Israël-Gaza in beeld (video's en foto's)

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:35 schreef Meki het volgende:

[..]

Wat voegt deze video hierbij toe ?. je hebt duidelijk de OP gelezen of niet.

Ja, Gaza in beeld.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:36 schreef tho_Omas het volgende:

[..]

Ja, Gaza in beeld.

Objectiviteit ftw.

Justice for all!

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:51 schreef Meki het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

[ afbeelding ]

Gaza in oude tijden

Zonder raketten van de Hamas.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:51 schreef Meki het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

[ afbeelding ]

Gaza in oude tijden

Ben je er ooit geweest met vakantie?
Wel resort kan je mij aanraden?

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:51 schreef Meki het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

[ afbeelding ]

Gaza in oude tijden

Wat een mooie stad zeg. Ziet er aardig welvarend uit.

Palestina als bron van de pedagogiek:

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:59 schreef Meki het volgende:

[ afbeelding ]

Deze is dan wel weer mooi.

Occupation 101

Film over de bezetting, en ook over Gaza.
^{De film heeft veel awards gewonnen, zie officiele website.}

Helaas is geen één oorlog zwart/wit. Er zijn geen goede in deze oorlog.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:03 schreef larry_flynt het volgende:
Helaas is geen één oorlog zwart/wit. Er zijn geen goede in deze oorlog.

IDF

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:55 schreef Diederik_Duck het volgende:

[..]

Wat een mooie stad zeg. Ziet er aardig welvarend uit.

Skyline of Gaza

Coat of arms of Gaza
Arabic غزة
Founded in 15th Century BCE
Government City (from 1993)
Also Spelled Ghazzah (officially)
Gaza City (unofficially)
Governorate Gaza
Coordinates 31°31′N 34°27′ECoordinates: 31°31′N 34°27′E
Population 409,680 (2006)
Jurisdiction 45,000 dunams (45[1] km²)
Head of Municipality Rafiq Tawfiq al-Makki
Gaza (Arabic: غزة‎ transliteration: Ghazza, Hebrew: עַזָּה‎, ʕazzā) is the largest city in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territories. It has a population of approximately 410,000 in the inner city and 1.5 million people in the metropolitan area.[2]

Etymology

According to Zev Vilnay, the name "Gaza," from the Arabic Ġazza, originally derives from the Canaanite/Hebrew root for "strong" (ʕZZ), and was introduced to Arabic by way of the Hebrew, ʕazzā, i.e. "the strong one (f.)"; cpr. English stronghold.[3] According to Mariam Shahin, the Canaanites gave Gaza its name, the Ancient Egyptians called it Gazzat ("prized city"), and the Arabs often refer to it as Gazzat Hashim, in honor of Hashim, the great-grandfather of Muhammad, who is buried in the city, according to Islamic lore.[4]
[edit]History

See also: Syro-Palestinian archaeology#Archaeology in Gaza
The history of Gaza, one of the oldest cities in the world, has been shaped by its strategic location. The city is located on the Mediterranean coastal route, between North Africa and the greener lands of the Levant.[5] Ancient Gaza was a prosperous trade center and a stop on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria.
[edit]Ancient and Biblical periods


