal’s point of view reflected in her book “The Israelis”, views the Bedouin Israeli community as a people in need of serious help. She has a sympathetic view towards the Bedouin and a concerned view as an Israeli. She shares the stories of Bedouin individuals that have been victimized by their situation in Israel. She ends her chapter with a quote by Professor Abu-Saad warning that if nothing drastic is done soon “the next intifada could come from the Bedouin”. To end on such a note expresses her perspective of fear and concern for the immediacy of action.

The Knesset website is supposed to reflect the perspective drawn from Israeli legislation and laws. From the sites description of the Bedouin history there is a similar feeling to Rosenthal's book, sympathy and concern but also with an added tinge of guilt and defensiveness. The pages document a lot of disappointments the Bedouin have toward the Israeli government, disappointment in the group that’s writing the informational page and this relationship creates a sense of guilt for the wrongdoings. Throughout the page the author also expresses a defensive point of view as it lists all the efforts the government is taking towards fixing the Bedouin issue, failing but attempting.

Both Rasha Athamni and Professor Kassem Nabulsi express a sympathetic view towards the Bedouin Israeli community and resentment towards the Israeli government for its actions towards the group. They focused on the confusion and lack of cohesion between the government and the Bedouin people. Both Rasha and Dr. Nabulsi were born and raised in Arab towns in Northern Israel and identify as both Israeli and Arab. While their points were critical of the government they also reflected a sense of responsibility for the actions of their home country.

     Ben Sales and Allison Deger present somewhat different points of views in their articles discussed above. Ben is overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Bedouin struggle and seems to understand the suffering and resulting riotous behavior. On the other hand Allison Deger focuses on the out of control behavior of the Bedouin in response to Israeli police along with the root causes. Her article while describing the rational buildup of tension, also explains the extent of irrational acts of the Bedouin rioters, something Ben seems to push aside as just an outcome without placing responsibility.

     According to the Knesset website all of the data used is in reference to Knesset government offices, records, and legislation, which are all reliable sources of data. Rasha Ahamni and Dr. Kassem Nabulsi are both qualified Israeli cultural representatives, Ahamni representing Israel to the United Nations and Professor Nabulsi who is a professor of Middle Eastern studies. Their opinions are a reliable source of reference. Ben Sales is the Israeli correspondent for JTA: The Global Jewish News Source which is a respected news agency that has been around for almost 100 years, a reliable source. Allison Deger is the assistant editor for the Mondoweiss news website founded in 2006 that has also produced reliable journalism.

     The Bedouin community in Israel is in desperate need of attention from the world and especially the intellectual minds of the world. What I’ve uncovered is that this Bedouin situation is extremely complicated and I haven’t found a proposed solution that works. The issue needs to be tinkered with the by best religious, political, philosophical, anthropological, and psychological minds we have in hopes of easing the terrible situation.