Religious Coexistence in Israel Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Religious Coexistence in Israel - Research Paper Example On the other hand, the Jews draw their inheritance from the Hebrews and Israelites. Arabs and Jews have a long history of contact between each other from various periods: Hebrew, Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, and Persian eras. And even during the rise of the Islam religion during the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs and Jews continued to co-exist in extensive geographical domains from Morocco to some parts of China (16; De Lange 143). After many centuries have passed, another two religious groups cropped up in Israel, which further proved that religious co-existence is possible in Israel, and even in America. Today, the Christian denomination and the Druze population continue to peacefully co-exist with the Arabs and the Jews. Reiteratively, religious co-existence can progress in Israel. The Jewish Population The population of the Jews is scattered between Israel and the Western World. Majority of the citizens of Israel are Jewish, and a large proportion of this population prac tices Judaism. And despite the gradual and continuous rise of the Arab population, the Jews remain progressive even in the midst of the issue of religious co-existence (Stillman 91). The focus of this paper is bent on the Israeli Jews who are residing in the state of Israel. Israel, a Jewish state, is home to nearly 50% of world’s total Jewish population. ... ignificant Israeli-Jew population that is spread between the Haredi and Hilonim Jewish civilizations employ the adherence to secular way of life, thereby contributing further to the religious diversity of the Jewish population in Israel (Scherman 17; Halper 32). In a recent survey conducted by Pittinsky et al. (2), the Jews manifest positive outlook on having to religiously co-exist with Arabs (Steiner and Berkley 129). While there is no reference to other religious groups such as the Christian denomination and the Druze population, 73% of the Jewish citizens expressed affirmative opinion of religious co-existence, with 57.5% who agree and 15.5% tends to agree (2). The Muslim Population As aforementioned, the Arab (Muslim) population has a long history of contact with the Jews; nevertheless, not too much with the Christians and the Druze, at least, in Israel. Jerusalem is the area of concentration for Muslims in Israel (Abu-Nimer 166; Lerner 12). As a matter of fact, Mount Moriah, wh ich is in Israel, is the location of Jewish temples and Islam temples. This is only one of the many indications of how the religious co-existence between the Jewish and Muslim populations progressed for so many years (Lewis 28; Hillman 27). Majority of the Muslims in Israel are Sunni Arabs. Their domination supported and assured the importance and meaning of Islam as the leading religion in the region (Abu-Nimer 166; Lewis 52). The capture of the Palestine by the British people and the ensuing Balfour Declaration paved the way for the influx of a considerable population of Jews in the Palestine who commenced to incline the balance toward Judaism (Kadushin 203; Steinberg 36). In the recent decades, a more progressive development graced the state as Muslims in Israel were allowed to implement