Throughout the history books, conflict is a major reoccurring theme as different nations seek to earn freedom, expand territory, and gain power. Thousands of wars have been started by such motives and ended either in a glorious victory or disastrous defeat; however, another common theme can be found within the war treaties written on such occasions. From the Treaty of Versailles to the Treaty of Paris, these agreements are written in an attempt to achieve peace and cooperation between the conquerors and those conquered; similar themes can be found in the Pact of Umar. Written by the Muslim caliph, Umar ibn AbdulAziz, the Pact of Umar was an agreement between Muslims and the conquered Jews and Christians. Due to a majority of the land still …show more content…
Several of the rules included no publicly wearing crosses or showing their books; there must be no public display of their religion. Any worship in their churches must be done in secretly and quietly. Other rules included that non-Muslims must house Muslims passing through the city, no building new churches, and absolutely no conversion to Christianity or Judaism. Children born to them must not be prevented from entering Islam if that is their desire. The Pact of Umar even affected the way non-Muslims must physically look from being forced to dress similarly to each other no matter what that may look like and no imitating Muslim clothing from their shoes to even their hairstyle. This must have been made a rule in an attempt to easily identify non-Muslims in the city streets. No non-Muslims were to be buried near Muslims, and non-Muslim houses could not be larger than Muslim housing. Muslims must always be shown the highest respect, and if a Muslim citizen commands you to stand or move, you must …show more content…
This undeniable fact will cause tension between both sides and the conditions placed upon the losing side can truly be as unfair and suppressive as desired because they, in fact, lost. Although many of the rules are viewed as unfairly harsh and subjective, that is the nature of war, a place where even an agreement of peace can be twisted into submission. The Pact of Umar has had a long lasting affect on the relationship between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and there is no doubt that it will continue to impact generations to
Cobb, Paul. "Introduction." Ibn Munqidh, Usama. Book of Contemplation Islam and the Crusades. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. xv-xlii.
Holsti, K. J. Peace and War: Armed Conflicts and International Order, 1648-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.
MacMillan points out that it always needs to be remembered that the conference took place in the aftermath of not only the worst world war, but at the time, the only one that had taken place. When the reader is able to learn the environment in which the treaty came to be, they are able to understand why it was unable to completely fix the problems in post-war Europe. Furthermore, MacMillan argues that the negotiators created the treaty within an atmosphere of fear. The negotiators had to deal with the possibility of being unable to return European civilization to its pre-war conditions. In addition, the negotiators had the fear that there was worse still to come. When looking at the background factors that went into creating the Treaty of Versailles by reading MacMillan’s work, the reader is able to have a better sense of the conditions in which the treaty was created. MacMillan’s perspective on the Paris Peace Conference allows the reader to view the negotiators as human, capable of making errors, instead of important political figures that could do no
The Pact of Umar and the 1263 Barcelona disputation have many similarities and differences. The Jewish people have been intimidated and scared of the Muslims and Christians since the beginnings of time and have slowly work their way up of standing up for themselves. Rabbi Nahmanides and the Jewish people worked for years to try to develop as a stronger religious minority. The Jewish people were such a minority they just didn’t have the power to overcome the Muslims and Christians.
First, war is universal due to its violent nature, violence in its application knows no bounds, and it is the common factor that identifies the war and without it the war is nothing more than a diplomatic effort to reach the end. However, wars blow out only when the diplomacy fails. Violence is the war engine. Although the application of violence evolved through time and its severity varies according to communities, cultures, and the means and methods used. Demonstrating the violence through the application of force to subjugate the enemy is the central idea of war. “War is a clash between major interests,
A possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two-state solution. The two-state solution would become a peace agreement in which establishes a Palestinian state alongside the current state of Israel (Bourke). In the opinion of the Maghar Druze’s community, peace is the main objective in which the two-state solution could provide. As follows, most Israeli Druze’s would encourage the current peace talks in aim of a two-state agreement. Despite the fact that the two-state solution requires compromise in which it is believed the Palestinian are not able to accommodate. In particular, the Maghar Druze’s do not believe the Palestinians will ever be satisfied with a two-state agreement because of the need for retaliation fo...
