Holy Land And Jerusalem Under Islamic Rule

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (5)

Station 13 – Continue…

Jerusalem was center of the Christian Church in the 1st century, because it had the prestige of being the city of Christ's death and resurrection and the center of the Apostolic Age. But it became decentralized and the 2nd century witnessed fierce attacks on the Apostles.

In the beginning of the new religion, Christians used to pray alongside with Jewish Believers, and the Romans did not distinguish between Christian and Jews probably for the same tax collecting reason.

 Saint Helana

The Land of Canaan, which is described in the Bible as the Holy Land did not regain significance to Christianity until the pilgrimage of Empress Helena (Saint Helana), who was the consort of Emperor Constantinus, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I, and who was credited with finding the relics of the true cross.

Rome became the most important Christian center in the West, while Antioch and Alexandria were the most important Christian centers in the East.

Christianity spread within the Parthian Empire, and became a state religion in the west by the end of the 3rd century.

 Spread of Christianity by year 600

City of Edessa (Now Urfa or Al Raha) in south-eastern Turkey, near the Euphrates River, was a strategic location on the main trade routes of the Fertile Crescent, and accessible to Antioch, where the mission of the Gentiles was inaugurated. The early Christians found refuge in this city, and rapidly grew in numbers where in no time Christianity became the state religion.

From this city, missionary movement began and Christianity slowly spread throughout Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia and China.

In the Arabian Peninsula, Christianity found a strong foothold in the ancient center of Semitic civilization in South-west Arabia in Sheba (Yemen)(Queen of Sheba once visited King Solomon) and also in Ethiopia. Christians believe that Apostle Mathew was assigned to that land.

In the 6th century Roman imperial rule continued in the East through the Byzantine Empire.

In the 530s the second Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) was built in Constantinople under emperor Justinian I. The first church was destroyed during the Nika riots.

The second Hagia Sophia would become the center of the ecclesiastical community for the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium.

Station Fourteen

The 7th century witnessed the birth of Islam under Prophet Muhammad Bin Abdullah, a new religion that did not deny the Jewish and Christian’s teachings, but added new visions of faith.

Those visions were considered a great challenge to the Christian Church and Jewish traditions.

By 630 AD, Muhammad united the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam, including the former Christian Kingdom of Yemen.

Later the Muslim Empire emerged and began to expand beyond Arabia.

During this period the Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire concluded decades of wars that left both Empires powerless.

Islam revived the term (Hanif) that refers to an era prior to the advent religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Islam it refers to the pre-Islamic people in the period of (Jahilyah) or the Age of Ignorance, who rejected polytheism (Shirk) and retained the tenets of the monotheist religion of Ibrahim.

In other words Islam considered Ibrahim neither Jew nor Christian, but referred to him and his son Ismail as the first Muslims.

Muslims believe that Ibrahim and Ismail built the Ka'aba in Mekkah, and they are the ancestors of Arabs.

"Hanifiyyas" are seen in Islam as followers of the religion of Ibrahim, a definition that is not accepted by Christians.

Station Fifteen

Shortly after the death of Muhammad, the Muslim Empire began to expand. Iran, Levant and Egypt were under the Islamic control by year 642.

In the 8th century all North Africa, Spain, Portugal, India and Indonesia became Islamic Lands.

Map of Arabia at dawn of Islam

By this time Baghdad became the Capital of Knowledge and accumulated many key geographical works from Greeks and Romans.

The Sassanid and Byzantine Empires collapsed under Muslim conquests, which reacquired the lands of Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Jews and Christians eventually lost their influence in these territories.

Before he died, Prophet Muhammad ordered preparation of a large expedition against the Roman Empire.

Abu Bakr, his first Caliph, ordered the army, to move despite a serious uprising by many tribes against him that broke the army, but he was able to win and most of those tribes re-embraced Islam. (Riddah Wars)

The Muslim Army marched then to fought the Christians Arabs of Banu Kalb and Ghassanids, and then moved to raid Iraq and defeated the Sassanid army.

Prior entering Mesopotamia, the Muslim Army under Khalid Bin Al Walid, won decisive victories in the battles of Chains, Yamama, River, and Walaja.

After the death of Abu Bakr, and obeying his will, Omar (The second Caliph) continued the conquest of Syria and Mesopotamia. His army marched to Qadisiyah, south of Iraq and defeated the Persian army, effectively ending the Sassanid rule west of Persia proper.

The army later conquered Babylon, Kososie, Bahrahsher and Madein.

By 638 the Tigris valley and the Euphrates were completely under the control of the Muslims.

The Battle of Nihawanad is considered as the most decisive battle in Islamic history, because it was the key to Persia. All of Persia is now under the Muslim Empire.

Romans after the fall of Jerusalem re-named the Land of Canaan; Palaestina, and also re-named the area including Negef, Sinai and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutoris, sometimes called Palaestina III.

In 603, Persians under Khosrau II occupied Syria, Palestine and Egypt before they were conquered by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.

Abrahamic religions.

Syria was partly an Arab land, and the Arabs were there since pre-Roman times. The region was of no significance till Ghassan tribe from Yemen immigrated to Syria and ruled the Ghassanid Kingdom under the Roman Empire. The kingdom was ruling at the time of Muslim invasion over the Arabs in Jordan and Southern Syria from its capital Bosra now in Dara’a Province.

Muslim Army under Khalid Bin Al Walid was dispatched to the Syrian front. Khalid avoided the Mesopotamia's route because of the presence of Roman garrisons in Northern Syria. The army crossed the Syrian Desert, surprised the Byzantines in Northern Syria and unhinged their defenses.

 Map showing Muslim routes to Syria

After capturing several cities, Khalid moved south to Damascus, however passed around it and headed to Bosra, where he defeated the Ghassanid army, and eventually the city surrendered in 634.

He then defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Ajnadyan, and decided to capture Damascus. He conquered the city after 30 days of siege.

Controlling central Syria, the Muslim army advanced and went deeper into Palestine and captured Nablus, Amawas, Gaza and Yubna in order to complete the conquest of all Palestine.

Caliph Omar ordered the army to capture all the cities of the Mediterranean coast, Akka,Tyre, Sidon, Arqa, Jabail and Beirut rapidly fell under the Muslim forces.

By 635, Palestine, Jordan and southern Syria with the exception of Jerusalem and Caesarea (Quisaryah) were in Muslim hands. Quisaryah shortly was lifted but resumed after the Battle of Yarmouk until it fell in 640.

