Week 2 Reading Assignments

In reading the first article I thought it was interesting that Jerusalem importance is laid in the city's religious importance to three different religions. Through the reading it was unique to see the international attention that the city has attracted almost since it's birth based solely on the city's religious significance. There were no great riches, location, or even the essential water base vested in Jerusalem all factors which are common in growth, development, and contention of a city. In the second article the significance of Jewish influence and Muslim influence in the third article are downplayed to emphasize a Muslim or Jewish claim to the city through historical reference. What is most striking is that the holy texts are used to convey the city's history and that through that history there is a battle for the rightful claimant of the Jerusalem. These texts illustrate the entitlement that is ever present in both the Muslim and Jewish communities and is something not soon to be done away with.