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Conflict In The Middle East: Term Paper

Highly Patriarchal Social Framework.

In many parts of the Middle East, women are little more than chattel today based on longstanding customs: "From 3000 B.C.-A.D. 1100, man's view of himself as superior in all ways to women soon became enshrined in the law and custom of the world's earliest civilizations, those of the Middle East. Women became a chattel first of her father, then of her husband, then of her son" (Sechzer, 2004, p. 51). While the laws and practices vary, the majority of Islamic countries in the Middle East have specific beliefs about women and have restrictions concerning them (Sechzer, 2004). Religious tenets in the more restrictive regions are used to "keep women in their place" and violence against women sometimes even takes the form of killing. In her book, Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones, Giles (2004) notes that, "In the Middle East, for instance, 'honor killing' is prevalent. Amnesty International reports that "[i]n Pakistan, hundreds of women, of all ages, in all parts of the country and for a variety of reasons connected with perceptions of honor are killed every year. The number of such killings appears to be steadily increasing as the perception of what constitutes honor -- and what damages it -- steadily...

108). Likewise, the deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan used a variety of brutal forms of violence against all the women of the country (Giles & Hyndman, 2004). Today, women are still controlled by their husbands and by their husbands' families (Sechzer, 2004). While the cultures of these regions of the world may believe that such practices, including the use of violence against women are just fine and dandy so long as everyone agrees, the rest of the international community has become increasingly outspoken against these societies, and the ongoing war against terrorism being prosecuted in Afghanistan and Iraq today is proof positive that this patriarchal arrangement will remain a source of conflict in the future.
Inter- and Intra-Religious Differences.

The Middle East features the mixed blessing of having religious sites that are common to the three major faiths in the region, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Jerusalem in particular remains a mish-mash of legalities and religious niceties that have thus far allowed all three faiths to co-exist, but tensions remain high and everyone suspects everyone else of trying to preempt their historic claims on every square inch of soil. In this explosive environment, history

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