Both Israel and Palestine Are Intricately Entwined

The histories of both Israel and Palestine are fraught with tensions that began centuries and centuries ago, and are continuing today.

Unrest that began when early Philistines, related to Greeks from Asia Minor and Greece, first came to settle on the southern coast of what’s now Israel and immediately came in conflict with Biblical leaders Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael never has been resolved.

Although Palestinian beliefs and cultures have been altered through the centuries by conquests, outside rule, and political expediency, their aversion for the Jewish race, especially the Jewish nation of Israel created in 1948, has, as a whole, been a constant.

Some historical facts regarding the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict include:


* Pre-patriarchal Philistines came to Israeli coast in waves from places like Asia Minor, Greece, and Crete

* 135 AD Roman Emperor Hadrian, after quelling second major Jewish revolt named Ben Kochba, forms Provincia Syria Palaestini, later known as Palestine

* About 400-633 AD Split into First, Second, and Third Palestine

* Between 633 AD-652 AD Muslim Arabs conquer Palestine

* 1517-1917 Ottoman Turks, non-Arabs but religious Muslims, conquer, then rule Palestine from Istanbul

* World War I British liberate Palestine … preamble to British Mandate establishing Palestine says, “ … in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

* 1936-1939 Arab Revolt … violence erupts when Arabs demand end of Jewish immigration and land- ownership transfers to Jews

* McDonald White Paper of 1939 … British rescind much of British Mandate in concessions to Arabs, leaving many European Jews, trying to escape Hitler’s carnage, with nowhere to go

* 1940 Italy enters World War II and British leader Churchill, though sympathetic to Jews, keeps McDonald White Paper in force to placate Arabs

* May 15, 1948 State of Israel declares its independence … U.S., Soviet Union, most U.N. member nations recognize Israel

* June 5-10, 1967 Israel, in preemptive strike against Arab countries amassing on its borders, seizes Gaza Strip from Egypt; West Bank and eastern section of Jerusalem from Jordan; and Golan Heights from Syria

Both Israel and Palestine are entwined in a conflict where truces formed through the centuries have, at best, been temporary.

By Rocky Wilson
Author Of Sharene - Death: A Prerequisite For Life
Blog writer for Body By Chocolates

*** Read More ***

Learn More About Bob Dylan

Learn More About Bob Dylan

Learning more about Bob Dylan, often described as the poet laureate of the rock ‘n roll era, only can enhance one’s appreciation of the 68-year-old singer, harmonica player, and guitarist who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and, in 2008, became the first popular musician ever to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Although ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ recorded by The Byrds in 1965, was the only #1 single ever written by Dylan, he holds the distinction of having the longest span of time elapse between two #1 albums recorded by a living artist--’Desire,’ in 1976; and ‘Modern Times,’ in 2006.

During Dylan’s lengthy career he’s performed with such legends as John Lee Hooker, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, and countless others.

A chronology of the life of Bob Dylan includes:

* May 24, 1941 Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota

* October 1959 Using stage name Bob Dylan, debuts as folksinger in Minneapolis coffeehouse

* 1961 Moves to Greenwich Village, New York City

* 1962 Releases first album, single ‘Song for Woody’ (Guthrie) included

* 1964 Meets The Beatles in New York hotel room … Paul McCartney is reported to have said Dylan introduced the Brits to marijuana at that time

* 1966 Dylan injured in motorcycle accident … in recovery for more than a year

* 1979 Releases first of three Christian-themed albums

* 1988 Presenter Bruce Springsteen, of Dylan at Hall of Fame induction, “Bob freed your mind like Elvis freed your body. To this day, wherever great rock music is being made, there is the shadow of Bob Dylan.”

Other memorable songs written by Bob Dylan include ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ ‘Highway 61 Revisited,’ and ‘Rainy Day Women.’

While learning more about Bob Dylan, it’s healthy to remember his quote, “A song is anything that can walk by itself.”

By Rocky Wilson
Assocate of Body By Chocolates healthy chocolate

*** Read More ***

Bob Dylan is the Man, Past and Present

Bob Dylan is the Man, Past and Present

Bob Dylan is the man who launched his professional singing career in 1959 and continues to perform 50 years later. Vacillating between acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, and his trusty harmonica, Dylan has entertained millions worldwide with his “ … rare ability to reach and affect listeners with thoughtful, sophisticated lyrics.”

He’s lived the essence of a quote he once made: “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”

Bob Dylan is the only popular musician yet to receive a Pulitzer Prize, for his “ … profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

Miscellaneous facts about Bob Dylan include:


* Dylan idolized Woody Guthrie, both the man and his music … Dylan’s first album included the single ’Song for Woody,’ and he concluded his first major solo concert, at New York City’s Town Hall, in 1963, with the poem, ’Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie.’