The historic Battle of Yarmouk sealed the fate of Byzantines. The magnitude of the defeat was so intense that the Byzantines took years to recover from it. It left the whole of the Byzantine Empire vulnerable to the Muslim invaders.

Muslims then decided to conquer Jerusalem, and the city rulers agreed to surrender only to Caliph Omar bin Al Khattab in person, who came to take the keys of the city.

Muslim army headed then to Aleppo and Antioch isolating the city from Anatolia. Antioch surrendered quickly, and the army moved to capture Lazkia, Jabla, Homs, Tartus and the coastal areas west of Lebanon hills.

Constantine III decided to recapture the Levant and a large force was sent to re-conquer Syria.

The governor of Syria Muawiya Bin Abi Sufian, sent a navy fleet to capture Cyprus, Crete and Rhodes, then launched raids into Western Anatolia, thwarting the Byzantines from making any further attempts to recapture Syria.

Syria was divided by the Muslims into four districts: 1- Jund Dimashq Al Sham(Damascus). 2- Jund Hims (Homs). 3- Jund Al Urdun (Jordan) and Jund Filastin (Palestine). A fifth district was later added to Palestine; Jund Qinnasrin.

In Arabic, the area approximating the Byzantine Diocese of Palaestina I in the south (roughly Judea, Philistia, and southern Jordan) was called Jund Filastin (meaning "the military district of Palestine", as a tax administrative area), and the Diocese of Palaestina II in the north (roughly Samaria, Galilee, Golan, and northern Jordan) Jund AL-Urdunn. Land of Canaan

Muslims kept tolerance towards other religions (People of the Book), who had been previously persecuted under Byzantine rule.

Omar declined a request made by the Christian Patriarch to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the grounds that if he did, his followers will wish later to turn the building into a mosque.

Instead he went to Temple Mount, site of both Solomon's and Herod's temples, which remained in ruins since the destruction of the temple by the Romans six centuries earlier. Omar built a mosque (AL Aqsa) on Temple Mount where he believed that his father in law Muhammad ascended one night to Heaven after he arrived from Makkah in a miraculous trip that took seconds.

The site also has the Dome of Rock (Qubbat AL Sakhra), which is believed that it covers the place from which Muhammad ascended.

In year 639 the Muslim army under Amr Bin Al A'as invaded Egypt.

The Constantinople's Catholic authorities there had persecuted, flogged, tortured and executed Monophysite Christians (They believe that Christ has one nature – A divine human), who so the Arabs as liberators. So did Egypt's peasants who were oppressed by Greek Landlords.

In year 642 Alexandria fell under the Muslim army, and the Byzantines fled Egypt. Muslims assured the Monophysite Christians that they will enjoy religious liberty.

In 646 Muslims conquered all Egypt and turned it to a colony. They put local administration and tax collecting into local hands and allowed the Egyptians to take control over their agricultural lands.

Muslims considered themselves the natural successors of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the other Prophets, and this is why Palestine was and still is of extreme significance.

The Jews and most of the Christians, especially the Monophysites, welcomed the Muslim invasion after they had been severely oppressed in the aftermath of the wars with Persia.

Jews especially enjoyed more freedom under Muslim rule than anywhere else in the world. They were granted in Palestine considerable autonomy to make and enforce their own religious, judicial and social rules. Many Christians and Jews held important posts under various Muslim Caliphs.

Muslims removed the restrictions that Romans and Byzantines had placed on the right of Jews to visit and inhabit Jerusalem.

To be continued….

Sami Cherkaoui

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com

Justin Bieber on his wax figure: I look taller!

Yesterday, 15 March 2011, Madame Tussuads of London unveiled a wax statue of Justin Bieber and declared similar statues are also unveiled in Amsterdam, New York.

The official site of Madame Tussauds described the statue of Justin as posed in a standing position with his hands tucked coyly in his pockets.

The site added that two additional wax figures of Bieber will be launched simultaneously at Madame Tussauds attractions in London and Amsterdam.

Teen sensation, award winning singer and social media king, Justin Bieber, delighted some extremely lucky fans when he unveiled his new wax figure here today!

Bieber took time out from his current world tour to reveal a startlingly life like wax double in front of a small audience of fans - who could hardly contain their excitement.

Teen age girls expressed amazement and held the figure wishing they do not leave and stay by his figure for ever.

The twice Grammy nominated, multi MTV award winner was also impressed commenting on the incredible likeness. “It’s pretty incredible to see. I’m taller but this was a point in time,” he said. “It looks awesome, thanks very much.”

The seventeen year old was closely involved in the figure creation giving sittings for the Madame Tussauds studios team in New York last year. The hair stylists worked with Justin’s personal hair stylist to ensure his trademark haircut is an exact replica of the famous original “Bieber” cut.

The figure is wearing a typically effortlessly cool ensemble – black and red shirt, black jeans teamed with black super high tops.

“The interest in Justin’s figure has been truly phenomenal” commented Liz Edwards, PR Manager here at Madame Tussauds London. “We were absolutely inundated with requests from young fans to include him and since we announced that we were indeed making his figure we’ve been besieged by beliebers wanting to know when they can come and see him here. We’re sure they will be as pleased with the final results as Justin seems to be today.”

The event was watched by thousands of fans who tuned in to a live web stream. Fans who didn’t catch it can check out Justin meeting his figure live at Madame Tussauds on the attraction’s Facebook page.

Madame Tussaauds made it possible for visitors to swoon and cuddle up close to Justin in his own colourful area in its interactive Music Zone. And in keeping with his status as Social Networking King, visitors can take pictures with Justin and share them with the world on facebook - or tweet their meeting immediately - via a special interactive touchscreen.

Figures of Justin were also revealed at Madame Tussauds Amsterdam and Madame Tussauds New York today.

The 17 years old Canadian born pop and R&B singer-songwriter and actor, is spearheading the music world since he was discovered in 2008.

His debut release "My World" released in 2009 was certified for Platinum in the US, and then he ecame the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

His worldwide top-ten single "Baby", is ranked as the most viewed, most discussed and most disliked You Tube video.

Justin has been nominated and awarded numerous accolades over the past few years. He is considered as a teen idol, and has been subject to acclaim from fans, as well as controversy from matters concerning his popularity i,age.

The UK newspaper, the Observer indicated that Justin Bieber is more influential in the social networking sphere than Barack Obama or the Dalai Lama. His account on Twitter  has over 8 million followers.

Phenomena of the century, Justin Bieber can not find a moment of rest and fears are rising that his managers and producers are sucking his energy to the maximum limits.