Clausewitz's On War, first published in 1832, until now remains one of the most influential studies in understanding character, nature and conditions of warfare. In his book Clausewitz not only traced an interaction of intension and planning with the realities of combat, but by exploring the relationship of war to policy, politics and society gave a new philosophical justification to the art of war. (Heuser, 2002)
The topic of peace has been on the mind of historians, political leaders, and the general public for as long as our history has been recorded. Will there ever be peace in the Middle East? Will the age old battles, both foreign and domestic ever end? This question, pondered on throughout decades of Western civilization, has both a simple answer and a complex reasoning. To even begin to uncover the answer, one must understand the conflict and its deeply rooted origins to even draw a hypothesis of the outcome. We must first venture into the guarded minds of radical Muslims, our coalition forces, and the minds of the non-violent Muslims who seek liberation from the grip of evil. We must delve into the history of the Islamic world, the tales of the Jihads, and attempt to understand the motivations beneath.
Unfortunately, the role of ignorance and jealousy combining to breed fear and hatred is a recurring theme in history ultimately exhibiting itself in the form of prejudice. As demonstrated through the altering of historical events in The Song of Roland, the conflict between the Christian and Islamic religions takes precedence over the more narrow scope of any specific battle and is shaped, at least in part by the blind perception of a prejudice born of the ignorance and envy Christian Europe had for representatives of the non-Christian world. To fully see this prejudice and its effect on the participants, it is necessary to recognize the circumstances of the "real" battle along with the altering characters and settings attributed to its later writing, understand the character and beliefs of the participants, and carefully examine the text itself to see how prejudice comes into play.
This encounter then serves as a symbolic representation of positive encounter between Muslims and Christians and that religious discrimination was not that effective even though Islam was yet to be revealed to Muhammad. During Mu’awiya Bin Abi Sufyan’s time, the Muslim capital was located at Damascus, and during this time, the entire greater Syria came under Muslim rule, the Christian population learned to survive under Muslim government and abide by the laws, pay taxes, and were given the freedom to contribute in the community and outside the community as they wish without total restriction on rights to choose and live as long as they continue to live peacefully with each other. Soon after this encounter, the Christian byzantine community began to assimilate into the linguistic and cultural influence of their rulers. It is said that the Christian and Muslim encounters and interaction in the greater Syrian community, when it comes to the intellectual interdependence between the two, and the sharing of each other’s literature. It even made the relationship between Christians and Muslims during this
Burns, Thomas J. "Islam." Religion and Society. OU Campus' Dale Hall, Norman. 14 Apr. 2014. Lecture.
It has been almost a century since the first Paris Peace Conference was hold, but even until now, it is a popular yet also controversial event in the history of the world. The Paris Peace Conference took place in 1919 involving more than 1,000 representatives from over 30 nations. The results of the Conference are five treaties regarding terms that, according to the Conference, shall prevent any upcoming conflicts among nations. Although World War II started only after 15 years, nonetheless, the treaties did function as a buffer between countries. Although many resolutions were discussed, the negotiation of the Conference revolves around four main topics, reparation from the previous war losses or limitations on the main Central Power, Germany, self-recognition, President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the annexation of land.
Corr, E., Ginat, J., & Gabbay S. (2007). The search for Israeli-Arab peace: learning from the past and building trust.Sussex Academic Press.
Should wars can be avoided, the peace is always a satisfactory result. Some ancient but enlightening religious pacifism upheld the peace under any circumstance. According to the New Testament, it’s advocated to “love” your “enemies” so that you can be decent “peacemakers”; and
The lives and prosperity of millions of people depend on peace and, in turn, peace depends on treaties - fragile documents that must do more than end wars. Negotiations and peace treaties may lead to decades of cooperation during which disputes between nations are resolved without military action and economic cost, or may prolong or even intensify the grievances which provoked conflict in the first place. In 1996, as Canada and the United States celebrated their mutual boundary as the longest undefended border in the world, Greece and Turkey nearly came to blows over a rocky island so small it scarcely had space for a flagpole.1 Both territorial questions had been raised as issues in peace treaties. The Treaty of Ghent in 1815 set the framework for the resolution of Canadian-American territorial questions. The Treaty of Sevres in 1920, between the Sultan and the victorious Allies of World War I, dismantled the remnants of the Ottoman Empire and distributed its territories. Examination of the terms and consequences of the two treaties clearly establishes that a successful treaty must provide more than the absence of war.