Middle East - Anthony Ham [211]
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SPORT
Football (soccer) is Israel’s national obsession, with a number of clubs representing various cities across the country. Beitar Jerusalem FC, which won the Israeli championship in 2007, has the biggest following and the most raucous fans. Football crosses cultural boundaries, and several Arabs play on Israel’s national side. After star strikers Abbas Suan and Walid Badir scored key goals for Israel during the 2005 World Cup qualifiers, an Arab member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) suggested changing the popular slogan of the Jewish right from ‘No Arabs, no terrorism’ to ‘No Arabs, no goals’.
The Palestinian Territories has its own national football squad, although in qualifying matches it’s grouped in Asia, while Israel is grouped in Europe. In 2002 it made a surprising debut in the World Cup qualifiers, finishing second in its opening-round group ahead of Malaysia and Hong Kong. There’s also a national women’s football team; Click here for more.
Basketball is another favourite Israeli sport and professional teams are a combination of local talent and American imports. The country’s best club, Macabee Tel Aviv, has also enjoyed international success, winning several Euroleague titles including back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005, though nothing much since.
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RELIGION
Alongside the 76% of Israel that’s Jewish, Muslims make up another 16%, Christians a further 2%, and other sects, including Druze, the remaining 6%.
Jewish doctrine states that Jews exist as a conduit between God and the rest of mankind. As God’s ‘chosen people’, Jews have recorded his law in the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. The Torah contains 613 commandments that cover fundamental issues such as the prohibition of theft, murder and idolatry. The remainder of the Old Testament (the prophetic books), along with the Talmud (commentary on the laws of the Torah, written around AD 200), make up the teachings that form the cornerstone of Jewish study.
Judaism includes several sects of varying degrees of religiosity, the most religious being the Hasidim (Haredim) ultra-Orthodox Jews, easily identified by their black hats, long black coats, collared white shirts, beards, and peyot (side curls). Hasidic women, like observant Muslim women, act and dress modestly, covering exposed hair and skin (except hands and face). Many male Jews, of varying degrees of piousness, wear a kippa (skullcap), generally thought to be more of a tradition than a commandment.
Islam and Judaism – and Christianity too – share many ancient, holy sites, including, for example, the Temple Mount (Click here) in Jerusalem and the Cave of Machpelah (Click here) in Hebron, as well as prophets and ancestors, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. Although historically Palestinians have been moderate Muslims, the strongest centre of Islam here is Gaza, where militant Islamic groups have found ready ears among those disenchanted with false promises of peace. For more on the Islamic, Christian and Jewish faiths, Click here.
Despite its origins in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Christian populations in the region are small, and most of the holy sites are administered by overseas churches. The balance of power tilts toward the Greek Orthodox Church, which has jurisdiction over more than half of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Click here) and a large proportion of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity (Click here). The Armenians, Copts, Assyrians, Roman Catholics and Protestants also lay claim to various holy sites, and disputes arise frequently over how to share their stewardship.
Smaller faiths include the Druze, an off-shoot of Islam, whose small communities are based mainly in northern Israel, especially Haifa (Click here) and Mt Carmel. Haifa is also the centre of the fast growing Baha’i faith