Names.

There are many names (and spellings of the names) used in other languages to refer to the "Fulɓe". Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term. Fula, from Manding languages, is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah. Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa.

Geographic distribution.

The Fula people are widely distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, particularly in West Africa. The countries where they are present include Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, the Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad, Togo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Liberia, and as far east as the Red Sea in Sudan and Egypt. With the exception of Guinea, where the Fula make up the largest ethnic group, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and Fulas are either a significant or a minority ethnic group in nearly all other countries they live in. Alongside, many also speak other languages of the countries they inhabit, making many Fulani bilingual or even trilingual in nature. Such languages include French, Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, and Arabic.  Major concentrations of Fulani people exist in the Fouta Djallon highlands of central Guinea and south into the northernmost reaches of Sierra Leone; the Futa Tooro savannah grasslands of Senegal and southern Mauritania; the Macina inland Niger river delta system around Central Mali; and especially in the regions around Mopti and the Nioro Du Sahel in the Kayes region; the Borgu settlements of Benin, Togo, and West-Central Nigeria; the northern parts of Burkina Faso in the Sahel region's provinces of Seno, Wadalan, and Soum; and the areas occupied by the Sokoto Caliphate, which includes what is now Southern Niger and Northern Nigeria (such as Tahoua, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zinder, Bauchi, Diffa, Yobe, Gombe, and further east, into the Benue River valley systems of North Eastern Nigeria and Northern Cameroon). This is the area known as the Fombina, literally meaning "The South" in "Adamawa Fulfulde", because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa. In this area, Fulfulde is the local lingua franca, and language of cross cultural communication. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, and exist at less organized social systems. These are the areas of the Chari-Baguirmi Region and its river systems,

History.

The origins of the Fulani people are unclear and various theories have been postulated. As a nomadic herding people, they have moved through and among many other cultures. Skutsch notes that their oral histories point toward a start in Jordan or farther east, but also that their language comes from the Senegambian region. He concludes that the modern Fulani people began in the northern Senegambian region.  Walter Rodney in his book The History of the Upper Guinea Coast, argues that Fulbe are originally from North Africa and they conquered the Foota Djallon region led by the Fulani Koli Tenguella.  The ethnogenesis of the Fulani people may have begun as a result of interactions between an ancient West African population and North African populations such as Berbers or Egyptians. Their West African roots may be in and around the valley of Senegal River. They likely reflect a genetic intermix of people with West African, North African, and Arabian origins, and have been a part of many ruling dynasties particularly in the Sahel and West Africa. Speculations about their origins started in the era of European conquest and colonization.

Timeline of Fulani history.

Scholars specializing in Fulani culture believe that some of the imagery depicts rituals that are still practised by contemporary Fulani people. At the Tin Tazarift site, for instance, historian Amadou Hampate Ba recognized a scene of the 'lotori' ceremony, a celebration of the ox's aquatic origin. In a finger motif, Ba detected an allusion to the myth of the hand of the first Fulani herdsman, Kikala. At Tin Felki, Ba recognized a hexagonal carnelian jewel as related to the Agades cross, a fertility charm still used by Fulani women. There are also details in the paintings which correspond to elements from Fulani myths taught during the initiation rites like the hermaphroditic cow.  The Fulani initiation field is depicted graphically with

Settlement and Islam.

Fula people, with Arabic and North African roots, adopted Islam early. According to David Levison, adopting Islam made the Fulani feel a "cultural and religious superiority to surrounding peoples, and that adoption became a major ethnic boundary marker" between them and other African ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa. Settled and nomadic Fulani became political and warring entities, armed with horses and equipment of war from the north. The wars were not merely between Fula people and other ethnic groups, but also internecine between the pastoral and sedentary Fulani, where sometimes they worked in cohesion, and other times the Muslim Fulani leaders attacked the nomadic Fulani as infidels.  The Songhai Empire rulers had converted to Sunni Islam in the 11th-century and were a major trading partner of the Middle East

Rise to dominance in West Africa.