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com

Mesopotamia During The Days Of Jesus

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (4)

We are still in Station Twelve when After Moses’ death, Joshua invaded Canaan and destroyed Jericho and from there he was able to lead the Israelite to several victories, securing much of the Land of Canaan.

The Israelite settled there till the time when King David came and the Kingdom of Israel was established

Jews consider David as the King of Israel and the Jewish people, and he is also a prominent figure to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic culture.

The Kingdom of Israel was always mentioned in history as the Northern Kingdom which is different than the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

It was a union of all the twelve Israelite tribes living in the area that presently approximates today the land of occupied Palestine by Israel, including the free Palestinian Territories of West Bank and Gaza Strip, along with the “Philistines” whom they were trying to drive them out of their lands.

Israel continued to exist within its reduced territory as an independent kingdom until around 720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and the rest of the population deported.

The two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, co-existed uneasily after the split, until the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians in 722/721 BC that left Judah as the sole remaining kingdom.

At its height Assyria conquered Egypt (and expelled its Nubian dynasty), Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia, Urartu, Phoenicia, Aramea/Syria, the Neo-Hittites, Hurrians, northern Arabia, Gutium, Israel, Judah, Moab, Edom, Corduene, Mannea and parts of Ancient Greece, and defeated and exacted tribute from Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia, Nubia, Ethiopia and others.

Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Afterwards it was Tirzah, which is now a little town near Nablus called Tal Al Farah.

King Solomon was the third king of the United Monarchy and the final king before two kingdoms split.

On the succession of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, in 930 BCE the country split into two kingdoms: Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south. Most of the non-Israelite provinces fell away.

The Bible accredits Solomon for building the First Temple in Jerusalem, which according to the Jews is the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant is a biblical vessel, described as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed.

According to Hebrews, the Ark also contained Aaron's rod, which The Bible tells how, along with Moses' rod, it was endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt which preceded the Exodus, and also a jar of manna, which was the heavenly food God provided for the Israelite during their travels in the desert.

When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom.

The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed the Temple.

In 538 BCE, after 50 years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple.

Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple. 

In about 445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city and the walls to be rebuilt.

Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship.

When Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III.

In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great of Rome captured Jerusalem, incorporating Judea into the Roman Republic.

As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king.

In 4 BC Herod's son, Herod Archelaus was allotted by Caesar Augustus the greater part of the kingdom (Samaria, Judea, and Idumea) with the title of Ethnarch (Ruler) until 6 AD when Judaea province was brought under direct Roman rule at the time of the Census of Quirinius, which was the time when the Roman provinces of Syria and Lydia were enrolled by the Roman Empire for tax purposes. 

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was appointed governor of Syria, after the banishment of Herod Archelaus and the imposition of direct Roman rule on what became Iudaea Province (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea proper, and Idumea).

In Christianity, the Gospel of Luke connects the birth of Jesus to a worldwide census in which individuals had to return to their ancestral cities.

Jesus' mother Mary and step father Joseph, travelled from their home in Nazareth, Galilee, to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.

This census explains how Jesus, a Galilean, could have been born in Bethlehem, the city of King David.

Station Thirteen

When Romans conquered Levant shortly before the time of Jesus, they took the name, 'Philistia' and applied it to the entire region that is south of Canaan Lands, including the land occupied by the Jews and their neighbors. It is from this word, 'Philistia,' that we get our modern English name 'Palestine.'

Palestine at time of Jesus was part of the Roman Empire, which controlled its various territories in a number of ways. 

In the East (eastern Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt), territories were governed either by kings who were “friends and allies” of Rome (often called “client” kings or, more disparagingly, “puppet” kings) or by governors supported by a Roman army.

Antioch on the Orontes, (now called Antakya, also Great Antioch or Syrian Antioch) was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River (Al Asi River along Lebanon, Syria and Turkey), now modern city of Antakya, Turkey.

The city was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals. Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and was the cradle of Gentile Christianity.

Indeed, just as old Babylon was left desolate when the Babylonians flocked to Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, there were likewise swarms of people from Mesopotamia moving to Antioch when it became the real capital of the kingdom.

Jews were not the only ones to move west into this new area of influence. Native Mesopotamian(s) also migrated on a large scale. In fact, the region of western Syria had become so racially "Babylonian" by the end of the Seleucid rule, that Strabo the geographer of the 1st century B.C.E. said the peoples of Mesopotamia and those of Syria were then a homogeneous group.

What is interesting, even when the capital of the empire moved to Antioch, the Seleucid kings called themselves not only the kings of Antioch or Syria but they retained the prestige title: kings of Babylon

The western part of the Roman Empire came to be settled by various types of Semitic peoples and that at one time a particular type would dominate and at another time others would take over.

In the time of Severide (who ruled from C.E. 193 to 235), emperors there were strong ties through marriage with these Punic peoples (from North Africa) and those of Syria. The ancestors of the Severide emperors were really from Tyre and the early histories reveal that many if not most of the Tyrians that became Phoenicians were actually of Edomite, they were kin to the Jews through the twin brother of Jacob; Esau.

Other Roman emperors and rulers in later times were from different branches of these various Semitic peoples who had moved into the western parts of the Empire.

Mesopotamia by the 1st century B.C.E., the Arabs had replaced the earlier people in the south and made up a third of the country (Strabo).

Christians refer to Palestine as the Holy Land because it was the scene of Jesus' life. It is also holy to Hebrews, and Muslims.

Ancient Palestine lay in both the geographic and cultural center of the known world, surrounded by such great ancient civilizations as the Hittite, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and the Mediterranean civilizations to the west.

At the time when Jesus was born, the Jews understood the world to be divided into two types of people: Jewish and Gentile (non-Jew). The Jews worked hard to disassociate themselves from the Gentiles.

Probably this was one of the reasons why Jesus was strongly rejected by the people of his hometown Nazareth, when he first claimed that he is the fulfillment of a prophecy.

In John Gospel 7:1-9, Jesus moves around in Galilee but avoids Judea, because the Jews/Judeans were looking for a chance to kill him.

Influential Judeans formed a unity against Jesus and conspired to find a way to get rid of him and his teachings.

Probably they feared that the Messiah or the King of Jews had come to put their power to an end.

Early Christians were persecuted for their faith, at the hands of both Jews from whose religion Christianity was an offshoot, and the Roman Empire which controlled much of the land early Christianity was distributed across. This continued from the 1st century until the early 4th, when the religion was legalized by Constantine I.

