Extra Credit- Miko Peled

I had a great time listening to the son of an Israeli General speak the other night. I found it impressive how accomplished Miko Peled is. In addition to his books, and thousands of pages read for research purposes, he is a contributor to online publications and is involved with martial arts. I learned about his father who was in the special Israeli forces, and buried his service pin as he was not happy with the war. Another interesting claim I agree with is the fact that Palestinian is so small, yet gets so much attention from the media. Our tax money, more than 10 million dollars is going to Israel every day. The “Holy Land Foundation Five” was giving money to Palestine, however, rumor had it that the money was going to fund terrorism. Unfortunately, Miko Peled, who met with these five men, met with them in federal prison. All of them received 20 and 65-year sentences, and according to Miko Peled, this are some of the finest men you will ever meet. It is extremely sad how such good men can be locked away, with a ridiculous sentence for giving money to Palestine, even though they were found not guilty. Americans like to believe there is no persecution and everything is fine, but it is not. Miko Peled used words such as; genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing to describe the situation in Palestine. Palestinians are treated poorly. For instance, Israel decides who gets care, so a child with a curable cancer in Palestine, may not receive treatment. Also, he mentioned a girl who slapped an Israeli soldier after he entered their home without permission, and she went to prison before trial, and is still awaiting trial. It is very sad to hear situations like this. Overall, I was glad I went and learned more about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and enjoyed listening to Miko Peled speak.

Reflection #5

I really enjoyed our field trip to Washington, DC to visit the Jordanian Embassy and Egyptian Embassy. I have never been inside an Arab Embassy, so it was a cool experience. I thought it was cool to listen to the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States talk to us. I will definitely take him up on the offer to travel to Egypt for one week for free. I liked visiting the Islamic Center of Washington. I thought it was an interesting and educational experience to enter the center, and even watch a call to prayer. I thought it was interesting how they separate the men from the women during prayer. I also learned that all faiths and religions are welcome in the center, because I thought only those who practice Islam were welcome. Afterwards, when we visited the non-profit organization, “UPA,” I appreciate them serving us refreshments. I am getting better at understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through these talks. This talk, as well as the son of an Israel general, go hand in hand, and I now realize the struggles Palestinians face, more so than before. I hope there will be more opportunities in the future to visit more Arab Embassies. Also, I wouldn’t mind traveling to Egypt for one week. I have never been to Egypt before, and I think it would be a cool place to visit. So, overall, I was so happy I went, and I learned a lot from this field trip, and I look forward to more opportunities in future.

Weekly Report 5

I found an article on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Jerusalem Post, “UN Human Rights Council Approves Call for Arms Embargo against Israeli.” This article explains the decisions made by the UN Human rights Council to try and stop arms sales towards Israel. “The United Nations Human Rights Council called on the international community to halt arms sales to Israel as it wrapped up its month-long 37th session in Geneva.” Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, “slammed the council’s anti-Israeli bias.” She compares the Human Rights Council treatment towards Israel, to North Korea. Which says a lot because Israel and North Korea are two totally different countries, and North Korea is not respected by most Nations. Nikki threatens the council by stating how the United States does not have “unlimited patience.” However, members argue there has been horrific violence towards Israel and Israeli citizens have not been treated well or accordingly. A UK representative concludes that “UK is voting in support of the self-determination and human rights resolutions.” It seems to me like this conflict will never end. There are too many differing opinions and the conflict is so involved and difficult to understand. It seems like there are always updates in the news, but the progress to resolve the conflict is never ending. It is hard to please both sides when there is so much history and tension between both parties, and third party countries could possibly exacerbate the conflict by siding with one party and not giving the other party fair treatment. 

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/UN-Human-Rights-Council-approves-call-for-arms-embargo-against-Israel-546953

Reflection 4

I found Dr. Boukhars’s lecture to be interesting. I have him for Terrorism and Counterterrorism, and some of the points he mentioned in his lecture were similar to the points he makes in the other class.  I agree with some of the claims he makes. For example, I don’t believe Trump is uniting the United States whatsoever. Rather, he is dividing out country and damaging Islam’s reputation and hurting innocent Muslims. Most Muslims are peaceful – it is just those few who ruin it for the rest. Nevertheless, this is true of other religions. In addition, Trump tends to like strong leaders such as Putin and Sisi, which is different from previous presidents, which I can see.  I also found his point regarding the scenario where there is a terrorist, who is surrounded by children and mothers, and the difficult decision that needs to be made to kill the terrorist, along with everyone else, or not. It becomes extremely difficult to decide. But, I thought it was interesting how Dr. Boukhars thought that Trump maybe does not give it as much thought before making a decision and maybe does not care as much of the consequences. I also learned about the genocide in Myanmar and agree that some important developments such as this does not make headlines and not many people know about it, which is truly sad. I also learned about the major players in the International Community such as the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Overall, I enjoyed his lecture and gained some knowledge.  

Reflection 3

I found the concert to be interesting. I was happy to know that funds go towards music education for refugee children in the Middle East. I have never attended a concert by an Arab band, and was really impressed with what I heard. In particular, I thought the guest vocalist did a fantastic job. I don’t speak Arabic, so I did not understand what she was saying, but she had a nice voice. I find the Arab language to be beautiful and is something I would be interested in learning at McDaniel. I found it interesting that Ramzi spoke with such a calm voice, and spoke from the heart when talking about their mission. I believe this is true of individuals in the Arab world. I liked how Ramzi introduced the ensemble and explained the different types of instruments because some were unfamiliar to me. I recognized a couple instruments that were played from class that day. After attempting to play the instruments in class, I was impressed at how well they played. In addition, I noticed that the vocals were not part of the entire concert, and even when the vocalist was singing, I noticed that she paused throughout the song for the band to play their instruments. And, most of the concert was the band playing, rather than mostly singing. I would definitely attend another Arab concert because I thought it was a nice taste of Arab culture and it was something new to me.