Futa Toro was established in the 1500s, by Denianke dynasty built out of Fulani and Mandinka forces; the importance of Fula people to this rule led to this era known as Empire of Great Fulo. The Fulani raided and violently disrupted the trade routes that accounted for the economic prosperity of older African kingdoms, and thus began their rise. Futa Bundu, sometimes called Bondu and located in Senegal and Faleme rivers confluence, became a centre for the rise of West Africa-wide Fula empire and influence in 17th century. From the 18th century onwards, the frequency of Jihads increased such as those led by Ibrahim Sori and Karamoko Ali in 1725, the Fulani became a

Imamate of Futa Jallon.

The Emirate / Imamate of Timbo in the Fuuta Jallon was the first of the Fulɓe emirates in West Africa. It developed from a revolt by Islamic Fulɓe against their oppression by the pagan Pulli (non-Islamic Fulɓe), and the Jallonke (the original Mande inhabitants of the Fuuta-Jallon), during the first half of the 18th century. The first ruler took the title of "Almaami" and resided in Timbo, near the modern-day town of Mamou. The town became the political capital of the newly formed Imamate, with the religious capital was located in Fugumba. The Council of Elders of the Futa Jallon state were also based in Fugumba, acting as a brake on

The Empire of Massina.

The Maasina Emirate also called "Diina" ("religion" in Fulfulde, with Arabic origins), was established by the Fulbe jihad led by Sheeku Aamadu in 1818. The origins of the Maasina Emirate in the Inner Delta of the Niger are also found in rebellion, this time against the Bambara / Bamana Kingdom of Segou, a political power that controlled the region from outside. This jihad was inspired by events in northern Nigeria where an important scholar of the time, Usman Dan Fodio, established an Islamic empire with Sokoto as its capital.  For some time, groups of Fulbe had been dominant in parts of the delta, thereby creating a

The Futanke / Toucouleur Empire.

Many regard the Futanke or Toucouleur conquest of western Sudan and central Mali as a reform movement. The character of the Futanke Emirate was somewhat different, although its founding was related to the conquest of the Maasina Emirate and the Bamana Kingdoms of Segou and Kaarta in the aftermath of a movement for reform. Threatened by French colonial forces while at the same time being supplied with firearms by them, the Futanke staged a jihad to fight paganism and the competing Islamic brotherhood of the Tijannya.  Its founder, El Hadj Umar Tall an Islamic reformer originating from the Fuuta Tooro on the banks

The Sokoto Caliphate and its various emirates.

The Sokoto Caliphate was by far the largest and most successful legacy of Fulani power in Western Africa. It was the largest, as well as the most well-organized, of the Fulani Jihad states. Throughout the 19th century, Sokoto was one of the largest and most powerful empires in West Africa until 1903, when defeated by European colonial forces. The Sokoto Caliphate included several emirates, the largest of which was Adamawa, although the Kano Emirate was the most populated. Others included, but are not limited to: Gombe Emirate, Gwandu Emirate, Bauchi Emirate, Katsina Emirate, Zazzau Emirate, Hadejia Emirate, and Muri Emirate.  While establishing their

Society.

The Fulani and Hausa people have taken some influences from each other's cultures. Upon the success recorded in the 1804 Fulani War of Usman dan Fodio, many of Fulɓe subsequently joined the ruling classes of the Northern Nigerian Emirate. They dress and speak like their Hausa neighbours and live in the same form (see Hausa–Fulani). The Fulɓe who didn't settle during this period and their descendants, however, still keep an obvious distinct identity from that of the Hausa and other surrounding groups of the region. This Hausa–Fulani interaction is uncommon outside the eastern subregion of West Africa.  The Toucouleur people in the central Senegal River valley are closely related to the Fula people. During the medieval era, they paid a tribute to the Fula. Large numbers of other Fula-speakers live scattered in the region and have a lower status. They are descendants of Fula-owned slaves. Now legally emancipated, in some regions they still pay tribute to Fula elites, and they are often denied chances for upward social mobility.  In Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal for instance, those within the fulɓe cultural sphere, but who are not ethnically Fula, are referred to as "yimɓe pulaaku", i.e. (people of the Fula culture). As such, Fulani culture includes people who may or may not be ethnic Fulani. Although slavery is now illegal, memories of the past relationship between Fulɓbe and Rimayɓe are still very much alive in both groups. Paul Riesman, an American ethnographer who resided among the "Jelgooji Fulɓbe" of Burkina Faso in the 1980s, states that the Fulɓe are tall, slim, and light-skinned; they have thin straight noses, and their hair tends to be long and curly. In contrast, the Rimayɓe are stocky, tending towards corpulence, dark-skinned with flat'squashed' noses, and short kinky hair.