In 41 AD, when Agrippa I, who already possessed the territory of Antipas and Phillip, obtained the power of procurator in Judea, hence re-forming the Kingdom of Herod, he was reportedly eager to endear himself to his Jewish subjects and continued the persecution in which James the lesser lost his life, Peter narrowly escaped and the rest of the apostles took flight.

Christianity began spreading initially from Jerusalem, and then throughout the Near East, Armenia, Ethiopia, Georgia and then the Roman Empire.

Becoming common to all of Europe in the Middle Ages, Christianity expanded throughout the world during the Age of Exploration.

Christianity grew in the Iranian region by different names; Assyrian church, Persian Church, East Syrian Church.

Before the end of the first century the Christian faith broke out across the borders of Rome into ‘Asian’ Asia. Its roots may have been as far away as India or as near as Edessa in the tiny semi-independent principality of Osrhoene just across the Euphrates.
From Edessa, according to tradition, the faith spread to another small kingdom three hundred miles further East across the Tigris River, the Kingdom of Adiabene, with its capital at Arbela, near ancient Nineveh.
By the end of the second century, missionary expansion had carried the church as Far East as Bactria, what is now northern Afghanistan and mass conversions of Huns and Turks in Central Asia were reported from the fifth century onward. By the end of the seventh century, Persian missionaries had reached the ‘end of the world’, the capital of T’ang dynasty in China. (Moffett op cit., pp xiv-xv.).

To be continued

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Confused US foreign policy destabilizes Middle East

When people of Tunis and Egypt, rebelled against their leaders, USA literary was the first country to support the people and asked both presidents Bin Ali and Mubarak (who both were the strongest allies of USA in North Africa and Middle East) to step down.

Prior asking why USA gave up on them so quick and easy, we have to ask why the US administrations were approving such tyrant and non democratic regimes for countless years, knowing for certain that one day time will come for people to topple them? And is it possible that such administrations were/are not aware of the fact that there can be great risk that those people will turn against the USA for supporting the regimes that were sucking their blood and bones without any mercy?

Well it is not easy to think of a proper or logic answer, but I have seriously considered several possibilities, all of them lead to an obvious fact; USA has a wrong or confusing or misleading or unpredictable, or miscalculated or devious, or strange, or weird, or camouflaged, or uncertain, or unplanned policy towards the World in general and the Middle East in particular.

No matter which of the above words you choose to define the USA policy, you end up with one result: CHAOTIC politics for sake of Israel.

Why?

Let us see.

After WW2, Britain succeeded to establish a UN vote in 1947/48 led to replace the whole country of Palestine with a new Jewish country of Israel, forcing half million Arab Palestinians to flee their homes to neighboring Arab countries.

 Image via Wikipedia

USA recognized Israel, and did not give a damn about Palestine and Palestinians!

As a reaction, Arab countries, namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, backed by Saudi Arabian and Yemenite contingents invaded the territory of the former British Mandate of Palestine.

UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie (who was the first Secretary-General of the United Nations) characterized the Arab countries' action as "the first armed aggression which the world had seen since the end of the Second World War”!

It seemed he did not see the exodus of the Palestinians from their land.

China, meanwhile, broadly backed the Arab claims.

As a result, a truce was declared between Israel and Arab States.

In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194 which declared (amongst other things) that in the context of a general peace agreement "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so" and that "compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." The resolution also mandated the creation of the United Nations Conciliation Commission. However, parts of the resolution were never implemented, resulting in the Palestinian refugee crisis.

To correct its first mistake, USA tried to befriend with Arab States, which most of them were at that time, still under the British or French occupation.

When France, Britain and Israel attacked Egypt in 1956 to regain the control of Suez Canal, Britain and France vetoed a US-sponsored UN resolution calling for halt to military action.

Image by dlisbona via Flickr 

Egypt led by President Nasser was able to defeat the three armies together, and affirm that the control of Suez Canal, its management and revenues are purely for Egypt and the Egyptian people.

The defeat of Britain and France in the Egyptian war, forced them to pull out their military forces from all Arab States and end a long military occupation era in the Middle East.

USA found a way to penetrate the Arab shield and gain some trust.

When in 1960 Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela formed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC), USA managed to win the sympathy of those countries after huge orders put by the US Administration to buy their oils.

Of-course oil prices to USA were at that time by means of trading oil with American support to end the British Occupation and back up the new free Arab States politically, economically and military.

To make it up with Israel for not supporting its war against Egypt, the US in 1966 sold its first jet bombers to the Jewish state, breaking with a 1956 decision not to sell arms to the Jewish state!

This decision brought USA back to square zero with the Arab countries, especially Egypt. However its support to the Saudis in their conflict with Yemen, made them think that they can win the sympathy of other Arab countries.

President Nasser of Egypt had other views and supported Yemen to the extent that he sent his army to Yemen to fight against the Saudis.

In 1964, King Saud of Saudi Arabia and best friend of USA, was removed from power and his brother Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz proclaimed king. The new king continued to rely on USA for arming and training his military forces. However unlike his brother, he did not agree with USA policy in the region and its continuous support to Israel and neglect of the Arabs; the double standard policy.

Like Nasser, Israel also had different calculations and in 1967 attacked its Arab neighbors, capturing Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights from Jordan, Egypt and Syria.

As a result another half million Palestinians had to flee the West Bank and Gaza Strip, towards Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Many Syrians were expelled from Golan Heights by the Israeli Army.

USA gave unlimited and unconditional military and economic support to Israel during that war.

As a consequence, Kuwait and Iraq cut oil supplies to US.

UN adopted Resolution 242, calling on Israel to withdraw from captured territory.

Israel refuses.

This resolution remained un-fulfilled, and now it is still in the Archives of the UN.

The Americans were very clear when President's Special Assistant, Walt Rostow said in a memorandum to President Johnson, describing the US confused attachment to Israel:  “The tough question is whether we'd force Israel back to 4 June borders if the Arabs accepted terms that amounted to an honest peace settlement.".

During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War (launched by Sadat of Egypt), King Faisal withdrew Saudi oil from world markets, in protest over Western support for Israel during the conflict.

The oil prices quadrupled and led to the 1973 energy crisis.

The new oil revenue also allowed Faisal to greatly increase his aid and subsidies to Egypt, Syria, and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

It is a commonly-held (but so far unsubstantiated) popular belief in Saudi Arabia, also in the Arab and Muslim world that Faisal's oil boycott was the real cause of his assassination, via a Western conspiracy, his assassin having just returned from the United States?

In 1974 the UN General Assembly recognized right of Palestinians to independence. And in 1976 The UN voted on a resolution accusing Israel of war crimes in occupied Arab territories.