Statue of Zeus unearthed in Gaza
In ancient times, Gaza was the residence of the Ancient Egyptian governor of the region, then known as Canaan. A caravan point of strategic importance from the earliest times, it was constantly involved in the wars between Egypt and Palestine, Syria and the Mesopotamian powers, and appeared frequently in Egyptian and Assyrian records. Under Tuthmosis III, it is mentioned on the Syrian-Egyptian caravan route and in the Amarna letters it appears as "Azzati". Gaza was in Egyptian hands for 350 years, until it was conquered by the Philistines, a sea-faring people with cultural links to the Aegean, in the 12th century BCE. It then became a part of the pentapolis; a league of the Philistines' five most important city-states.[6]
In Judeo-Christian religions, Gaza was the place where Samson was imprisoned and met his death. (Judges 16:21) The prophets Amos and Zephaniah prophesied that Gaza would be deserted.[7][8][3] Gaza was under Israelite rule from the reign of King David in the early 11th century BCE until it was conquered by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II around 730 BCE.[6] In the 7th century it again came under Egyptian control, but during the Persian period (6th-4th centuries BCE) it enjoyed a certain independence and was a flourishing city.[6] The attack by Cambyses I was resisted in 529 BCE and later, around 520 BCE, the Greeks established a trading post. The first coins were minted on the Athens model around 380 BCE.[2]
Alexander the Great besieged Gaza for five months, the last city to resist his conquest, finally capturing it 332 BCE.[6] Gaza, led by a eunuch named Batis and defended by Arab mercenaries, withstood the siege for two months, until it was overcome by storm. The defenders, mostly local elements, fought to the death, and the women and children were taken captive. The city was resettled by neighboring Bedouins.[9] Greek culture took root in Gaza, and the city gained a reputation as a flourishing center of Hellenic learning and philosophy.[10] Belonging at first to the Ptolemaic kingdom, it passed after 200 BCE to the Seleucids.[6]
In the 1st century BCE and the first half of the 1st century CE, it was the Mediterranean port of the Nabateans, whose caravans arrived there from Petra or from Elath on the Red Sea. In 96 BCE, the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus besieged the city for a year and the inhabitants, who had hoped for help from the Nabatean king Aretas II, were slaughtered and their city destroyed by Jannaeus when he did not come to their aid.[11][6]
[edit]Antiquity
Gaza was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BCE and under the reign of emperor Pompey, Gaza was rebuilt by consul Aulus Gabinius.[6] Roman rule brought six centuries of relative peace and prosperity to the city which grew to have a flourishing port and a locus of trade between the Middle East and Africa.[10] In the New Testament, it is mentioned as being on the caravan route to Egypt (Acts 8:26). Granted to Herod the Great by the Roman emperor Augustus in 30 CE, it formed a separate unit within his kingdom, and Cosgabar, the governor of Idumea, was in charge of the city's affairs. On the division of Herod's kingdom, it was placed under the proconsul of Syria. In the Roman period it was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors,[6] especially Hadrian who visited it in 130 CE.[2] It was adorned with many temples, the main cult being that of Marnas. Marnas was depicted on coins in the city. Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athene and the local Tyche.[6]
Christianity began to spread throughout Gaza in 250 CE first in the port of Maiuma, but later into the city. The religion faced obstacles as it spread through the local population because pagan worship was strong, with the cult of Marnas being the primary pagan force. Also, its Christians were harshly repressed during the Diocletianic Persecution in 303. The first bishop of Gaza was Philemon, believed to have been one of the 72 disciples, but the first cleric was Saint Silvanus who, during the persecution of Maximinianus in 310, was arrested along with about 30 other Christians, and condemned to death. At that time Silvanus seems to have been a priest who exercised his ministry in the neighborhood of Gaza. Bishop Asclepas took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325.[6] As the Roman Empire was crumbling, Gaza remained unaffected.[10]
Conversion to Christianity in Gaza was spearheaded and completed under Saint Porphyrius between 396 and 420. In 402 CE, he ordered all eight of the city's pagan temples destroyed,[6] and four years later Empress Aelia Eudocia commissioned the construction of a church atop the ruins of the Temple of Marnas.[12] Around 540, Gaza became the starting point for pilgrimages to the Sinai Peninsula. It was also an important city in the early Christian world and many famous scholars taught at its academy of rhetoric, the best known being 5th-6th century scholar Procopius of Gaza.[6] The celebrated Church of Saint Sergius was built in this century.[12]
Depicted in the mosaic Map of Madaba of 600 CE, the city was the most important political and commercial center on the southern coast of Palestine coast. Its large representation, approximately half of which is preserved, cannot be easily explained, mainly because only small tentative excavations have been made there and because Byzantine Gaza is covered by the still inhabited Old City.[13]
[edit]Arab rule
Prior to Gaza's capitulation to the Muslims, there were already Muslim converts among the city's Greek-speaking Christian population. In 635 CE, Gaza was besieged and captured by the Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As following the Battle of Ajnadayn between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate.[10][14] During the siege, the city's Jewish community fought alongside the Byzantine garrison.[15] Gaza was the first city of Palestine to be conquered by the Muslims and the only under caliph Abu Bakr.[16] Believed to be the site where the Islamic prophet Muhammad's great grandfather, Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, was buried, the city was not destroyed by the victorious Islamic army.[17]
The arrival the Muslim Arabs brought drastic changes to Gaza; its churches were transformed into mosques, including the present Great Mosque of Gaza (the oldest in the city), the population swiftly adopted Islam as their religion, and Arabic became the official language.[17] Gaza was placed under the administration of Jund Filastin (District of Palestine) during Umayyad rule in the 7th and early 8th centuries and continued to be a part of the district throughout its rule by the Abbasids.[18] The year 750 saw the end of Umayyad rule in Palestine and the arrival of the Abbasids, with Gaza becoming a center for the writing of Islamic law.[2] In 767, Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi'i was born in Gaza and lived his early childhood there. Al-Shafi'i founded one of the prominent fiqhs of Sunni Islam, named Shafi'i after him.[19] Persian geographer al-Istakhri wrote in the 9th century that merchants grew rich in Gaza "for this place was a great market for the people of the Hejaz."[20]
In the early Arab period, Gaza's port occasionally succumbed to neglect and an overall decline in commerce followed because of infighting among Palestine's rulers and Bedouin bandits who disrupted overland trade routs towards the city.[17] However, by the 10th century CE, while under Abbasid rule, Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi described that Gaza was "a large town lying on the highroad to Egypt on the border of the desert. There is here a beautiful mosque, also to be seen is the monument for the Khalif Omar."[21]
Around 909 CE, the influence of the Fatimids from Egypt started to grow, leading to a slow decline of Gaza, although the important port of Maiuma was flourishing. The orange was introduced to the area arriving from India in 943 CE.[2] In 977 CE, the Fatimids established an agreement with the Seljuk Turks, whereby the Fatimids would control Gaza and the land south of it, including Egypt.[22]
[edit]Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk rule
The Crusaders wrested control of Gaza from the Fatimids in 1100. According to chronicler William of Tyre, the Crusaders found it uninhabited and in ruins. Unable to totally refortify the hilltop on which Gaza was built due to a lack of resources, King Baldwin III, in 1149, built a castle there. This completed the military encirclement of the still-Fatimid-held Ascalon to the north. After the castle's construction, he granted it and the surrounding region to the Knights Templar.[12] He also transformed the Great Mosque into the Cathedral of Saint John.[2]
In 1154, Arab traveler al-Idrisi wrote Gaza "is today very populous and in the hands of the Crusaders."[23] William of Tyre confirms in 1170 that a civilian population was attracted to occupy the area outside the castle and establish feeble fortifications and gates surrounding the community.[12] That same year, King Amalric I of Jerusalem withdrew Gaza's Templars to assist him against an Ayyubid force led by Saladin at nearby Deir al-Balah. However, Saladin evaded the Crusader force and assaulted Gaza, destroying the town built outside the castle and killing its inhabitants after they were refused refuge in the castle managed by Miles of Plancy. Seven years later, the Templars prepared for another defense of Gaza against Saladin, but his forces befell on Ascalon instead. In 1187, following Ascalon's capitulation, the Templars surrendered Gaza in return for the release of their master Gerard of Ridefort. Saladin then ordered the destruction of the city's fortifications in 1191. A year later, after recapturing it, Richard the Lionheart apparently refortified the city, but they were dismantled as a result of the Treaty of Jaffa agreed upon months later in 1193.[12]
The Ayyubid period of rule virtually ended in 1260, after the Mongols under Hulagu Khan completely destroyed Gaza—his farthest point of conquest.[17] Nearly two decades later, the domination of the Mamluks started in 1277. In 1294, an earthquake devastated the Gaza, and five years later the Mongols again destroyed all that was rebuilt of the city in during the Mamluk period.[17]
According to geographer Abu al-Fida, Gaza was a medium-sized city, possessing gardens and a seashore in the early 13th century.[24] In 1348, the Bubonic Plague hit the city, killing the majority of its inhabitants and in 1352, Gaza suffered from a destructive flood, rare in that arid part of Palestine.[25] Traveler Ibn Batutta visited it in 1355 and noted that it was "large and populous, and has many mosques. But there were no walls round it. There was here of old a fine Jami' Mosque (the Great Mosque), but the one at present used was built by Amir Jawli."[26] Amir 'Alam Jawli was the Mamluk governor of Gaza from 1288 to 1319.[27] In 1401, a swarm of locusts destroyed Gaza's crops.[25]
[edit]Ottoman era
[edit]Early Ottoman rule and the Ridwan dynasty
In 1516, Gaza—by now a small town with an inactive port, ruined buildings and reduced trade—was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.[25] The Ottoman army quickly and efficiently crushed a small-scale uprising,[28] and the local population generally welcomed them as fellow Sunni Muslims.[25] Shortly after Palestine's quick submission to the Ottomans, it was divided into six districts, including the Sanjak of Gaza (District of Gaza) which stretched from Jaffa in the north to Bayt Jibrin in the west and Rafah in the south. The sanjak was a part of the larger Wilayat Dimashq or the "Province of Syria".[29]
The first governor of Sanjak Gaza was Kara Shahin Mustafa, a former jannissary who rose to become an elite military officer and state minister and eventually a vizier and trusted aide of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.[30] He received the governorship of Gaza apparently as an interim appointment before he was appointed Governor of Egypt, although he was deposed three years later by Sultan Selim II. Mustafa died a short while later and his son Ridwan Pasha who was the treasurer of Yemen became governor shortly before Mustafa's death. The Ridwan dynasty, which would rule Gaza for over a century, derives its name from Ridwan Pasha. He was later appointed Governor of Yemen, but was deposed two years later and returned to the governorship of Gaza. After becoming governor of Ethiopia, Basra, and Diyarbakir in that order, he successfully led a Ottoman contingent against Safavid Persia in 1579. The sultan then awarded him the province of Anatolia where he died in 1585.[31]
Ridwan's brother, Bahram Pasha was originally Governor of Sanjak Nablus and later appointed Beylerbey of Wilayat Dimashq ("Province of Damascus") and commander of the Hajj caravan. Although no explanation is provided in the biographies of the Ridwan family, it is evident they chose Gaza as their home and castle. Ridwan Pasha's son Ahmad succeeded Ridwan and governed Gaza for thirty years sometimes incorporating the sanjaks of Nablus and Jerusalem. He became Governor of Wilayat Dimashq in 1601 after bribing several viziers and bureaucrats in Istanbul and died 1607. Next in line was Hasan Pasha ibn Ahmad who became known 'Arab Hasan ("Hasan the Bedouin") because by then, the Ridwans were identified with the control and knowledge of the Bedouin.[31] He successfully led his pro-Ottoman Bedouin troops against the army of the rebel Fakhr ad-Din in a series of battles. He was later appointed Governor of Tripoli in Lebanon, but he was deposed in 1644. Arab Hasan had many wives and concubines and 85 children. He led the Ridwans successfully militarily, however, he burdened the dynasty with heavy debt.[32]
Arab Hasan's son Husayn Pasha was governor of Nablus and Jerusalem and when his father died, Husayn inherited the impoverished governorship of Gaza. Husayn's period in office was peaceful and prosperous for Gaza and his reputation and he considerably reduced the strife between the nearby Bedouins and the settled population. He appointed his son Ibrahim to be governor of the Gaza and Jerusalem districts, but when Ibrahim was killed during an expedition against the Druze in Mount Lebanon in 1660, Husayn resumed control of Gaza.[32] That year, Gaza was designated the capital of Palestine, indicating the city's rapid recovery. The Great Mosque was restored, and half a dozen other mosques constructed, and Turkish bathes and market stalls proliferated.[25] Anonymous petitions sent to Istanbul complaining about Husayn's failure to protect the Hajj caravan served as an excuse for the Ottoman government to depose him. He was soon imprisoned in Damascus and his assets confiscated by provincial authorities. He was later sent to Istanbul and died in prison there in 1663. Husayn's son Musa then governed Gaza into the early 1670s, and soon after his reign ended, the Ottomans officials were appointed to govern. The Ridwan period is considered Gaza's last golden age during Ottoman rule and after they were removed from office, Gaza dwindled in later decades.[32]
In 1723, the Ottomans appointed Salih Pasha Tuqan of the Nablus-based Tuqan family to govern Gaza and two other sanjaks until his death in 1742.[33] Gaza was briefly occupied by the French Army under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. His forces easily razed the remains of the city walls (which had not been rebuilt since their destruction by Saladin), but abandoned the city after their failed Siege of Acre that same year. The duration of French influence in Gaza was too short to have a palpable effect.[25]
[edit]Egyptian rule and Ottoman revival
Starting in the early 1800s, Gaza was culturally dominated by neighboring Egypt; Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquered it and most of Palestine in 1832.[2] Strangely, in 1833, Muhammad Ali instructed his son Ibrahim Pasha not to purchase Gaza's cotton harvest (cotton production was his main source of wealth and Egypt's production was low that year), instead allowing its residents to dispose of it how they wished.[34]
American scholar Edward Robinson visited Gaza in 1838, describing it as a "thickly populated" town larger than Jerusalem with its Old City lying on a hilltop and its suburbs on the nearby plain.[35] He stated further that its soil was rich and supported groves of "delicious and abundant" apricots and mulberries. By then Gaza's port was inactive, however, it benefited from trade and commerce being on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria as well as producing soap and cotton for trade with the Bedouin.[36] The governor of Gaza at the time was Sheikh Sa'id.[35] Robinson noted that virtually all of Gaza's vestiges of ancient history and antiquity had disappeared due to constant conflict and occupation.[37]
The Bubonic Plague struck again in 1839, and the city, lacking political and economic stability, was in a state of stagnate. In 1840, Egyptian and Ottoman troops battled outside of Gaza, the Ottomans emerging victorious and that year Egyptian rule over Palestine ended. The battles brought about more death and destruction, barely after the city began to recover from the plague. French orientalist Charles Clermont-Ganneau visited Gaza in 1874, and gathered and cataloged a sizable collection of Byzantine inscriptions and described in detail the city's Great Mosque.[25]
[edit]Twentieth century
The 20th century in Gaza began with two destructive earthquakes in 1903 and 1914. When World War I erupted in 1917, their forces were defeated by the Ottomans in the First and Second Battle of Gaza. General Edmund Allenby, leading the Allied Forces, finally conquered Gaza in a third battle.[25] After the war, the League of Nations granted quasi-colonial authority over former Ottoman territories to Great Britain and France; Gaza was included in the British Mandate of Palestine.[38]
In the 1929 Palestine riots, the Jewish Quarter of Gaza was destroyed and most of Gaza's Jewish minority fled. In the 1930s and 1940s, Gaza went through major expansion with new neighborhoods built along the coast, and the southern and eastern plains, as well as reconstruction of the areas damaged in the riots. Most of the funding for these developments were from international organizations and missionary groups.[16]
In the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, Gaza was assigned to the Arab state. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt held Gaza and its surrounding area and occupied the city after the war. The city's growing population was augmented by an influx of Arab refugees fleeing nearby cities, towns and villages that were captured by Israel. Israel captured the city and the Gaza Strip during the 1956 Suez Crisis and again in the 1967 Six Day War. With the onset of the Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada in 1987, Gaza became a center of political unrest and confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians, and economic conditions in the city worsened.[39] Israel withdrew its settlements and military forces from the Gaza Strip under Israel's unilateral disengagement plan in 2005, however it would retain control of Gaza's coastline and airspace and reserve the right to undertake military operations when necessary.(Art. 3.1). Egypt would control Gaza's Egyptian border and Israel would continue to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks (Art. 8).
[edit]Palestinian control
In September 1993, leaders of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords calling for Palestinian administration of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, which was implemented in May 1994. The Israeli forces left Gaza, leaving a new Palestinian National Authority to administer and police the city, along with most of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza as its first provincial headquarters. In September 1995, Israel and the PLO signed a second peace agreement extending the Palestinian Authority to most West Bank towns. The agreement also established an elected 88-member Palestinian National Council, which held its inaugural session in Gaza in March 1996.[citation needed]
On September 12, 2005 the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to military rule. Israel also withdrew from the Philadelphi Route, a narrow strip adjacent to the border with Egypt, after Egypt agreed to secure its side of the border. Under the Oslo Accords, the Philadelphi Route was to remain under Israeli control to prevent arms smuggling. With Egypt agreeing to patrol its side of the border, it was hoped that this objective would be achieved.[40] Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian elections in early 2006. Since then, it has been engaged in a violent power struggle with Fatah. In 2007, Hamas violently overthrew Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and its members were dismissed from the PNA government as a result. Currently, Hamas has de facto control of the area.[41] In response to continued Qassam rocket attacks launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, from civilian population centers in the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombarded originating attack sites in Gaza and nearby cities in the Gaza strip, culminating in June 2006 in an air-and-ground assault on Gaza code-named "Summer Rains". The European Union and the United Nations have called Israel's actions "disproportionate", but also demand that Hamas halt rocket attacks on Israel.[42]
A human rights coalition charged March 6, 2008 that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had reached its worst point since Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War.[43] On December 27-28, 2008 Israel commenced air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, code named Operation Cast Lead[44], that has claimed more than 1000 people to date.[45] About half of the deaths have been Palestinian militants and Hamas security forces. Israel stated the strikes were in response to recent rocket fire from Palestinian militants and Palestinians stated that rocket fires were in response to Israel's siege of Gaza strip. By January 3rd, 2009, Israeli tanks and infantry were invading Gaza with air support from gunships.
[edit]Geography