Slavery and caste system.

Fula society features the caste divisions typical of the West African region. The fairly rigid caste system of the Fula people has medieval roots, was well established by the 15th-century, and it has survived into modern age. The four major castes, states Martin Kich, in their order of status are "nobility, traders, tradesmen (such as blacksmith) and descendants of slaves". According to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Fulani people have held on to "a strict caste system".  There are the Fulani proper, also referred to as the Fulɓe, including the Pullo (also called the Rimɓe (singular)) and the Dimo, meaning "noble". There is the artisan caste, including blacksmiths, potters, griots, genealogists, woodworkers, and dressmakers. They belong to castes but are "free people". Then there

Culture.

Traditional livelihood.

The Fulani are traditionally a nomadic, pastoralist trading people. They herd cattle, goats and sheep across the vast dry hinterlands of their domain, keeping somewhat separate from the local agricultural populations. They are the largest nomadic ethnic group in the world and inhabit several territories over an area larger in size than the continental United States.  The Fulani follow a code of behaviour known as "pulaaku", which consists of the qualities of patience, self-control, discipline, prudence, modesty, respect for others (including foes), wisdom, forethought, personal responsibility, hospitality, courage, and hard work. Among the nomadic Fulani, women in their spare time make handicrafts including engraved gourds, weavings, knitting, beautifully made covers for calabashes known as mbeedu, and baskets. The Fulani men are less involved

Language.

The language of the Fulani is Pulaar. It is also the language of the Toucouleurs. All Senegalese and Mauritanians who speak the language natively are known as the "Halpulaar" or "Haalpulaar'en", which means "speakers of Pulaar" ("hal" is the root of the Pulaar verb "haalugol", meaning "to speak"). In some areas, e.g. in northern Cameroon, Fulfulde is a local lingua franca.  An alphabet system called ADLaM (an acronym

Moral code.

Central to the Fulani people's lifestyle is a code of behavior known as "pulaaku" or "laawol Fulɓe" in Fulfulde, literally meaning the "Fulani pathways" which

Dress.

There are no particular outfits for all Fulani sub-groups; dressing and clothing accessories such as ornaments mostly depend on the particular region. The traditional dress of the Fulbe Wodaabe consists of long colourful flowing robes, modestly embroidered or otherwise decorated. In the Futa Jallon highlands of central Guinea, it is common to see men wearing a distinctive hat with colorful embroidery. In Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger, men wear a hat that tapers off at three angular tips, known as a "noppiire". Both men and women wear a characteristic white or black cotton fabric gown, adorned with intricate blue, red and green thread embroidery work, with styles differing according to region and sex.  It is not uncommon to see the women decorate their hair with bead hair accessories as well as cowrie shells. Fula women often use henna for hand, arm and feet decorations. Their long hair is put into

Herding.

Fula are primarily known to be pastoralists, but are also traders in some areas. Most Fula in the countryside spend long times alone on foot, and can be seen frequently parading with their cattle throughout the west African hinterland, moving their herds in search of water and better pasture. They were, and still are, the only major migratory people group of West Africa, although the Tuareg people, another nomadic tribe of North African origin, live just immediately north of Fula territory, and sometimes live alongside the Fulani in countries such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The Fulani, as a result of their constant wandering of the past, can be seen in every climatic zone and habitat of West Africa, from the deserts of the north, to the derived savannah and forests of the south.  From the 16th to 20th centuries many Fulani communities settled in the highlands of the Jos Plateau, the Western High Plateau of Bamenda, and Adamawa Plateau of Nigeria and the Cameroons. These are the highest elevated places in West Africa, and their altitude can reach up to 8,700 feet above sea level. The highland plateaus have a more temperate climate conducive for cattle herding

Music.