USA was the only country to cast a one "NO" vote.

US Ambassador to Lebanon Francis was shot to death in Beirut and the US Embassy was shut down.

Nonetheless, USA succeeded in 1978 to persuade Egypt and Israel to sign a US-brokered Camp David peace treaty.

Eighteen Arab countries imposed an economic boycott on Egypt.

America was widely hated in the Middle East.

Shah Iran was the US “buddy” in Iran and the region, but USA was not able to protect his regime when in 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led a grass-roots Islamic revolution in Iran, expelling the Shah and deriding the US as "the great Satan."

Iranian students stormed US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 American hostages for about 15 months.

All US military attempts to rescue the hostages failed.

The best USA could do was to impose sanctions!

In Egypt, Muslim militants opposed to Egypt's peace treaty with Israel assassinated in 1981 the Egyptian President Sadat, who was at that time a good ally of USA.

Contrary to Iran revolution, Egyptians with the support of USA managed to bring Hosni Mubarak as successor to Sadat.

Mubarak continued Sadat's policy in Egypt, by being an Ally to USA, keeping the Egypt/Israeli peace treaty and leading a pro-USA alliance in the region, with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Arab Gulf countries, Tunis and Morocco.

A strong front was established in Levant, led by Hafez Assad of Syria against USA and Israel.

During that time, Lebanon was heavily engaged in a civil war that parted the country pro-Syria and pro-West.

President Assad of Syria, succeeded to control most parts of Lebanon, and strengthened the Palestinian resistance from Lebanon against Israel.

1982 Israel invaded Lebanon to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization, facilitate election of friendly government, and form 25-mile security zone along Israel's borders.

USA and other nations deployed peacekeeping troops in Lebanon.

In 1983 A truck bomb exploded in US Marines' barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 soldiers. USA rushed to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.

President Assad returned stronger to Lebanon. However this time he was covered by a secret agreement with USA; now he can control Lebanon if he eliminates the rest of PLO forces that remained in the country. Which he did.

In 1990, leaders of Arab countries met in Taif of Saudi Arabia, and brought all the Lebanese war lords to the table. They made a peace agreement that ended the civil war, and declared a new constitution in Lebanon.

Syria and Saudi Arabia remained the sponsors and controlling powers of that agreement.

Saudi Arabia managed to bring Rafik Hariri as Prime Minister to Lebanon, which Syria un-happily accepted to keep its army in Lebanon as long as possible.

Strangely, USA did not object on keeping Syrian army in Lebanon, and asked Assad to restrain any military resistance from South Lebanon against Israel. He did, but to a certain extent.

Yasser Arafat who is by now considers Assad of Syria his worst enemy, agreed to have peace talks with Israel, which ended with a peace agreement in 1991sponsored by USA.

As a result, Israel gave back West Bank of Jordan River and Gaza Strip to Arafat, with a promise to push for a new Palestinian State soon. Obviously, soon never came.

With this, USA completed safe borders to Israel from its South, South East and South West.

However, the north borders were still at risk from Lebanon and Syria.

The Syrian-Israeli borders were amazingly calm since 1967, and continued to stay so till now.

But the Lebanese front with Israel was and still is the most dangerous and risky. Syria is still continuing to play a good role in keeping it this way, for many reasons, all of them actually have kept the Syrian regime intact so far.

In 1991 a surprising invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, made USA to lead coalition forces to free Kuwait.

US army entered Iraq, but pulled back for no real reason except what USA declared victory and liberation of Kuwait.

The Iraqi army after that launched severe attacks on Kurds and Shiites!

Strangely enough, the Shiites uprising in south Iraq aired the “Voice of Free Iraq", which was broadcasting from a CIA run radio station out of Saudi Arabia!

More strange to know that Saddam Hussein was engaged in 10 years war with Iran, and his war was supported by USA, including billions of dollars worth of economic aid,  sale of dual-use technology, arms, military intelligence, special operations training and direct involvement in warfare against Iran!

In 1994 King Hussein of Jordan followed suit and signed a peace treaty with Israel.

Syria later managed to make Hamas (The defiant party against PLO) gain power in Gaza Strip, and by this the Palestinians were split in two political sects, one is pro-USA and the other is Pro-Syria and other countries like Libya and Iran.

This in fact has benefitted Israel and USA more than did to Syria!

The confused and hesitant US policy in Afghanistan, led Taliban to take control of the country, and by the time USA decided to assist its allies, mainly Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was thought to create a democratic form of government in Afghanistan, he was assassinated and two days later Al Qaeda made the famous September 11, 2001 on US soil. That attack killed nearly 4000 people, and triggered USA to invade Afghanistan.

When George W. Bush was declared president of USA, the first day he was in the White House, he ordered two Air strikes on Iraq, for unknown reasons.

Later he led a small coalition to invade Iraq, removed Saddam Hussein from power and brought Saddam’s expelled opponents, who were mainly Shiites, and most (if not all) of them are pro-Iran!

To make a balance, he managed to bring a Kurd to be the new President of Iraq.

This angered the Iraqi Sunni(s) and of-course the Sunni majority in Arabia.

On the other hand this confused US policy paved the way to Iran to gain extraordinary powers and maneuvering space, Iran controlled Iraq, befriended Turkey, made alliance with Syria and empowered Hezbollah in Lebanon.

These massive and swift steps of Iran panicked both USA and Israel. They both tried to make a move in 2006 by attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon aiming to destroy its military infrastructure (Like they did to PLO in 1982).

Hezbollah amazed the world by winning that war and consequently gained more political power in Lebanon.

From that moment on, USA was most hated in the region.

The confusing US policy in the Middle East confused its new president Barack Obama himself!

Today we see more attempts to topple other leaders in the Middle East, who are considered allies and friends to USA; Yemen, Jordan and Bahrain and it seems it is working out.

Amazingly, the method of toppling leaders using demonstrations and civil commotions was introduced by USA to people of Iran and Syria mainly; but it seems it is not working there, when the same method is working extra fine in the countries that having good relations with USA.

Is this confusing enough to you?

It certainly is to me?

So what is next?

Some say that Obama and his administration are not bold enough to face the challenges in the Middle East.

This can be true, but I say they also have Israel on their back, which does not allow them to think straight.

This is why USA is confusing the whole world including themselves, but not at all Israel. Not even a bit.

Sami Cherkaoui

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com

Canaan, The Land of Feuds

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (3)

We previously established that the land of Shem was penetrated by Canaan, his off-springs and off-roots. They settled on the coast of Anatolia (South Turkey), Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Station Eight

We also know that from Aprachid (son of Shem), came Eber who is the main seed of Hebrews.