Beach in Gaza City
The nucleus Gaza is situated on a low round hill with an elevation of 50 feet (15 m) or 60 feet (18 m) above sea level. Much of the modern city is built along the plain below especially to the north and east, forming Gaza's suburbs.[35] The municipal jurisdiction of the city today constitutes 45,000 dunams.[1] The beach and the port of Gaza are located west of the city's nucleus and the space between is entirely built up on low-lying hills. The areas south, north and east of the city have numerous gardens of prickly pears.[35]
Gaza today stretches from the coastline to the eastern border with Israel. In the 1930s and 1940s, a new spacial residential neighborhood, Rimal, was built on the sand dunes west of the city center, and the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Judeide were built along Gaza's southern, southwestern, and eastern borders.[16] Gaza has encompassed the villages of al-Qubba in the east and Sheikh Radwan in the north as well as the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Shati along the coast. Surrounding localities include Jabalia to the north which today basically forms a suburb of the city, the Bedouin village of Abu Middein and the city of Deir al-Balah to the south.[46]
[edit]Old City
The Old City is the main part of Gaza's nucleus. It is roughly divided into two quarters; the northern Daraj Quarter (known as the Muslim Quarter) and the southern Zaytoun Quarter (known as the Christian Quarter). There are seven historic gates being Bab Aqsalan (Gate of Ashkelon), Bab al-Darum (Gate of Deir al-Balah), Bab al-Bahr (Gate of the Sea), Bab Marnas (Gate of Marnas), Bab al-Baladiyah (Gate of the Town), Bab al-Khalil (Gate of Hebron), and Bab al-Muntar (Gate of Tell Muntar).[47] It contains several mosques, the primary ones being the Great Mosque of Gaza, the Welayat Mosque, and the Mosque of al-Sayed Hashem. Some of the older buildings use the ablaq style of decoration prevalent in the Mamluk era, that features red and white masonry. A few of the city's primary markets such as the Gold Market are located here.[48]
[edit]Demographics


Gold Market, Gaza City
According to the 1557 Ottoman tahrir defter, Gaza included 2,477 male tax payers, basically meaning the population was about 12,000 people. These figures excluded members of the military and religious classes.[49] In 1838, there were roughly 4,000 Muslim tax payers and 100 Christian ones, concluding a population of about 15,000 or 16,000—making it larger than Jerusalem at the time. The total number of Christian families was 57.[36]
A large number of Gaza's pre-1948 residents were Egyptians or their descendants who had fled political turmoil in Muhammad Ali's Egypt.[50] The population of Gaza today is overwhelmingly Arab Muslim, with a small minority of about 3,500 Arab Christians, mostly adhering to the Greek Orthodox Church.[51] Gaza's Muslims overwhelmingly adhere to Sunni Islam. Gaza's Jewish community was roughly 2,000 years old and before most of them left Gaza after the 1929 Riots they consisted of fifty families.[16] Those who remained left after the 1948 War due to mutual distrust between them and the Arab majority.[52]
According to a 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Gaza and the adjacent al-Shati camp had a population of 353,115 inhabitants, of which 50.9% were males and 49.1% females. Gaza has an overwhelmingly young population with over half between the age of infancy to 14 years (50.3%) and 25.7% between the ages of 15 and 29. About 13.6% were between the ages of 30 to 44, 7.7% between ages 45 to 65 and 3.9% were over the age of 64.[53]
A massive influx of Palestinian refugees swelled Gaza's population after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. By 1967, the population had grown to about six times its 1948 size.[16] In 1997, 51.8% of Gaza's inhabitants were refugees or their descendants.[54] The city's population has continued to increase since that time to 409,680 in 2006, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.[55] The population continues to grow, and Gaza has one of the highest overall growth rates and population densities in the world, with about 5,261 people per square mile.[16] Poverty, unemployment and poor living conditions are widespread and many residents rely on United Nations food aid to survive.[56][16]
[edit]Economy


Backyard industry
[edit]Ottoman era
Gaza was among six soap-producing cities in Palestine, overshadowed by Nablus. Gaza's factories purchased qilw from merchants from Nablus and Salt, Jordan.[57] Gaza's port was eclipsed by the ports of Jaffa and Haifa, however, it retained its fishing fleet.[16] Although its port was inactive, commerce thrived because of its strategic location. Most caravans and travelers coming from Egypt stopped in Gaza for supplies, likewise Bedouins from Ma'an in east of the Wadi Araba bought up all sorts of provisions from the city to sell to Muslim pilgrims coming from Mecca. The bazaars of Gaza were well-supplied and were noted by Edward Robinson as "far better" than those of Jerusalem.[58] Its principal commercial crop was cotton which was sold to the government and local Arab tribes.[35]
[edit]Modern era
Following the Six-Day War, Israel closed down Gaza's port and consequently, the city lost its fishing income. There were previous Palestinian and international attempts to construct a major port in Gaza for the benefit of the planned State of Palestine, but objections from Israel prevented such attempts. The major agricultural products are strawberries, citrus, dates, olives, flowers, and various vegetables. Pollution and massive population pressure on water have reduced the productive capacity of the surrounding farms, however.[16]
Small-scale industries in the city include the production of plastics, construction materials, textiles, furniture, pottery, tiles, copperware, and carpets. Following the Oslo Accords, thousands of residents were employed in the various government ministries and security services, while others were employed by the UNRWA and other international organizations that support development of the city.[16]
Gaza city contains some minor industries, including textiles and food processing. A variety of wares are sold in Gaza's street bazaars, including carpets, pottery, wicker furniture, and cotton clothing; commercial development in the city is minimal. According to a recent report by OXFAM, Gazan industry has been reduced to shambles because of the ongoing Blockade of the Gaza Strip. Because they are no longer able to import materials or export goods, 95% of Gazan factories closed since the imposition of closure policies following Israel's 2005 disengagement.[59]
Many Gazans worked in the Israeli service industry while the border was open, but part of Israel's 2005 disengagement stipulated that Gazans will no longer be able to work in Israel and few Gazans are presently allowed to enter Israel. Gaza has serious deficiencies in housing, educational facilities, health facilities, infrastructure, and an inadequate sewage system, all of which have contributed to serious hygiene and public health problems.
Gaza's economic conditions have been stagnant in the long-term and most development indicators are in decline, a situation described by Harvard economist Sara Roy as a state of "economic de-development".[60] Seventy-five percent (75%) of the population (1.1 million people) are now dependent on handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP) simply to feed their families, the largest single dependent population in the world.[59]
[edit]Local infrastructure

[edit]Landmarks


The Great Mosque of Gaza is the oldest mosque in the city
Landmarks in Gaza include the Great Mosque in the Old City, which is the oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip and identified as the "only structure of historical importance" in the city by 19th century Western travelers. The Mamluk-era Sayed Hashem Mosque is also located in the Old City and its dome is believed to house the tomb of Hashem ibn Abd al-Manaf.[61]
Midan al-Jundi ("the Soldier's Square"), located in the neighborhood of Rimal, is a monument dedicated to an unknown Palestinian fighter who died in the 1948 War. In 1967, the monument was torn down by Israeli forces and remained a patch of sand,[62] until a public garden was built there with funding from Norway. Napoleon's Citadel, originally a Mamluk-era villa that was used by Napoleon during his brief sojourn in Gaza, is located in the Old City and is today a girl's school. The British War Cemetery that contains the graves of fallen British soldiers in World War I is in the Tuffah neighborhood.[48]
[edit]Utilities
According to the PCBS's 1997 census, 98.1% of Gaza's residents were connected to the public water supply while the remainder used a private system.[63] About 87.6% were connected to a public sewage system and 11.8% use a cesspit.[64]
[edit]Transportation
The Rasheed Coastal Road connects run along Gaza's coastline and connects it with the rest of Gaza Strip's coastline north and south. The main road of the Gaza Strip, Salah ad-Din Street (the modern Via Maris) runs through the middle of Gaza City, connecting it with Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, and Rafah in the south and Jabalia and Beit Hanoun in the north.[48] The northern crossing of Salah ad-Din Street into Israel is the Erez Crossing and the crossing into Egypt is the Rafah Crossing. The crossings have been closed by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
Omar Mukhtar Street is the main road in the city of Gaza running north-south, branching off Salah ad-Din Street, stretching from the Rimal coastline and the Old City where it ends at the Gold Market.[48] Prior to the Blockade of the Gaza Strip, there existed regular lines of collective taxis to Ramallah and Hebron in the West Bank.[65]
The Yasser Arafat International Airport near Rafah opened in 1998 and is 40 kilometers (25 mi). Its runways and facilities became significantly damaged during the Second Intifada. The Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel is located roughly 75 kilometers (47 mi) northeast of the city.[65]
[edit]Government