* Early 1961, Dylan moves to Greenwich Village, New York City, and meets Guthrie in nearby New Jersey, when Guthrie is suffering in the latter stages of degenerative Huntington’s Chorea, of which he dies in 1967 at age 55

* Dylan once said, “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

* Dylan is credited with bridging the worlds between rock ‘n roll and country in the late 1960s

* 1965 Dylan booed offstage at Newport Festival when he plays an electric guitar instead of the expected acoustic

* Only weeks after Newport debacle, Dylan releases first major hit, ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’

Bob Dylan is the man who put cohesiveness in the music worlds of rock ‘n roll, folk, and country. And he’s still doing so today.

By Rocky Wilson
Assocate of Body By Chocolates healthy chocolate


*** Read More ***

Learn More About Kazakhstan; Its Only President

Learn More About Kazakhstan; Its Only President

While one learns more and more about Kazakhstan and its emerging role in the world, one thing never changes. And that’s its president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, who’s been ensconced in that position since the nation was birthed in 1991 at the collapse of the Soviet Union, and two years prior to that as head of the Kazakh Communist Party.

Nazarbayev, 69, has been vigilant in extending his powers since gaining control of the nation’s highest office. Already commander in chief of the armed forces, in 1995 a referendum was passed giving Nazarbayev sole authority to initiate constitutional amendments, dissolve Parliament, and extended powers to appoint and dismiss government officials.

In 2007, the year Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan political party won every contested parliamentary seat, Parliament voted to eliminate term limits for the presidency, giving Nazarbayev lifelong status if he chooses.

Facts about the Republic of Kazakhstan:


* Population 15.6 million … 14.5 people per square mile compared to U.S. density of about 80 people per square mile

* 1.05 million square miles … ninth largest nation in world

* Religion … 47 percent Sunni Muslim, 44 percent Russian Orthodox

* Capital … Astana

* Largest city … Almaty, 1.3 million people

* Ethnic groups … Kazakhs 56 percent, Russian 28 percent, Ukranian 3 percent

* Bordered by Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Turkmenistan

* Terrain … vast flat steppes, plateaus, desert

* Natural resources … major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, etc. … 2000 discovered one of world’s largest oil deposits bottom of Kazakhstan-controlled portion of Caspian Sea

* 2000 Became first of former Soviet republics to repay entire debt to International Monetary Fund

Not surprisingly, Kazakhstanis know more about Khazakhstan than anyone else, as their literacy rate is an astounding 99.5 percent.

By Rocky Wilson
Also Read: Historical Facts About The Nation Of Kazakhstan.
Also Visit: My Healthy Chocolate Blog.



*** Read More ***

Historical Facts About the Nation of Kazakhstan

The nation of Kazakhstan is located in north-central Asia, includes nearly four times the land mass of the state of Texas, and achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Although this large expanse of land directly south of Russia has been populated to some extent as far back as the Stone Age, there were a number of unassociated nomadic tribes who occupied the land for about 900 years before they were conquered and put under the rule of Mongols in the early 13th century.

From 1465 until 1731 a loosely governed state called the Kazakh Khanate ruled what’s now Kazakhstan. But that body, hit by political disunity and tribal competition, gradually eroded away and was annexed by Russia. Rich in natural resources, Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936.

Bullets about Kazakhstan include:


* Early 1600s Kazakh Khanate separates into three major hordes, or confederations, based on extended family networks

* 1730s, 1740s Two hordes sign treaties of protection with Russia

* 1731-1840 Russia promotes colonization in what’s now Kazakhstan, gains control of two hordes it’s protecting

* 1860 Russia seizes land of third, largest horde

* 1916 Kazakhs, unhappy with Russia’s interference with their nomadic lifestyle, heavy taxes, and military conscription, stage unsuccessful revolt

* 1917 80,000 Kazakhs slaughtered by colonists when returning home following revolt

* 1921-1922 One million Kazakhs die from famine

* 1925 Named Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Kazakh ASSR)

* 1953 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev initiates “Virgin Land” program to change northern pasturelands in Kazakhstan into grain-producing area

* December 16, 1991 Independence Day for Kazakhstan

Because of those years when what’s become the nation of Kazakhstan was colonized by the Soviets, native Kazakhs, many with Turkish roots, have a scant majority among the nation’s populace.

By Rocky Wilson
Also Read: Learn More About Kazakhstan; It's Only President
Also Visit: My Healthy Chocolate Blog.

*** Read More ***