From Eber came Joktan who is the main seed of Arabs.

The other son of Eber whose name is Peleg (brother of Joktan), settled in Babel, and the Book of Genesis marked that in his days "the Earth was divided", which was politically translated to the start of a “feud” between the two brothers (Peleg and Joktan). As a result Peleg fled Babel to settle in the Arabian Peninsula.

His descendants were Adnan and Maad, from whom Mohammad descended.

Prophet Mohammad goes to his roots and stops at Adnan, saying he does not wish to go further back?

From Peleg descendants was Abraham, who later will be a dominant figure to the three main religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Abraham had a son from Lady Sara called Isaac and a son from Lady Hagar called Ismail.

Ismail was raised by the Arabs

Isaac was raised by Hebrews and from him came Jacob, the father of the Israelites.

The sons of Shem raised the following nations:

Elam: a kingdom which was established in the lands of Arabia (South Iran and south Iraq).

Assyria:  The Akkadian kingdom in upper Tigris (Iraq) and later was split into two kingdoms; Assyria in the North and Babel in the south.

Lydia: A kingdom which governed Anatolia Turkey (Manisa and Izmir) and later the great Hettite Empire rose from its foundations.

Decedents of Aram inherited northern Mesopotamia and Syria, including the lands between Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Asshur mountains, land of Ema, Assur, Babel, Persia, Assyria, Babylonia and Media.

Muslims believe that Prophet Hud who lived in Madian of Ancient Arabia is also descendant of Aram.

From all those historic nations, great and important civilizations were founded to play significant roles that divided the lands to ethnic sects and later to religious groups; Sumerian, Akkadian, Ur, Babylonian, Kassite, Hurrians, Hittites, Median, Persian, Egyptians, Hyksos, Ethiopian, Libyans and others.

The lands of Mesopotamia were divided between Shem, Ham and Canaan.

Jews claim that Canaan does not exist as a nation today.

Station Nine

Abraham married Lady Sarah and left Babylon towards Canaan land, and settled in a place called Shechem (Biblical name) which is now known as Nablus in Palestine.

The Bible defined the Land of Canaan as “the Promised Land”, and named it “Land of Israel”.

Later, following the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua assembled the Israelites in Shechem and encouraged them to reaffirm their adherence to the Torah.

According to Book of Genesis, God promised this Land to Abraham’s descendants.

This is may be why all three religions claim the Land.

Abraham's nephew Lot traveled with him and settled in kingdom of Sodom.

Lady Sarah was barren and offered her Egyptian maid Hagar to bring him a son.

Hagar got pregnant with Ismail.

Sarah was upset and asked Abraham to abandon Hagar and her son in the desert.

Later Sarah was pregnant with Isaac.

Arab tribes raised Ismail as one of them and shared with Hagar the water she discovered in the desert.

Abraham and Ismail built Kaaba, which later was considered by Muslims, as the first foundation of House of God.

Muslims believe Abraham is the first Muslim, and Ismail is the “Sacrificed Son”.

Jews and Christians consider Abraham is their father, and Isaac is the “Sacrificed Son”.

A new “Feud”!

Isaac had twin boys; Esau and Jacob.

Station Ten

Jacob and his mother deceived his father Isaac and had him transfer the prophecy to Jacob.

Jacob, afraid of his brother ran from his father’s house, and at a certain place or spot, the Book of Genesis considered him renamed as Israel and became the father of the Israelites.

Later this place would be known as Jerusalem.

Because Hagar was the maid of Sarah, some Jews and Christians claim they are superiors to Muslims! Jacob had some children from maids as well.

Jacob fled Back to Haran, his grandfather Abraham birth place.

He worked for his uncle (brother of his mother), and married his two daughters, and a 2 maid of each one of his wives.

Jacob deceived his uncle with his flocks and herds. He stole some expensive households and fled back to Shechem in the Land of Canaan.

He dwelt in Hebron (Al Khalil) with twelve sons and one daughter from his four wives.

But he loved most his first born from his wife Rachel; Joseph.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous because of their father’s love to Joseph and conspired to kill him. They throw him in a deserted well.

Some Egyptians traders found him, took him to Egypt and sold him to a rich man.

Joseph proved to be a scientific person and economist.

He was appointed as Treasurer of Egypt.

Later his parents and brothers reunited with him in Egypt, and Hebrews spread again in Egypt.

Jacob’s daughter Dinah was said to be raped and killed by the ruler of Schechem. Her two brothers Simeon and Levi avenged her by destroying the city.

Moses was a direct descendant of Levi.

Station Eleven

Ismail is the first son of Abraham from his wife Hagar, who was his first wife’s (Sarah) maid. To avoid Sarah anger, and obey God’s will, Abraham abandoned Ismail and his mother in the desert.

Some Arabs found them; they raised Ismail and shared the waters that Hagar discovered in the desert.

Like Isaac, history and religious books did not give much elaboration on Ismail life.

However, it is worth to mention that Ismail and his mother Hagar are associated with the Covenant of Sinai, which forms the first five books of the Hebrew Bible “the Torah”. While Sarah is associated with the covenant of Grace, into which her son Isaac enters. The covenant of grace became the basis for all future covenants that God made with mankind such as with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ.

Station Twelve

By the time when Moses was born, the Hittite Empire was extended to most of Anatolia and parts of Syria and Canaan, so that by 1300 BC the Hittites were bordering on the Egyptian sphere of influence, leading to the inconclusive Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC.

The Kassites took Babel as their capital city, and had a long dynasty.

Although the Mesopotamian region maintained its independence through this period, it was not a power in the Near East, and mostly sat out the large wars fought over the Levant between Egypt, the Hittite Empire, and Mitanni, as well as independent peoples in the region.

Assyria participated in these wars toward the end of the period, but the Kassites in Babylon did not. They did, however, fight against their longstanding rival to the east, Elam.

In the end, the Elamites conquered Babylon, bringing this period to an end.

Following the Biblical times, Exodus from Egypt happened in a time between 1400 and 1300 BC.

During that period Assyria became the most powerful kingdom on Earth.

Egypt lost its grip over the Levant.

Sinai was the first stop of Moses, and the Israelites refused to enter the Promised Land, (Land of Canaan) because they were afraid of the Giants “The Amorites”.

After Moses spies returned from Canaan, the Israelites disobeyed Moses and attempted to invade the land, they were crushed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.

The second attempt made by Moses where he defeated the Amorites

Moses could not enter the Promised Land and died at the eastern shores of Jordan River.