The first municipal council of Gaza was formed in 1893 under the chairmanship of Ali Khalil Shawa. Modern mayorship, however, began in 1906 with his son Said al-Shawa, who was appointed mayor.[66] Said al-Shawa oversaw the construction of Gaza's first hospital, several new mosques and schools, the restoration of the Great Mosque, and introduction of the modern plow to the city.[67]
Today, Gaza serves as the administrative capital of the Gaza Governorate.[68] It contains the Palestinian Legislative Council building, as well as the headquarters of most of the Palestinian Authority ministries.
[edit]Municipal council
The current municipal council consists of the following eleven members, including the mayor.[69]
Rank Name Status
1 Rafiq Tawfiq Salim al-Makki Head of the Council
2 Nizar Hamid Hashim Hijazi Vice President of the Council
3 Mazen Mohammed Ali Bran Member of Council
4 Khaled al-Fadl az-Zahar Member of Council
5 Ziad Hassan Hussein Abuhen Member of Council
6 Hassan Mustafa Mahmoud Louh Member of Council
7 Musa Abdel Qader Abu Hussein Member of Council
8 Bashir Mohammed Issa Member of Council
9 Mohammed Salman Mohammed Member of Council
10 Yasser Abed Taha al-Shurafa Member of Council
11 Mohammed Abu Lutfi Abu Ghazaleh Member of Council

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:03 schreef larry_flynt het volgende:
Helaas is geen één oorlog zwart/wit. Er zijn geen goede in deze oorlog.

Het bombardement op Dresden in '45 kan zondermeer onmenselijk genoemd worden. Toch zal niemand betwisten dat de geallieerden de good guys waren in die oorlog. De uitspraak dat niemand goed is getuigt m.i. derhalve vooral van gemakzucht.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 00:47 schreef Meki het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Palestinian relatives of Hamas militant Yousef Tamboura react during his funeral in Beit Lahiya northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0eHu7ztend2xo/610x.jpg

...

Ik wist niet dat je de Engelse taal machtig was, Meki. Nu je Nederlands nog.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:07 schreef Diederik_Duck het volgende:

[..]

Het bombardement op Dresden in '45 kan zondermeer onmenselijk genoemd worden. Toch zal niemand betwisten dat de geallieerden de good guys waren in die oorlog. De uitspraak dat niemand goed is getuigt m.i. derhalve vooral van gemakzucht.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:13 schreef Meki het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]
Begrafenis in Gaza!.

[ afbeelding ]
Baby dood.

[ afbeelding ]
Familieleden rouwen om deze baby

Hamas Hamas toch

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:09 schreef Meki het volgende:
Waarschuwing !!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2415/2330101657_d36443c21e.jpg

Dat is niet fris nee. Flinke bom zo te zien...

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:07 schreef Diederik_Duck het volgende:

[..]

Het bombardement op Dresden in '45 kan zondermeer onmenselijk genoemd worden. Toch zal niemand betwisten dat de geallieerden de good guys waren in die oorlog. De uitspraak dat niemand goed is getuigt m.i. derhalve vooral van gemakzucht.

Nee, het getuigt van een fictief moreel eindoordeel. De geallieerden waren the good guys in onze ogen, maar als ze verloren hadden zou het Neurenberg/London proces er anders uitgezien hebben. De geschiedenis is cynisch en houdt van de winnaars. Een moreel oordeel over een oorlog is extreem moeilijk te vellen. Je kunt twisten over de ingezette middelen, maar de motieven zijn van beide partijen meestal wel begrijpelijk.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:05 schreef voyeur het volgende:

[..]

Skyline of Gaza

Coat of arms of Gaza
Arabic غزة
Founded in 15th Century BCE
Government City (from 1993)
Also Spelled Ghazzah (officially)
Gaza City (unofficially)
Governorate Gaza
Coordinates 31°31′N 34°27′ECoordinates: 31°31′N 34°27′E
Population 409,680 (2006)
Jurisdiction 45,000 dunams (45[1] km²)
Head of Municipality Rafiq Tawfiq al-Makki
Gaza (Arabic: غزة‎ transliteration: Ghazza, Hebrew: עַזָּה‎, ʕazzā) is the largest city in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territories. It has a population of approximately 410,000 in the inner city and 1.5 million people in the metropolitan area.[2]

Etymology

According to Zev Vilnay, the name "Gaza," from the Arabic Ġazza, originally derives from the Canaanite/Hebrew root for "strong" (ʕZZ), and was introduced to Arabic by way of the Hebrew, ʕazzā, i.e. "the strong one (f.)"; cpr. English stronghold.[3] According to Mariam Shahin, the Canaanites gave Gaza its name, the Ancient Egyptians called it Gazzat ("prized city"), and the Arabs often refer to it as Gazzat Hashim, in honor of Hashim, the great-grandfather of Muhammad, who is buried in the city, according to Islamic lore.[4]
[edit]History

See also: Syro-Palestinian archaeology#Archaeology in Gaza
The history of Gaza, one of the oldest cities in the world, has been shaped by its strategic location. The city is located on the Mediterranean coastal route, between North Africa and the greener lands of the Levant.[5] Ancient Gaza was a prosperous trade center and a stop on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria.
[edit]Ancient and Biblical periods


