Deir Yassin

The massacre at Deir Yassin on Palestinian citizens by Jewish rebel groups and armed forces marked the beginning of the exodus of Palestinians that occurred in 1948, affecting 750,000-900,000 men, women, and children. The documentary on the Deir Yassin foundation provides insight into the horrors that were inflicted upon innocent citizens during this time. Arabs living in Deir Yassin were “driven out simply because they were not Jewish.” Conveniently for the Jews, Deir Yassin was located right between Tel Aviv and Jersusalem, and was desired to be a Jewish land.

I found it particularly interesting that one month prior to this massacre, the village of Deir Yassin had signed a peace treaty with the neighboring Jewish town of Givat Sha’ul. Givat Sha’ul became the town to play a main role in the massacre. Women, children, and men over 60 were slaughtered within one hour, and men and boys were then marched through the streets of Jaffa Road to the sound of applause by Jews that this village had been taken over. These victims were mercilessly executued.

This was a large reason for the present day Arab-Israeli conflict. Propaganda played a large role in the impact of the massacre. Newspapers, such as the New York Times had advertised that more numbers of victims were killed than actually were. For Arabs, this exaggeration was an even bigger cry for help. For Jews, this was an even bigger warning to Arabs to flee their lands.

Today, Jewish groups hardly even recognize that this was a massacre. As shown in the documentary, the mental health clinic that currently inhabits the lands of Deir Yassin cannot even be filmed. The Jews are trying hard to hide that this place was ever even in Arab hands.

Deir Yassin is a huge factor in the current day struggle over Palestinian territory. Had this massacre never taken place, would the fight today be as bad? Would Arabs be as passionate about fighting for a land that is supposedly rightfully theirs? Would Jews be able to build upon that massacre to have the incentive to fight even more today?

The Bastard of Istanbul

The Bastard of Istanbul was most definitely the most interesting and enjoyable form of literature that we have read thus far in class. The novel was able to outline what it means to be a woman in Armenian or Turkish society through characters that were easy to follow. The novel had its way of keeping the reader wanting more while still informing the reader of the situations that really did occur during the time of the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide was a brutal slaying of Armenian intellect and citizens, as shown through Armanoush's family and their stories of suffering. It is also true that present day Turks do not associate themselves with the Turks who were responsible for the genocide, just as was shown was Asya and her family.

The Bastard of Istanbul further enriched my knowledge of Turkish society and is a great accopanyment to learning the lessons in class.

Slavery?

Should slavery in the Middle East during the time of the Ottomon Empire really be called slavery?

The conception of slavery that Americans have encompasses the harsh and brutual conditions that countless men, women, and children obtained from Africa suffered during the time of the discovery of the Americas until the time of the Civil War. They faced disease, merciless hours of working, abuse, disgusting and dehumanizing treatment, and so much more. Slaves in America were seen as property.

Slaves in the Ottomon Empire knew a whole different life than those unfortunate enough to suffer through the American concept of being enslaved. When taken from places such as the Ivory Coast of Africa, slaves found in the Ottomon Empire better lives than they had seen before in their homes. Slaves were able to have a place in society, whether it be owning property or even holding some type of power. As shown in The Imperial Harem, the children of a sultan were almost always going to be children of slave mothers! In America, it wasn't practically impossible for a slave child to be anything important in the society unless they were able to escape to the North. In the Ottomon Empire, was there even a reason to try and run away?

True, slaves were taken away from their homes and forced to fight for the Ottomons, but the Ottomons had a strategic way of engaging in the act of takin slaves. Ottomon laws drew up a "human tax" in which at least one boy of some households was to be given to the Ottomons to be raised in the Empire. The boys were strategically placed and trained far from their homelands to destroy any prior attachment they had to the place of their births. The boys were so inspired by the sultan to be completely loyal that once they were trained, slaves were a vital part of the fighting that eventually gave way to the sucesses of the Empire.

So, even though these people were forced to live under the conditions that set forth by the Ottomons, was it really that bad of a life? Should it really be called slavery?