Between 1206 and 1150 BC, the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Canaan interrupted trade routes and extinguished literacy.

In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter: examples include Hattusa (Hittites city capital), Mycenae (Greece), Ugarit (Syria).

After Moses death, Joshua invaded Canaan and destroyed Jericho and from there he was able to lead the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the Land of Canaan.

The Israelites settled there till the time when King David came and the Kingdom of Israel was established.

Sami Cherkaoui

Rebel Of Canaan

Past, Present and Future of the Cradle of Civilization (2)



After a brief look on the past of Mesopotamia in the last blog, the question was if there is any similarity between the past and present days in the region?


I also concluded that today we see further attempts to divide the region again into demographic lands. to reshuffle history at present, and prepare it for a certain future.

How is this going on?

Before answering the question, it may help to dig again in the past and stop at certain stations, which I believe helped in creating the present we are having now, along with all its complications.

I will start from the Station One - Adam and Eve our first parents.
They mated, had two sons, one of them killed the other, And murder was the first crime.

Station Two is Akhnokh (Idris), who was a prophet but also a teacher (Hermes). He had all  knowledge and science which he taught to humans.
Koran tells that God raised Idris to a higher place. I believe this means a higher rank with regards to the enormous knowledge he acquired.
Interestingly he was born in Babylon but left to Egypt to start his teachings.
The Pharaohs were excellent students. They captured all sciences, then spread them worldwide.
Their first inventions were arms and weapons.

Station Three would be Noah.
He lived in ancient Mesopotamia, and was known as the person who built the ark to save humans and animals from a devastating flood. All religious and history books confirm that he at least had three sons Sam, Ham and Japheth.
In the book of Genesis Noah cursed Ham (because he saw him naked) through his son Canaan to be always a servant to his brothers.
Noah blessed Sam (Shem) and wished for Japheth to multiply in numbers, and be under the "protective umbrella" of Shem. Canaan always be their servants!
Talmud elaborated more and concluded that either Ham saw his father mating his wife or Ham himself had an intercourse with his father's wife.
In any case now there are already Lords and Slaves

Station Four
After the flood Japheth moved through Turkey and inhabited the lands of north Iran, Armenia and Russia, then continued to explore all the North of East and West Europe, then down to France, Spain, Italy and the Greek Islands.
The Bible ascribed seven sons of Japheth from whom the following nations raised:
Gomer: Armenians, Ceimmerians, Scythians, Welsh, Irish, Germans, Huns, Franks and Turks.
Magog: Slavs, Mongols, Hungarians, Irish, Finns, Pamiris. Pashtuns.
Madai: Medes, Indo-Iranians, Mitanni, Mannai, Persian, Tajiks, Balochis and Tati.
Javan: Greeks (Ionians)
Tubal: Tabal, Tibareni, Georgians, Italics, Iberians, Basques.
Tiras: Thracians, Goths, Jutes, Teutons.
Meshech: Phrygians, Illyrians, Caucasian Iberia, Russians.

Station Five
Ham moved to Africa and parts of the Near East (India)
Egypt was considered in the Bible as the Land of Ham.
Ham became the forefather of the southern peoples (Hamitic Race)
He had four sons from whom the following nations derived:
Cush: Egypt, Yemen, Eritrea, Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Babel, Akkad.
Mizraim: Egypt, Libya, Philistim, Crete and Cyprus.
Phut: Land of Punt
Canaan: Phoenicia, Anatolia, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
The Book of Jubilees hinted that Canaan further refused to join his brothers to settle in Ham's allotment beyond the Nile (Africa) and proceeded to inhabit the eastern shores of Mediterranean "squatting" within the inheritance of Shem in the region that later is promised to Abraham.
Lords and Servants.
Offspring of Canaan were:
The Hittites: People of Hatti a powerful entity of Anatolia
The Jebusites: A tribe lived around Jerusalem
The Amorites: Lived between Jordan, Syria and part of Saudi Arabia.
The Girgasites: Egypt Delta
The Arkites: Lived in Akkar North of Lebanon
The Sinites: Lived in the desert of Sinai Egypt
The Arvadites: Lived in Island of Arwad Syria
The Zemarites: Lived in city of Dummar Syria
The Hamathites: Lived in the city of Hamah Syria

Station Six
Sam or Shem is known as the forefather of the Middle peoples (Semitic Race)
Jews consider him their father through Arpachshad.
His children were Elam, Asshur, Aram, Lud and Arpachshad from whom Abraham was descended.
Sam and his sons were the ancestors of the following nations:
Elam: Khuzistan, Iran
Assur: Iraq
Arpachshad: Iraq, Turkey, Syria (Sham), Lebanon and possibly south Jordan and north Saudi Arabia.
Lud: Anatolia
Aram: Iraq, Syria

It is considered by most scholars and historians that the five sons of Sam were the ancestors of the nations of Elam, Assyria, Syria, Chaldea and Lydia respectively.
Some historians believe that Sam descended the whole of European people.
The Islamic scholar Al Tabari believes that the Greeks are descendants of Sam.

Station Seven
Now Arpachshad who is considered the father of Jews, had 3 sons:
Cainan: whom for some reasons the Jews cancelled his name from the genealogical list

Shelah or Salah: Who may be also son of Cainan and not Arpachshad, had a son called Eber who is the eponymous ancestor of Hebrews. He was living in Babel, however it is said by the Jewish traditions that he refused to participate in building the Tower of Babel. He had two sons, Peleg and Joktan.
Peleg: Whom in his days and according to the Book of Genesis "The Earth was divided" and this expression was translated as political divisions between the sons of Noah.
Start of the feuds.
From Peleg there were Reu, Serug, Nabor, Terah and Abraham.

Station Eight
Joktan: In Arabic he is called Qahtanenthrographers identified Joktan's sons with people around the Indus river?
Later the sons of Joktan raised Ismail son of  Abraham.

I will stop at this station and try to see how we can inter-relate so far, these genetic lines with Geo-politics.

Since Canaan rebelled and refused to join his father, he might also have rebelled to fight that curse of Noah and the idea of being a servant to Shem.
His offspings formed major powers, and repeatedly tried to control the regions of Egypt, Syria and Phoenicia.
The Hittites having their strong base in Anatolia and Northern Syria were in continuous wars with Egypt and tried several times to invade the lands.Later all those hostilities ended with the famous battle of Kaddish, which was resulted with both; Hittites and Egyptians declaring amazing victory.(ring a bell?).
However both were extremely exhausted and many important political changes happened in the aftermath of the battle.