Statue of Zeus unearthed in Gaza
In ancient times, Gaza was the residence of the Ancient Egyptian governor of the region, then known as Canaan. A caravan point of strategic importance from the earliest times, it was constantly involved in the wars between Egypt and Palestine, Syria and the Mesopotamian powers, and appeared frequently in Egyptian and Assyrian records. Under Tuthmosis III, it is mentioned on the Syrian-Egyptian caravan route and in the Amarna letters it appears as "Azzati". Gaza was in Egyptian hands for 350 years, until it was conquered by the Philistines, a sea-faring people with cultural links to the Aegean, in the 12th century BCE. It then became a part of the pentapolis; a league of the Philistines' five most important city-states.[6]
In Judeo-Christian religions, Gaza was the place where Samson was imprisoned and met his death. (Judges 16:21) The prophets Amos and Zephaniah prophesied that Gaza would be deserted.[7][8][3] Gaza was under Israelite rule from the reign of King David in the early 11th century BCE until it was conquered by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II around 730 BCE.[6] In the 7th century it again came under Egyptian control, but during the Persian period (6th-4th centuries BCE) it enjoyed a certain independence and was a flourishing city.[6] The attack by Cambyses I was resisted in 529 BCE and later, around 520 BCE, the Greeks established a trading post. The first coins were minted on the Athens model around 380 BCE.[2]
Alexander the Great besieged Gaza for five months, the last city to resist his conquest, finally capturing it 332 BCE.[6] Gaza, led by a eunuch named Batis and defended by Arab mercenaries, withstood the siege for two months, until it was overcome by storm. The defenders, mostly local elements, fought to the death, and the women and children were taken captive. The city was resettled by neighboring Bedouins.[9] Greek culture took root in Gaza, and the city gained a reputation as a flourishing center of Hellenic learning and philosophy.[10] Belonging at first to the Ptolemaic kingdom, it passed after 200 BCE to the Seleucids.[6]
In the 1st century BCE and the first half of the 1st century CE, it was the Mediterranean port of the Nabateans, whose caravans arrived there from Petra or from Elath on the Red Sea. In 96 BCE, the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus besieged the city for a year and the inhabitants, who had hoped for help from the Nabatean king Aretas II, were slaughtered and their city destroyed by Jannaeus when he did not come to their aid.[11][6]
[edit]Antiquity
Gaza was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BCE and under the reign of emperor Pompey, Gaza was rebuilt by consul Aulus Gabinius.[6] Roman rule brought six centuries of relative peace and prosperity to the city which grew to have a flourishing port and a locus of trade between the Middle East and Africa.[10] In the New Testament, it is mentioned as being on the caravan route to Egypt (Acts 8:26). Granted to Herod the Great by the Roman emperor Augustus in 30 CE, it formed a separate unit within his kingdom, and Cosgabar, the governor of Idumea, was in charge of the city's affairs. On the division of Herod's kingdom, it was placed under the proconsul of Syria. In the Roman period it was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors,[6] especially Hadrian who visited it in 130 CE.[2] It was adorned with many temples, the main cult being that of Marnas. Marnas was depicted on coins in the city. Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athene and the local Tyche.[6]
Christianity began to spread throughout Gaza in 250 CE first in the port of Maiuma, but later into the city. The religion faced obstacles as it spread through the local population because pagan worship was strong, with the cult of Marnas being the primary pagan force. Also, its Christians were harshly repressed during the Diocletianic Persecution in 303. The first bishop of Gaza was Philemon, believed to have been one of the 72 disciples, but the first cleric was Saint Silvanus who, during the persecution of Maximinianus in 310, was arrested along with about 30 other Christians, and condemned to death. At that time Silvanus seems to have been a priest who exercised his ministry in the neighborhood of Gaza. Bishop Asclepas took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325.[6] As the Roman Empire was crumbling, Gaza remained unaffected.[10]
Conversion to Christianity in Gaza was spearheaded and completed under Saint Porphyrius between 396 and 420. In 402 CE, he ordered all eight of the city's pagan temples destroyed,[6] and four years later Empress Aelia Eudocia commissioned the construction of a church atop the ruins of the Temple of Marnas.[12] Around 540, Gaza became the starting point for pilgrimages to the Sinai Peninsula. It was also an important city in the early Christian world and many famous scholars taught at its academy of rhetoric, the best known being 5th-6th century scholar Procopius of Gaza.[6] The celebrated Church of Saint Sergius was built in this century.[12]
Depicted in the mosaic Map of Madaba of 600 CE, the city was the most important political and commercial center on the southern coast of Palestine coast. Its large representation, approximately half of which is preserved, cannot be easily explained, mainly because only small tentative excavations have been made there and because Byzantine Gaza is covered by the still inhabited Old City.[13]
[edit]Arab rule
Prior to Gaza's capitulation to the Muslims, there were already Muslim converts among the city's Greek-speaking Christian population. In 635 CE, Gaza was besieged and captured by the Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As following the Battle of Ajnadayn between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate.[10][14] During the siege, the city's Jewish community fought alongside the Byzantine garrison.[15] Gaza was the first city of Palestine to be conquered by the Muslims and the only under caliph Abu Bakr.[16] Believed to be the site where the Islamic prophet Muhammad's great grandfather, Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, was buried, the city was not destroyed by the victorious Islamic army.[17]
The arrival the Muslim Arabs brought drastic changes to Gaza; its churches were transformed into mosques, including the present Great Mosque of Gaza (the oldest in the city), the population swiftly adopted Islam as their religion, and Arabic became the official language.[17] Gaza was placed under the administration of Jund Filastin (District of Palestine) during Umayyad rule in the 7th and early 8th centuries and continued to be a part of the district throughout its rule by the Abbasids.[18] The year 750 saw the end of Umayyad rule in Palestine and the arrival of the Abbasids, with Gaza becoming a center for the writing of Islamic law.[2] In 767, Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi'i was born in Gaza and lived his early childhood there. Al-Shafi'i founded one of the prominent fiqhs of Sunni Islam, named Shafi'i after him.[19] Persian geographer al-Istakhri wrote in the 9th century that merchants grew rich in Gaza "for this place was a great market for the people of the Hejaz."[20]
In the early Arab period, Gaza's port occasionally succumbed to neglect and an overall decline in commerce followed because of infighting among Palestine's rulers and Bedouin bandits who disrupted overland trade routs towards the city.[17] However, by the 10th century CE, while under Abbasid rule, Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi described that Gaza was "a large town lying on the highroad to Egypt on the border of the desert. There is here a beautiful mosque, also to be seen is the monument for the Khalif Omar."[21]
Around 909 CE, the influence of the Fatimids from Egypt started to grow, leading to a slow decline of Gaza, although the important port of Maiuma was flourishing. The orange was introduced to the area arriving from India in 943 CE.[2] In 977 CE, the Fatimids established an agreement with the Seljuk Turks, whereby the Fatimids would control Gaza and the land south of it, including Egypt.[22]
[edit]Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk rule
The Crusaders wrested control of Gaza from the Fatimids in 1100. According to chronicler William of Tyre, the Crusaders found it uninhabited and in ruins. Unable to totally refortify the hilltop on which Gaza was built due to a lack of resources, King Baldwin III, in 1149, built a castle there. This completed the military encirclement of the still-Fatimid-held Ascalon to the north. After the castle's construction, he granted it and the surrounding region to the Knights Templar.[12] He also transformed the Great Mosque into the Cathedral of Saint John.[2]
In 1154, Arab traveler al-Idrisi wrote Gaza "is today very populous and in the hands of the Crusaders."[23] William of Tyre confirms in 1170 that a civilian population was attracted to occupy the area outside the castle and establish feeble fortifications and gates surrounding the community.[12] That same year, King Amalric I of Jerusalem withdrew Gaza's Templars to assist him against an Ayyubid force led by Saladin at nearby Deir al-Balah. However, Saladin evaded the Crusader force and assaulted Gaza, destroying the town built outside the castle and killing its inhabitants after they were refused refuge in the castle managed by Miles of Plancy. Seven years later, the Templars prepared for another defense of Gaza against Saladin, but his forces befell on Ascalon instead. In 1187, following Ascalon's capitulation, the Templars surrendered Gaza in return for the release of their master Gerard of Ridefort. Saladin then ordered the destruction of the city's fortifications in 1191. A year later, after recapturing it, Richard the Lionheart apparently refortified the city, but they were dismantled as a result of the Treaty of Jaffa agreed upon months later in 1193.[12]
The Ayyubid period of rule virtually ended in 1260, after the Mongols under Hulagu Khan completely destroyed Gaza—his farthest point of conquest.[17] Nearly two decades later, the domination of the Mamluks started in 1277. In 1294, an earthquake devastated the Gaza, and five years later the Mongols again destroyed all that was rebuilt of the city in during the Mamluk period.[17]
According to geographer Abu al-Fida, Gaza was a medium-sized city, possessing gardens and a seashore in the early 13th century.[24] In 1348, the Bubonic Plague hit the city, killing the majority of its inhabitants and in 1352, Gaza suffered from a destructive flood, rare in that arid part of Palestine.[25] Traveler Ibn Batutta visited it in 1355 and noted that it was "large and populous, and has many mosques. But there were no walls round it. There was here of old a fine Jami' Mosque (the Great Mosque), but the one at present used was built by Amir Jawli."[26] Amir 'Alam Jawli was the Mamluk governor of Gaza from 1288 to 1319.[27] In 1401, a swarm of locusts destroyed Gaza's crops.[25]
[edit]Ottoman era
[edit]Early Ottoman rule and the Ridwan dynasty
In 1516, Gaza—by now a small town with an inactive port, ruined buildings and reduced trade—was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.[25] The Ottoman army quickly and efficiently crushed a small-scale uprising,[28] and the local population generally welcomed them as fellow Sunni Muslims.[25] Shortly after Palestine's quick submission to the Ottomans, it was divided into six districts, including the Sanjak of Gaza (District of Gaza) which stretched from Jaffa in the north to Bayt Jibrin in the west and Rafah in the south. The sanjak was a part of the larger Wilayat Dimashq or the "Province of Syria".[29]
The first governor of Sanjak Gaza was Kara Shahin Mustafa, a former jannissary who rose to become an elite military officer and state minister and eventually a vizier and trusted aide of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.[30] He received the governorship of Gaza apparently as an interim appointment before he was appointed Governor of Egypt, although he was deposed three years later by Sultan Selim II. Mustafa died a short while later and his son Ridwan Pasha who was the treasurer of Yemen became governor shortly before Mustafa's death. The Ridwan dynasty, which would rule Gaza for over a century, derives its name from Ridwan Pasha. He was later appointed Governor of Yemen, but was deposed two years later and returned to the governorship of Gaza. After becoming governor of Ethiopia, Basra, and Diyarbakir in that order, he successfully led a Ottoman contingent against Safavid Persia in 1579. The sultan then awarded him the province of Anatolia where he died in 1585.[31]
Ridwan's brother, Bahram Pasha was originally Governor of Sanjak Nablus and later appointed Beylerbey of Wilayat Dimashq ("Province of Damascus") and commander of the Hajj caravan. Although no explanation is provided in the biographies of the Ridwan family, it is evident they chose Gaza as their home and castle. Ridwan Pasha's son Ahmad succeeded Ridwan and governed Gaza for thirty years sometimes incorporating the sanjaks of Nablus and Jerusalem. He became Governor of Wilayat Dimashq in 1601 after bribing several viziers and bureaucrats in Istanbul and died 1607. Next in line was Hasan Pasha ibn Ahmad who became known 'Arab Hasan ("Hasan the Bedouin") because by then, the Ridwans were identified with the control and knowledge of the Bedouin.[31] He successfully led his pro-Ottoman Bedouin troops against the army of the rebel Fakhr ad-Din in a series of battles. He was later appointed Governor of Tripoli in Lebanon, but he was deposed in 1644. Arab Hasan had many wives and concubines and 85 children. He led the Ridwans successfully militarily, however, he burdened the dynasty with heavy debt.[32]
Arab Hasan's son Husayn Pasha was governor of Nablus and Jerusalem and when his father died, Husayn inherited the impoverished governorship of Gaza. Husayn's period in office was peaceful and prosperous for Gaza and his reputation and he considerably reduced the strife between the nearby Bedouins and the settled population. He appointed his son Ibrahim to be governor of the Gaza and Jerusalem districts, but when Ibrahim was killed during an expedition against the Druze in Mount Lebanon in 1660, Husayn resumed control of Gaza.[32] That year, Gaza was designated the capital of Palestine, indicating the city's rapid recovery. The Great Mosque was restored, and half a dozen other mosques constructed, and Turkish bathes and market stalls proliferated.[25] Anonymous petitions sent to Istanbul complaining about Husayn's failure to protect the Hajj caravan served as an excuse for the Ottoman government to depose him. He was soon imprisoned in Damascus and his assets confiscated by provincial authorities. He was later sent to Istanbul and died in prison there in 1663. Husayn's son Musa then governed Gaza into the early 1670s, and soon after his reign ended, the Ottomans officials were appointed to govern. The Ridwan period is considered Gaza's last golden age during Ottoman rule and after they were removed from office, Gaza dwindled in later decades.[32]
In 1723, the Ottomans appointed Salih Pasha Tuqan of the Nablus-based Tuqan family to govern Gaza and two other sanjaks until his death in 1742.[33] Gaza was briefly occupied by the French Army under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. His forces easily razed the remains of the city walls (which had not been rebuilt since their destruction by Saladin), but abandoned the city after their failed Siege of Acre that same year. The duration of French influence in Gaza was too short to have a palpable effect.[25]
[edit]Egyptian rule and Ottoman revival
Starting in the early 1800s, Gaza was culturally dominated by neighboring Egypt; Muhammad Ali of Egypt conquered it and most of Palestine in 1832.[2] Strangely, in 1833, Muhammad Ali instructed his son Ibrahim Pasha not to purchase Gaza's cotton harvest (cotton production was his main source of wealth and Egypt's production was low that year), instead allowing its residents to dispose of it how they wished.[34]
American scholar Edward Robinson visited Gaza in 1838, describing it as a "thickly populated" town larger than Jerusalem with its Old City lying on a hilltop and its suburbs on the nearby plain.[35] He stated further that its soil was rich and supported groves of "delicious and abundant" apricots and mulberries. By then Gaza's port was inactive, however, it benefited from trade and commerce being on the caravan route between Egypt and Syria as well as producing soap and cotton for trade with the Bedouin.[36] The governor of Gaza at the time was Sheikh Sa'id.[35] Robinson noted that virtually all of Gaza's vestiges of ancient history and antiquity had disappeared due to constant conflict and occupation.[37]
The Bubonic Plague struck again in 1839, and the city, lacking political and economic stability, was in a state of stagnate. In 1840, Egyptian and Ottoman troops battled outside of Gaza, the Ottomans emerging victorious and that year Egyptian rule over Palestine ended. The battles brought about more death and destruction, barely after the city began to recover from the plague. French orientalist Charles Clermont-Ganneau visited Gaza in 1874, and gathered and cataloged a sizable collection of Byzantine inscriptions and described in detail the city's Great Mosque.[25]
[edit]Twentieth century
The 20th century in Gaza began with two destructive earthquakes in 1903 and 1914. When World War I erupted in 1917, their forces were defeated by the Ottomans in the First and Second Battle of Gaza. General Edmund Allenby, leading the Allied Forces, finally conquered Gaza in a third battle.[25] After the war, the League of Nations granted quasi-colonial authority over former Ottoman territories to Great Britain and France; Gaza was included in the British Mandate of Palestine.[38]
In the 1929 Palestine riots, the Jewish Quarter of Gaza was destroyed and most of Gaza's Jewish minority fled. In the 1930s and 1940s, Gaza went through major expansion with new neighborhoods built along the coast, and the southern and eastern plains, as well as reconstruction of the areas damaged in the riots. Most of the funding for these developments were from international organizations and missionary groups.[16]
In the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, Gaza was assigned to the Arab state. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt held Gaza and its surrounding area and occupied the city after the war. The city's growing population was augmented by an influx of Arab refugees fleeing nearby cities, towns and villages that were captured by Israel. Israel captured the city and the Gaza Strip during the 1956 Suez Crisis and again in the 1967 Six Day War. With the onset of the Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada in 1987, Gaza became a center of political unrest and confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians, and economic conditions in the city worsened.[39] Israel withdrew its settlements and military forces from the Gaza Strip under Israel's unilateral disengagement plan in 2005, however it would retain control of Gaza's coastline and airspace and reserve the right to undertake military operations when necessary.(Art. 3.1). Egypt would control Gaza's Egyptian border and Israel would continue to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks (Art. 8).
[edit]Palestinian control
In September 1993, leaders of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords calling for Palestinian administration of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, which was implemented in May 1994. The Israeli forces left Gaza, leaving a new Palestinian National Authority to administer and police the city, along with most of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza as its first provincial headquarters. In September 1995, Israel and the PLO signed a second peace agreement extending the Palestinian Authority to most West Bank towns. The agreement also established an elected 88-member Palestinian National Council, which held its inaugural session in Gaza in March 1996.[citation needed]
On September 12, 2005 the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to military rule. Israel also withdrew from the Philadelphi Route, a narrow strip adjacent to the border with Egypt, after Egypt agreed to secure its side of the border. Under the Oslo Accords, the Philadelphi Route was to remain under Israeli control to prevent arms smuggling. With Egypt agreeing to patrol its side of the border, it was hoped that this objective would be achieved.[40] Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian elections in early 2006. Since then, it has been engaged in a violent power struggle with Fatah. In 2007, Hamas violently overthrew Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and its members were dismissed from the PNA government as a result. Currently, Hamas has de facto control of the area.[41] In response to continued Qassam rocket attacks launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, from civilian population centers in the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombarded originating attack sites in Gaza and nearby cities in the Gaza strip, culminating in June 2006 in an air-and-ground assault on Gaza code-named "Summer Rains". The European Union and the United Nations have called Israel's actions "disproportionate", but also demand that Hamas halt rocket attacks on Israel.[42]
A human rights coalition charged March 6, 2008 that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had reached its worst point since Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War.[43] On December 27-28, 2008 Israel commenced air strikes against Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, code named Operation Cast Lead[44], that has claimed more than 1000 people to date.[45] About half of the deaths have been Palestinian militants and Hamas security forces. Israel stated the strikes were in response to recent rocket fire from Palestinian militants and Palestinians stated that rocket fires were in response to Israel's siege of Gaza strip. By January 3rd, 2009, Israeli tanks and infantry were invading Gaza with air support from gunships.
[edit]Geography


