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A Style Sheet on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Ashkenazi (plural, Ashkenazim). Jews in Israel are officially divided into Ashkenazim (from Germany, and by extension, Europe) and Sephardim (from Spain, and by extension, the Middle East and North Africa). Since most Jews of European ancestry are Ashkenazim, the term denotes both sectarian affiliation and geographic origin. Israeli Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, however, are described as Sephardim in sectarian terms, and Mizrachim (Orientals) geographically. In the early years, the Zionist movement was almost wholly Ashkenazi. Of the 717,000 Jews in Israel in 1948, Ashkenazim numbered 80 percent; and of the 37 Jewish leaders on stage when David Ben-Gurion declared the state of Israel in 1948, one was from Palestine, one from Yemen, and 35 from Europe and Russia. By the mid-1960s, Mizrachim surpassed the Ashkenazim, due to immigration and a higher birth rate. Today, due to Russian immigration, their numbers are about equal. See: Jews, Judaism; Zionism. Autonomous Areas. As a result of Oslo I in 1993, Oslo II in 1995, and the 1997 Hebron Agreement, seven Palestinian cities in the West Bank, 60 percent of Gaza, and 80 percent of Hebron are considered autonomous areas under full Palestinian jurisdiction. Other parts of the West Bank and Gaza (Areas B and C) are under joint or exclusively Israeli jurisdiction. See: Areas A,B,C. Borders. Israel has never officially fixed its territorial borders. When David Ben-Gurion announced the creation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, he refused to define its borders, saying, “We are announcing the creation of a state in the Western part of our country.” And in his diaries (“Rebirth and Destiny of Israel”) he wrote “...we have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion” in order to accommodate the ingathering of Jews from around the world. Within Israel today the question of borders is controversial since some Israeli Jews refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria and as part of Greater or Eretz Israel. Israeli peace groups, such as Gush Shalom, call for the pre-1967 borders, or green line, to be accepted as the “border of peace.” Agreements at Taba, Egypt, in January 2001 (later repudiated by Israel) acknowledged the 1967 borders as the basis for lasting peace. [www.Gush-Shalom.org/Jerusalem] See: Aliyah; Green Line; Peace Organizations; U.N. Resolutions; Zionism. Bypass Roads. Paved highways built by Israel on confiscated Palestinian land within the West Bank and Gaza to facilitate travel for Jewish settlers to Jerusalem, other Israeli cities, and other settlements. Between 1977 and 1999 Israel built 750 miles of these roads, often dividing Palestinian communities and making it impossible for some farmers to reach their fields. Bypass roads also extend Israel’s de facto borders beyond the green line and around an expanded Jerusalem [www.palestinemoni-tor.org/factsheet]. Checkpoint. A barrier built by the Israeli Defense Forces or Border Police to limit the movement of Palestinians who lack necessary permits. Normally, Israeli citizens and foreigners move through the checkpoints without being stopped. Palestinians with permits frequently experience extreme delays and humiliation at these barriers. On occasions, deaths have occurred at checkpoints when individuals, including pregnant women in labor, have been unable to reach hospitals. Often farm produce, especially from Gaza, has spoiled at checkpoints due to delays of up to several days. See: Closure; IDF. Christian Zionism. For more than a century, some evangelical Christians have supported the development of a Jewish commonwealth in the belief that the Messiah will return when Jews are restored to the land of Israel. Various leaders in Israel have courted evangelical leaders in the U.S., including the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson who, like Hal Lindsey, anticipate the last great battle, Armageddon. These Israeli leaders generally ignore the Christian Zionists’ theological position that in the end days all Jews will be killed, save for 144,000 who accept Christ. An exception to this evangelical Christian support for the state of Israel has come from the U.S.-based Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding. [www.icej.org; www.emeu.org] See: Embassy, Christian Embassy. Christianity. The religion practiced by Christians, the followers of Jesus who was born and lived as a Jew in what is now Israel and the West Bank. According to biblical tradition, Jesus also visited parts of what are now Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. [www.cicts.org] For the branches of Christianity, see: Christians. Christians (Middle East Christians). The Christian community in Israel and Palestine, and throughout the Middle East, includes four families of churches: the Eastern Orthodox, within which the Greek Orthodox Church is the largest and most prominent; the Oriental Orthodox, which includes the Coptic Orthodox Church and Armenian Apostolic Church among others; the Catholic family in which the Latin Catholic, Greek Catholic (Melkite) and Maronite Churches are the most prominent; and the Evangelical (Protestant) family that includes Anglicans, Lutherans and numerous smaller groups. Churches of all four of these families participate as members of the Middle East Council of Churches and accept both the Old and New Testaments. Membership of all these churches has declined during the last half century due to emigration from the region.
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