The Jebusites were also offspring of Canaan, settled in Philistine and built the city of Jerusalem which they named it Jebus till it was later conquered by King David.

The Amorites who were described in the Bible as the Giants, probably are the same people of Eram in the Koran. They were the inhabitants of Parts of Arabia, Jordan and North Syria. The Bibles tell that they were conquered by Joshua, as the Israelites were ordered to destroy all the inhabitants of Canaan, however the Gibenonites (offshoots of Amorite) tricked them to a treaty that kept their lives but only as slaves.

The Elamites were descendants of Elam son of Shem and inhabited the lands southwest of Iran and Iraq. It was later conquered by the Sumerian king Enmebargesi, and the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who put the Hammurabi Code, a law that was written before the Mosaic Code, a matter which was subject to disputes between civilizations for many centuries to come, probably till our days.

Station Nine would be Abraham who was the father of Isac from the Hebrew Lady Sarah and Ismail from the Egyptian Lady Hajar.

Station Ten would be Jacob (called Israel) who was the son of Isac, and the father of Israeli people.

Station Eleven would be Ismail who was the Ancestor of Mohamed.

Station Twelve would be Moses and his wars against the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Station Thirteen would be Virgin Mary, the birth and death of Jesus

Station Fourteen would be Mohamed and the rise of Islam

Station Fifteen would be the Islamic Invasions

Station Sixteen would be the Abbasid Era

Station Seventeen would be the Omayyad Era

Station Eighteen would be the Ottoman Empire

Station Nineteen would be the WWI

Station Twenty would be the Soviet Era

Station Twenty One would be WWII

Station Twenty One would be WWIII

To be continued

Sami Cherkaoui

Past, Present and Future of the Cradle of Civilization (1)

 The Cradle of Civilization is in the region of Mesopotamia that is the area between the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and includes Iraq, Northern Jordan, parts of eastern Syria, (Lebanon), Kuwait, southeastern Turkey and western Iran.
These countries are well known as the countries between the two rivers.

They are also the countries in which the first societies known had emerged and developed, and from where the basic three religions were sourced.
Later it developed to include the Near and Middle East lands, which included the Nile Valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley in India and the Yellow River Valley in China.

Great Dynasties established, ruled and either vanished or developed into further civilizations; Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid, Uruk, Akkadia, Ur, Assyria, Babylonia, Hittite, Achamenida, Parsia and many others.

The earliest language was the Sumerian, then the Semetic then the Akkadian then the Aramaic.

Mesopotamians were first to develop industrial tools and materials to improve their social lives, facilitate their trading methods and strengthen their military force.

They invented metal tools, glass making tools, textile making machines, weaving tools.
They built dams, water storage tanks and irrigation systems.
They used copper, bronze iron and gold to make their military armors.
They invented the sexagesimal numeral system, which is the source of 60 minutes/hour and 24 hours/day, 7days/week, 30 days/months, 12 months/year calendar, created the 360 degree circle and mastered in map making.

Mesopotamian people worshiped many Gods through their history, and told legendary tales about those Gods in a mythical way, the echoes of which are still banging till now.

Because of the different religions and powers, Mesopotamia became a battle field where different civilizations and their relevant empires clash, to conquer.

Under the Persian Achemenid Empire, Cyrus the Great became the pre-eminent power of the world. However lately conquered and fell to Alexander the Great of Macedonia. He invaded Persia and managed to overthrew King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire.

He then proceeded to take Syria and most of the Levant coast. He captured Tyre after a long siege. Then he moved to Egypt and many towns were quickly capitulated on his route except Gaza which fell after a long siege similar to the one of Tyre.

In Egypt he considered himself a liberator and was pronounced as the "Master of the Universe", and founded the city of Alexandria which was named after him.

He then marched back into Northern Iraq and defeated Darius once more at the Battle of Gaugamela and captured Babylon. Darius fled to Media then Parthia and Alexander set off in pursuit and just got Darius after his kinsman Bessus stabbed him.

A strange incident then happened there.
Alexander claimed that while Darius was dying he named Alexander as his successor to the Achaemenid Throne, and he considered himself the legitimate successor to Darius.
He declared war against Bessus to avenge Darius death, and followed him to Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Alexander the Great had a complete change in attitude and was rapidly transforming into an "Asian Manner" person. He changed a lot of his habits and traditions to new ones from the Asian roots.
He married a Persian woman. He appointed Persian rulers.
The Persians and Indians started to see him as a new prophet rather than an invader.
He was proclaimed as King of Asia. But he preferred to take the Persian title "King of Kings".

This made his military generals conspire against him. They refused to follow his orders and invade further the Indian sub-continent. Then he died mysteriously in Babylon.

After his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart that resulted in the formation of a number of states ruled bu his surviving generals and formed the Arsacid Dynasty. However the wars with Rome and the Nomads, and the fighting among the Parthian nobility had weakened the Arsacids and the empire broke and vanquished by the Persian Sassanids, and Parthia folded into a newly formed province Khorasan.

In the 7th Century AD, the Sassanid Empire was conquered by the Muslim Armies under the famous Arab military leader Khalid Ibn Al Waleed. Consequently Mesopotamia was reunited under the Arabs, but governed by two provinces: Northern Mosul and Southern Baghdad. Later under the Abbasid Dynasty, Baghdad became the capital of the Arab Empire until the sack of Baghdad 1258 by the Mongolian leader Hulagu Khan who left Baghdad with 1 million person dead, and the city was totally burnt including the House of Wisdom and all its libraries. He used the invaluable books to make a passage across the Tigris River.
This year marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age.

Later the Ottoman Turks took over Baghdad and Mesopotamia was ruled as three separate territories: Mosul, Baghdad and Basra which is a territory included Kuwait.

At the end of WWI, Mesopotamia was occupied by the British Army who under the authority of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, set up the government of Syria and Iraq under one Hashemite ruler.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, in 1920, the nation-state of Iraq was formed with its present days borders. Kuwait was a British protectorate, granted its independence from Britain in 1961.

In  early 1990s, Saddam Husein the ex-president of Iraq invaded Kuwait to claim it back to its Basra territory, which triggered the West to launch a war with coalition forces against Iraq to liberate Kuwait.

Do you recognize any similarity between the past and present days?

Today we see further attempts to divide the region again into demographic lands. to reshuffle history at present, and prepare it for a certain future.

What is this plan?

I will try to answer this question in the coming blogs.

Sami Cherkaoui

samicherkaouiarabicblog.blogspot.com