Beach in Gaza City
The nucleus Gaza is situated on a low round hill with an elevation of 50 feet (15 m) or 60 feet (18 m) above sea level. Much of the modern city is built along the plain below especially to the north and east, forming Gaza's suburbs.[35] The municipal jurisdiction of the city today constitutes 45,000 dunams.[1] The beach and the port of Gaza are located west of the city's nucleus and the space between is entirely built up on low-lying hills. The areas south, north and east of the city have numerous gardens of prickly pears.[35]
Gaza today stretches from the coastline to the eastern border with Israel. In the 1930s and 1940s, a new spacial residential neighborhood, Rimal, was built on the sand dunes west of the city center, and the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Judeide were built along Gaza's southern, southwestern, and eastern borders.[16] Gaza has encompassed the villages of al-Qubba in the east and Sheikh Radwan in the north as well as the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Shati along the coast. Surrounding localities include Jabalia to the north which today basically forms a suburb of the city, the Bedouin village of Abu Middein and the city of Deir al-Balah to the south.[46]
[edit]Old City
The Old City is the main part of Gaza's nucleus. It is roughly divided into two quarters; the northern Daraj Quarter (known as the Muslim Quarter) and the southern Zaytoun Quarter (known as the Christian Quarter). There are seven historic gates being Bab Aqsalan (Gate of Ashkelon), Bab al-Darum (Gate of Deir al-Balah), Bab al-Bahr (Gate of the Sea), Bab Marnas (Gate of Marnas), Bab al-Baladiyah (Gate of the Town), Bab al-Khalil (Gate of Hebron), and Bab al-Muntar (Gate of Tell Muntar).[47] It contains several mosques, the primary ones being the Great Mosque of Gaza, the Welayat Mosque, and the Mosque of al-Sayed Hashem. Some of the older buildings use the ablaq style of decoration prevalent in the Mamluk era, that features red and white masonry. A few of the city's primary markets such as the Gold Market are located here.[48]
[edit]Demographics


Gold Market, Gaza City
According to the 1557 Ottoman tahrir defter, Gaza included 2,477 male tax payers, basically meaning the population was about 12,000 people. These figures excluded members of the military and religious classes.[49] In 1838, there were roughly 4,000 Muslim tax payers and 100 Christian ones, concluding a population of about 15,000 or 16,000—making it larger than Jerusalem at the time. The total number of Christian families was 57.[36]
A large number of Gaza's pre-1948 residents were Egyptians or their descendants who had fled political turmoil in Muhammad Ali's Egypt.[50] The population of Gaza today is overwhelmingly Arab Muslim, with a small minority of about 3,500 Arab Christians, mostly adhering to the Greek Orthodox Church.[51] Gaza's Muslims overwhelmingly adhere to Sunni Islam. Gaza's Jewish community was roughly 2,000 years old and before most of them left Gaza after the 1929 Riots they consisted of fifty families.[16] Those who remained left after the 1948 War due to mutual distrust between them and the Arab majority.[52]
According to a 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Gaza and the adjacent al-Shati camp had a population of 353,115 inhabitants, of which 50.9% were males and 49.1% females. Gaza has an overwhelmingly young population with over half between the age of infancy to 14 years (50.3%) and 25.7% between the ages of 15 and 29. About 13.6% were between the ages of 30 to 44, 7.7% between ages 45 to 65 and 3.9% were over the age of 64.[53]
A massive influx of Palestinian refugees swelled Gaza's population after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. By 1967, the population had grown to about six times its 1948 size.[16] In 1997, 51.8% of Gaza's inhabitants were refugees or their descendants.[54] The city's population has continued to increase since that time to 409,680 in 2006, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.[55] The population continues to grow, and Gaza has one of the highest overall growth rates and population densities in the world, with about 5,261 people per square mile.[16] Poverty, unemployment and poor living conditions are widespread and many residents rely on United Nations food aid to survive.[56][16]
[edit]Economy