During the colloquiam discussion on The Imperial Harem, the question was posed that, had we not known what slavery was in American history, would we even call what these people were put through actual slavery? My answer is no. For people living in some of the harshest places in Africa even as slaves in their homeland, this could have been the biggest breaks of their lives. Africans had a common idea to enslave their fellow Africans, and getting away to the Ottomon Empire could have been the answer to their prayers.

While all forced living situations do have a downside, I personally think that the slaves of the Ottomon Empire pretty much had it made.

The Ottomon Empire

The success of the Ottomon Empire is of a particularly interesting sort. The Ottomons used various means to take over the territories that they felt would be of the most significance to their growing empire. Interestingly enough, one of the main concepts that the Ottomons carried out was the adaptation of new ideas used to their advantage in the ongoing fighting and warfare. For example, the Ottomons introduced gunpowder into their strategies. Hardly anyone in the Middle East or Europe had known what the concept of using gunpowder entailed, or the damage that it could do on the people affected by it.

This idea made the Ottomon Empire be able to destroy opponants, such as the famed downfall of Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire from April 4, 1453 to May 29, 1453. In addition to gunpowder, the Ottomons also showed what I believe to be extremely intelligent ideas with regards to the building of a castle to blockade ships, a ramp to get over a water barrier, and a turret to allow access over the wall protecting the city.

In these various ways, the Ottmons show modern day intelligence over 500 years ago. To think that people in the 1400s were able to use their minds and resources in such relevent ways such a long time ago is extremely impressive and perhaps the most important reasons the Ottomon Empire was so sucessful for such a long while.

Islamic Culture/ Documentary --> Islam: Empire of Faith

I hadn't known as much about Islamic Culture as I learned from the background learned in class. I found it particularly interesting how the Ottomon Empire had so many situations and conflicts fall into place to allow for their great success. Various migrations from their ancestors, the perfect timing of the reign on the Mongol Soldiers and their eventual downfall from with contribution from the Black Death, and the Crusades causing the Byzantine Empire to never be the same gave way for the eventual success of the Ottomons. It was interesting to see how all of these events were related in making the eventual success of the Muslim people a possibility.

An interesting fact that I found out in this week's studies came with our studies of Mohammad. I hadn't known that Mohammad was given the honor of helping to reconstruct the Kabba when it was destroyed. This shows the reverence the Muslims had for Mohammad even before his initial legacy took off.

Peace, Propaganda, and The Promised Land (2003)

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israelis has lasted for centuries. Being an American exposed to the American news and media, I have, unfortunately, always been brought up seeing the Palestinians as evil doers, unnecessarily attacking Israel with suicide bombs and other crimes. The documentary, Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land, makes a very valid point with strong details that, because of the alliance between America and Israel, American newscasters and journalists are swayed to portray stories as Israel being a martyr and Palestine being a terrorist. While it is true that Palestinians do display violent behavior, is it ostentatious that Israel can certainly be to blame.

Until seeing the documentary, I had never been interested enough to watch the news and learn about this matter. Truthfully, I had never even known that Israel had a military occupation in Palestine. I didn't know, either, that Israel is now the fourth largest military for "a country the size of New Jersey" thanks to Americans helping both economically and militarily. American newscasters will explain an uprising as "Palestinian Hatred", while the reason that the Palestinians could have been revolting violently is due to Israel destroying 2,000 houses and leaving families (including women and children) completely helpless, or blocking an ambulance so a Palestinian women could not give birth, or even simply having a curfew for Israelis that keeps them stuck in their homes for days. The documentary showed me that the "Palestinian Hatred" can sometimes only be a revolt against oppression by a much larger and more powerful country.

Both Palestine and Israel have serious issues that need to be dealt with and solved before any more lives get taken. Chaos ensues with violence and with words. But really, with America's help today, who's really fighting the battle? The soldiers and civilians, or CBS and NBC?

Clearly, both play a huge role. At least for naive eighteen year olds like myself.