Jerusalem

A political boundary is a line that separates countries, state, provinces, or communities. It is of a legal matter and has been created as a means to enforce political ethics on a region. Simply because there are political boundaries does not always mean that the cultures within are the same. Sometimes a political boundary can interfere with an ethnic boundary. In our textbook, it defines ethnicity as “a group that is bound by a shared identity and common ancestry, that is, by a combination of lived experiences and genetic materials.” Personally, I believe that one’s ethnic identity is largely influenced by their religion. In most parts of the world and throughout many major religions, it plays a huge role in an individual’s ethnic identity. One example of a political boundary interfering with ethnic boundaries is the city of Jerusalem in Israel. The city of Jerusalem is important to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. I am only going to touch base with Judaism and Islam identities and how they are connected through conflict of their ethnicities and political boundaries. First, Jerusalem is important to the religion of Judaism because the Temple was originally built there which made it the capital of the religion. In fact, today Jews still face Jerusalem to pray. Second, Jerusalem is religiously significant to Islam because the Prophet Muhammad was taken from a temple in Jerusalem and made his ascension into heaven where he spoke with previous prophet and eventually came back down to earth to share his wisdom. Obviously there is a lot of religious history to the city concerning both religions. Religion is one of the main reasons that there is political conflict within the city. The history between the two cities has been going on since 1936. Basically today Israeli’s are in control of the city and Palestine’s have been fighting for the rights to the city. One major political war outbreak took place in the Gaza strip. Israeli’s bombed the strip where the Palestine’s live. Throughout history there many lives have been lost over this political and ethnic boundary.