Backyard industry
[edit]Ottoman era
Gaza was among six soap-producing cities in Palestine, overshadowed by Nablus. Gaza's factories purchased qilw from merchants from Nablus and Salt, Jordan.[57] Gaza's port was eclipsed by the ports of Jaffa and Haifa, however, it retained its fishing fleet.[16] Although its port was inactive, commerce thrived because of its strategic location. Most caravans and travelers coming from Egypt stopped in Gaza for supplies, likewise Bedouins from Ma'an in east of the Wadi Araba bought up all sorts of provisions from the city to sell to Muslim pilgrims coming from Mecca. The bazaars of Gaza were well-supplied and were noted by Edward Robinson as "far better" than those of Jerusalem.[58] Its principal commercial crop was cotton which was sold to the government and local Arab tribes.[35]
[edit]Modern era
Following the Six-Day War, Israel closed down Gaza's port and consequently, the city lost its fishing income. There were previous Palestinian and international attempts to construct a major port in Gaza for the benefit of the planned State of Palestine, but objections from Israel prevented such attempts. The major agricultural products are strawberries, citrus, dates, olives, flowers, and various vegetables. Pollution and massive population pressure on water have reduced the productive capacity of the surrounding farms, however.[16]
Small-scale industries in the city include the production of plastics, construction materials, textiles, furniture, pottery, tiles, copperware, and carpets. Following the Oslo Accords, thousands of residents were employed in the various government ministries and security services, while others were employed by the UNRWA and other international organizations that support development of the city.[16]
Gaza city contains some minor industries, including textiles and food processing. A variety of wares are sold in Gaza's street bazaars, including carpets, pottery, wicker furniture, and cotton clothing; commercial development in the city is minimal. According to a recent report by OXFAM, Gazan industry has been reduced to shambles because of the ongoing Blockade of the Gaza Strip. Because they are no longer able to import materials or export goods, 95% of Gazan factories closed since the imposition of closure policies following Israel's 2005 disengagement.[59]
Many Gazans worked in the Israeli service industry while the border was open, but part of Israel's 2005 disengagement stipulated that Gazans will no longer be able to work in Israel and few Gazans are presently allowed to enter Israel. Gaza has serious deficiencies in housing, educational facilities, health facilities, infrastructure, and an inadequate sewage system, all of which have contributed to serious hygiene and public health problems.
Gaza's economic conditions have been stagnant in the long-term and most development indicators are in decline, a situation described by Harvard economist Sara Roy as a state of "economic de-development".[60] Seventy-five percent (75%) of the population (1.1 million people) are now dependent on handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP) simply to feed their families, the largest single dependent population in the world.[59]
[edit]Local infrastructure

[edit]Landmarks


The Great Mosque of Gaza is the oldest mosque in the city
Landmarks in Gaza include the Great Mosque in the Old City, which is the oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip and identified as the "only structure of historical importance" in the city by 19th century Western travelers. The Mamluk-era Sayed Hashem Mosque is also located in the Old City and its dome is believed to house the tomb of Hashem ibn Abd al-Manaf.[61]
Midan al-Jundi ("the Soldier's Square"), located in the neighborhood of Rimal, is a monument dedicated to an unknown Palestinian fighter who died in the 1948 War. In 1967, the monument was torn down by Israeli forces and remained a patch of sand,[62] until a public garden was built there with funding from Norway. Napoleon's Citadel, originally a Mamluk-era villa that was used by Napoleon during his brief sojourn in Gaza, is located in the Old City and is today a girl's school. The British War Cemetery that contains the graves of fallen British soldiers in World War I is in the Tuffah neighborhood.[48]
[edit]Utilities
According to the PCBS's 1997 census, 98.1% of Gaza's residents were connected to the public water supply while the remainder used a private system.[63] About 87.6% were connected to a public sewage system and 11.8% use a cesspit.[64]
[edit]Transportation
The Rasheed Coastal Road connects run along Gaza's coastline and connects it with the rest of Gaza Strip's coastline north and south. The main road of the Gaza Strip, Salah ad-Din Street (the modern Via Maris) runs through the middle of Gaza City, connecting it with Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, and Rafah in the south and Jabalia and Beit Hanoun in the north.[48] The northern crossing of Salah ad-Din Street into Israel is the Erez Crossing and the crossing into Egypt is the Rafah Crossing. The crossings have been closed by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
Omar Mukhtar Street is the main road in the city of Gaza running north-south, branching off Salah ad-Din Street, stretching from the Rimal coastline and the Old City where it ends at the Gold Market.[48] Prior to the Blockade of the Gaza Strip, there existed regular lines of collective taxis to Ramallah and Hebron in the West Bank.[65]
The Yasser Arafat International Airport near Rafah opened in 1998 and is 40 kilometers (25 mi). Its runways and facilities became significantly damaged during the Second Intifada. The Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel is located roughly 75 kilometers (47 mi) northeast of the city.[65]
[edit]Government

The first municipal council of Gaza was formed in 1893 under the chairmanship of Ali Khalil Shawa. Modern mayorship, however, began in 1906 with his son Said al-Shawa, who was appointed mayor.[66] Said al-Shawa oversaw the construction of Gaza's first hospital, several new mosques and schools, the restoration of the Great Mosque, and introduction of the modern plow to the city.[67]
Today, Gaza serves as the administrative capital of the Gaza Governorate.[68] It contains the Palestinian Legislative Council building, as well as the headquarters of most of the Palestinian Authority ministries.
[edit]Municipal council
The current municipal council consists of the following eleven members, including the mayor.[69]
Rank Name Status
1 Rafiq Tawfiq Salim al-Makki Head of the Council
2 Nizar Hamid Hashim Hijazi Vice President of the Council
3 Mazen Mohammed Ali Bran Member of Council
4 Khaled al-Fadl az-Zahar Member of Council
5 Ziad Hassan Hussein Abuhen Member of Council
6 Hassan Mustafa Mahmoud Louh Member of Council
7 Musa Abdel Qader Abu Hussein Member of Council
8 Bashir Mohammed Issa Member of Council
9 Mohammed Salman Mohammed Member of Council
10 Yasser Abed Taha al-Shurafa Member of Council
11 Mohammed Abu Lutfi Abu Ghazaleh Member of Council

Interessant stukje tekst. Toont wel aan dat Gaza nogal vaak van 'eigenaar' is gewisseld (niet verwonderlijk gezien de ligging), en overigens ook lang niet altijd een toonbeeld van tolerant denken heeft mogen zijn.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:15 schreef voyeur het volgende:

[..]

Nee, het getuigt van een fictief moreel eindoordeel. De geallieerden waren the good guys in onze ogen, maar als ze verloren hadden zou het Neurenberg/London proces er anders uitgezien hebben. De geschiedenis is cynisch en houdt van de winnaars. Een moreel oordeel over een oorlog is extreem moeilijk te vellen. Je kunt twisten over de ingezette middelen, maar de motieven zijn van beide partijen meestal wel begrijpelijk.

Ja, de overwinnaars schrijven de geschiedenis. Althans direct na de oorlog dan, meestal volgt een genuanceerder oordeel naarmate de zaken minder gevoelig liggen (lees: de belanghebbenden onder de groene zoden liggen). De oordelen over WOII zijn nu ook al een stuk genuanceerder dan 30 jaar terug. En gelukkig maar. Iets dergelijks zal met dit conflict ook wel gebeuren.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:15 schreef voyeur het volgende:

[..]

Nee, het getuigt van een fictief moreel eindoordeel. De geallieerden waren the good guys in onze ogen, maar als ze verloren hadden zou het Neurenberg/London proces er anders uitgezien hebben. De geschiedenis is cynisch en houdt van de winnaars. Een moreel oordeel over een oorlog is extreem moeilijk te vellen. Je kunt twisten over de ingezette middelen, maar de motieven zijn van beide partijen meestal wel begrijpelijk.

De winnaar schrijft de geschiedenis.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:20 schreef Diederik_Duck het volgende:

[..]

Ja, de overwinnaars schrijven de geschiedenis. Althans direct na de oorlog dan, meestal volgt een genuanceerder oordeel naarmate de zaken minder gevoelig liggen (lees: de belanghebbenden onder de groene zoden liggen). De oordelen over WOII zijn nu ook al een stuk genuanceerder dan 30 jaar terug. En gelukkig maar. Iets dergelijks zal met dit conflict ook wel gebeuren.

Ja, maar het draait uiteindelijk om jouw opmerking dt er een morele superoriteit bestaat. Twijfel je daar nu aan?

quote:

Interessant stukje tekst. Toont wel aan dat Gaza nogal vaak van 'eigenaar' is gewisseld (niet verwonderlijk gezien de ligging), en overigens ook lang niet altijd een toonbeeld van tolerant denken heeft mogen zijn.

Leuk stukje om te 'quoten'

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:24 schreef voyeur het volgende:

[..]

Ja, maar het draait uiteindelijk om jouw opmerking dt er een morele superoriteit bestaat. Twijfel je daar nu aan?

Tja, dat is een moeilijke vraag...

Ik ben toch geneigd te denken dat er gesteld kan worden dat de ene partij beter is dan de andere (al was het maar omdat de andere optie nihilisme in zal houden), maar ik ben me er zeer van bewust dat het hier een veelal sterk subjectief gekleurd oordeel zal zijn. (vandaar dat de serieuze geschiedschrijver zich er beter verre van kan houden). Los daarvan hebben we natuurlijk altijd te maken met een informatieprobleem: ontgaat iets aan onze blik, is de informatie die we hebben wel deugdelijk etc.

Vandaar dat het denk ik verstandig is om = ook al denken we allemaal gelijk te hebben - ook open te staan voor een verandering van inzicht.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:36 schreef Meki het volgende:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=aa9_1231939583

Feest in New York na Gaza

Demonstranten worden geweldadig bij het Israelische consulaat/ambassade in SF. Zeer grote groep Hamasbejubelaars vs. een handjevol mensen met Israelische vlaggen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:40 schreef Diederik_Duck het volgende:

[..]

Tja, dat is een moeilijke vraag...

Ik ben toch geneigd te denken dat er gesteld kan worden dat de ene partij beter is dan de andere (al was het maar omdat de andere optie nihilisme in zal houden), maar ik ben me er zeer van bewust dat het hier een veelal sterk subjectief gekleurd oordeel zal zijn. (vandaar dat de serieuze geschiedschrijver zich er beter verre van kan houden). Los daarvan hebben we natuurlijk altijd te maken met een informatieprobleem: ontgaat iets aan onze blik, is de informatie die we hebben wel deugdelijk etc.

Vandaar dat het denk ik verstandig is om = ook al denken we allemaal gelijk te hebben - ook open te staan voor een verandering van inzicht.

Ik moet naar bed ,maar ik vind het een mooie post en wil er graag later nog op reageren. Ik hoop morgen en als het vlot help me herinneren daar het een discussie is die voor dit conflict cruciaal; is.

Wat een HILARISCH topic dit. Echt van allebei de kanten dramatische foto's en filmpjes posten om zieltjes te winnen

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:45 schreef Meki het volgende:

[..]

Groot verschil tussen doden verheerlijken en emotioneel demonstreren.

Komt mij bekend voor, wie deden dat ook alweer. Ah, de Palestijnen in de Gazastrook bij 911

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:45 schreef Meki het volgende:

[..]

Groot verschil tussen doden verheerlijken en emotioneel demonstreren.

Dat scheidt Israeliërs en Palestijnen nou juist. Palestijnen kunnen hun emoties niet in toom houden.

Het goedpraten van geweld van een grote groep tegen een kleine onder het mom van emotie getuigt al van bijzondere brutaliteit. Wat mij betreft mocht de wapenstok over die groep heen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:46 schreef Bananenman het volgende:
Wat een HILARISCH topic dit. Echt van allebei de kanten dramatische foto's en filmpjes posten om zieltjes te winnen

Inderdaad. Terwijl beide partijen even grote klootzakken zijn.
Maar zolang je 1 van de 2 religies (of een enorme kapitalist bent) aanhangt, ben je gewoon partijdig.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:49 schreef cerror het volgende:

[..]

Inderdaad. Terwijl beide partijen even grote klootzakken zijn.
Maar zolang je 1 van de 2 religies (of een enorme kapitalist bent) aanhangt, ben je gewoon partijdig.

Maar is het erg om voor een partij te kiezen?

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:45 schreef voyeur het volgende:

[..]

Ik moet naar bed ,maar ik vind het een mooie post en wil er graag later nog op reageren. Ik hoop morgen en als het vlot help me herinneren daar het een discussie is die voor dit conflict cruciaal; is.

Ok , en slaap wel

Het zijn 3 religies.

Is het zinnig de niet-religieuzen te laten oordelen?

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:52 schreef Ruimer het volgende:
Het zijn 3 religies.

Is het zinnig de niet-religieuzen te laten oordelen?

Niet religieuzen kunnen meestal beter oordelen dan mensen die hun vertrouwen uit handen geven aan een 'grootheid' waarvan het bestaan niet is aangetoond. Maar dat is een andere discussie.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:53 schreef GasTurbine het volgende:

[..]

Niet religieuzen kunnen meestal beter oordelen dan mensen die hun vertrouwen uit handen geven aan een 'grootheid' waarvan het bestaan niet is aangetoond. Maar dat is een andere discussie.

Is zou inderdaad het met je eens zijn, maar als je gelooft geloof je weer in een Goddelijk iemand. En ALS die zou bestaan zou die natuurlijk het weer beter dan ons weten. Als je snapt wat ik bedoel

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:50 schreef damsco het volgende:

[..]

Maar is het erg om voor een partij te kiezen?

Wat is er mis met de ruimte delen?
Deden de moslims ook voor de jaren 40 met de Joden.

En dit is voer voor Meki's propaganda kanaal dus ik ga maar niet meer voer geven voor de moslimhoer.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:53 schreef GasTurbine het volgende:

[..]

Niet religieuzen kunnen meestal beter oordelen dan mensen die hun vertrouwen uit handen geven aan een 'grootheid' waarvan het bestaan niet is aangetoond. Maar dat is een andere discussie.

De nihilistische superioriteit .

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:55 schreef damsco het volgende:

[..]

Is zou inderdaad het met je eens zijn, maar als je gelooft geloof je weer in een Goddelijk iemand. En ALS die zou bestaan zou die natuurlijk het weer beter dan ons weten. Als je snapt wat ik bedoel

Maar die heeft een goddeloos iemand dus niet.
Natuurlijk is de mens altijd met fouten, maar religie heeft meer fouten dan een persoon met het syndroom van down die een Cito toets doet.

Ik heb liever onderhandeling door een agnost en/of atheïst dan een Jood, Moslim, Christen of Medicijnman.
Uiteindelijk draait religie ook maar om macht, maar dan heb ik liever macht door een bestaand persoon en niet macht door religie.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:58 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

De nihilistische superioriteit .

Je hebt onderbouwde argumenten?

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 01:58 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

De nihilistische superioriteit .

En die heeft god niet?
Wees eens realistisch en niet zo hypocriet.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:00 schreef cerror het volgende:

[..]

Maar die heeft een goddeloos iemand dus niet.
Natuurlijk is de mens altijd met fouten, maar religie heeft meer fouten dan een persoon met het syndroom van down die een Cito toets doet.

Ik heb liever onderhandeling door een agnost en/of atheïst dan een Jood, Moslim, Christen of Medicijnman.
Uiteindelijk draait religie ook maar om macht, maar dan heb ik liever macht door een bestaand persoon en niet macht door religie.

Hmmmm tja, ik weet het niet. Ben er nog niet over uit

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:01 schreef GasTurbine het volgende:

[..]

Je hebt onderbouwde argumenten?

Ik ben een ietsist, dus ik voel me niet persoonlijk aangevallen door je bewering, maar je bent een nitwit als je stelt dat religie de diplomatieke kwaliteiten van een onderhandelaar per definitie corrumpeert.

Ik moest ook zo lachen toen Bush zei: We must spread democracy and god bless America.
Oftewel: Kies wie jij wil die jouw volk moet leiden, maar wel iemand die bang is voor God.

Oh, hetzelfde verhaaltje (behalve dat kiezen) voor Iran, Irak en welk land dan ook vol met religieuze mensen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:04 schreef cerror het volgende:

[..]

En die heeft god niet?
Wees eens realistisch en niet zo hypocriet.

Iedereen heeft gelijk en iedereen heeft ongelijk.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:06 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

Ik ben een ietsist, dus ik voel me niet persoonlijk aangevallen door je bewering, maar je bent een nitwit als je stelt dat religie de diplomatieke kwaliteiten van een onderhandelaar per definitie corrumpeert.

Die chick rechts in je fotoalbum

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:06 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

Ik ben een ietsist, dus ik voel me niet persoonlijk aangevallen door je bewering, maar je bent een nitwit als je stelt dat religie de diplomatieke kwaliteiten van een onderhandelaar per definitie corrumpeert.

Tuurlijk corumpteert een religie.
Het is een geloof. Besluiten nemen onder een noemer van opgelegde regels.
Een nietsist (zoals jij en ik best wel) nemen besluiten door te relativeren: Moord en doodslag = slecht. (hadden de religieuze lui ook door) en respect voor elkanders mening zolang die maar niet word opgedrongen aan andersdenkenden.

Zoiets.
Niet echt de richting zoals het nu gaat lijkt me.
Als je jezelf een atheïst noemt in Texas ben je een verrader en doe je hetzelfde in Irak dan ben je ook de lul.
Vind ik niet echt het respect dat je verwacht bij een juiste besluitvorming.

In de wereld van religie zijn andersdenkenden een gevaar voor de machtigen. (de religieuzen).
Religie beheersen == macht.

Imams (of wat dan ook de hoogste macht in de Islam is daar) heeft daar nu de macht net zoals de Kardinalen tijdens de kruistochten.
Blind geloven in de luidsprekers van de religie.

Een cito-toets vind ik dan ook overbodig voor religieuze kinderen.
Die worden wel wat ze willen worden opgedragen wordt.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:07 schreef damsco het volgende:

[..]

Die chick rechts in je fotoalbum

Die versier je met een paar okkenoten .

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:10 schreef cerror het volgende:

[..]

Tuurlijk corumpteert een religie.
Het is een geloof. Besluiten nemen onder een noemer van opgelegde regels.
Een nietsist (zoals jij en ik best wel) nemen besluiten door te relativeren: Moord en doodslag = slecht. (hadden de religieuze lui ook door) en respect voor elkanders mening zolang die maar niet word opgedrongen aan andersdenkenden.

Zoiets.
Niet echt de richting zoals het nu gaat lijkt me.
Als je jezelf een atheïst noemt in Texas ben je een verrader en doe je hetzelfde in Irak dan ben je ook de lul.
Vind ik niet echt het respect dat je verwacht bij een juiste besluitvorming.

Je kunt niet alle religieuzen over één kam scheren.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:14 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

Die versier je met een paar okkenoten .

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:19 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

Je kunt niet alle religieuzen over één kam scheren.

Religie creeërt automatisch een een stel extremisten.
Zelfs in het boeddhisme heb je ze.
Alsof je ze een recept geeft met een spelfout en vanuit die spelfout weten ze te herleiden dat het eigenlijk een recept is die perfect moet opgevolgt moet worden anders verdien je een nekschot.

Erg grappig als dat een recept voor roer ei was.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:19 schreef cultheld het volgende:

[..]

Je kunt niet alle religieuzen over één kam scheren.

Natuurlijk wel. Ze hebben allemaal de eigenschap dat ze verantwoording afleggen aan een hogere (fictioneel of niet) macht.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:22 schreef cerror het volgende:

[..]

Religie creeërt automatisch een een stel extremisten.
Zelfs in het boeddhisme heb je ze.
Alsof je ze een recept geeft met een spelfout en vanuit die spelfout weten ze te herleiden dat het eigenlijk een recept is die perfect moet opgevolgt moet worden anders verdien je een nekschot.

Erg grappig als dat een recept voor roer ei was.

En dus is elke religieuze wereldleider automatisch een potentiële extremist ? Wist je dat Hitler en Stalin wars van geloof waren en misschien juist wel daarom allebei overtuigde antisemieten waren? Maakt dit nou elke ongelovige een potentiële antisemiet? Volgens jouw rare redenering wel, maar ik probeer iedereen als individu te beoordelen, tenzij blijkt dat de religie van iemand een significante factor voor diens intolerantie t.o.v. anderen blijkt te zijn.

quote:

Op vrijdag 16 januari 2009 02:31 schreef GasTurbine het volgende:

[..]

Natuurlijk wel. Ze hebben allemaal de eigenschap dat ze verantwoording afleggen aan een hogere (fictioneel of niet) macht.

En dat. Ik wilde eigenlijk het hele: Er zijn ook vredelievende religieuze mensen debat mijden maar eigenlijk vind ik deze best wel neutraal.