The Fula have a rich musical culture and play a variety of traditional instruments including drums, "hoddu" (a plucked skin-covered lute similar to a banjo), and "riti" or "riiti" (a one-string bowed instrument similar to a violin), in addition to vocal music. The well-known Senegalese Fula musician Baaba Maal sings in Pulaar on his recordings. "Zaghareet" or ululation is a popular form of vocal music formed by rapidly moving the tongue sideways and making a sharp, high sound.  Fulani music is as varied as its people. The numerous sub-groups all maintain unique repertoires of music and dance. Songs and dances reflect traditional life and are specifically designed for each individual

Food.

"Kossam" can be the general term for both fresh milk miradam and yoghurt known as "pendidan" in Fulfulde. It is central to Fulbe identity and revered as a drink or in one of its various processed forms, such as yoghurt and cheese. "Kettugol" and "lébol" are derived from milk fat, are used in light cooking and hair weaving. It is common to see Fulani women hawking milk products in characteristic beautifully decorated calabashes balanced on their heads. Other meals include a heavy grease "(nyiiri)" made of flour from such grains as millet, sorghum,

Houses.

Traditionally, nomadic Fula live in domed houses known as a "bukkaru" or "suudu hudo", literally "grass house". During the dry season, the characteristically hemisphere-shaped domed houses are supported by compact millet stalk pillars, and by reed mats held together and tied against wood poles, in the wet or rainy season. These mobile houses are very easy to set up, and dismantle,

Genomic studies.

The paternal lineages of the Fula/Fulɓe/Fulani tend to vary depending on geographic location. According to a study by Cruciani et al. (2002), around 90% of Fulani individuals from Burkina Faso carried haplotype 24, which corresponds with the E-M2 that is common in West Africa. The remainder belonged to haplotype 42/haplogroup E-M132. Both of these clades are today most frequent among Niger–Congo-speaking populations, particularly those inhabiting Senegal. Similarly, 53% of the Fulani in northern Cameroon bore haplogroup E-M132, with the rest mainly carrying other African clades (12% haplogroup A and 6% haplogroup E1b1a). A minority carried the West Eurasian haplogroups T (18%) and R1 (12%). Mulcare et al. (2004) observed a similar frequency of haplogroup R1 subclades in their Fulani samples from Cameroon (18%).  A study by Hassan et al. (2008) on the Fulani in Sudan observed a significantly higher occurrence of the West Eurasian haplogroup R1 (53.8%). The remainder belonged to various Afro-Asiatic associated haplogroup E-M215 subclades, including 34.62% E-M78 and 27.2% E-V22.  Bučková et al. (2013) similarly observed significant frequencies of the haplogroups R1b and E1b1b in their pastoralist Fulani groups from Niger. E1b1b attained its highest frequencies among the local Fulani Ader (60%) and R1b among the Fulani Zinder (~31%). This was in sharp contrast to most of the other Fulani pastoralist groups elsewhere, including those from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Chad. All of these latter Fulani communities instead bore over 69–75% West African paternal haplogroups.

MtDNA (maternal).

In contrast to their heterogeneous paternal lineages, the Fulani largely cluster maternally with other Niger-Congo populations. Only 8.1% of their mtDNA clades were associated with West Eurasian or Afro-Asiatic groups (J1b, U5, H, and V):

Autosomal DNA (overall).

According to Tishkoff et al. (2009), the Fulani's genomic ancestry clusters near that of Chadic and Central Sudanic speaking populations. Based on this, the researchers suggest that the Fulani

The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people (; ; ; ; ; ) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa but also in South Sudan, Sudan, and regions near the Red Sea coast. The approximate number of Fula people is unknown due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity; various estimates put the figure between 25 and 40 million worldwide.

Fulbové (sami sebe nazývají Fulbhe, v singuláru Pullo; další názvy jsou Fula nebo Peulh) je původně nomádské pastevecké etnikum rozšířené především v oblasti afrického Sahelu, tj. v severní části západní, střední a východní Afriky od Senegalu po Súdán a Etiopii. Důležité zastoupení mají v Burkině Faso, Kamerunu, Gambii, Guineji, Guineji-Bissau, Čadu, Mali, Mauritánii, Nigeru, Nigérii, Senegalu, Sierra Leone a Súdánu. Jejich počet vinou značné územní roztříštěnosti a promíchanosti s jinými etniky není úplně jasný, různé zdroje uvádějí různé údaje, ale pravděpodobně jich je okolo 24 milionů. Největší zastoupení mají Fulbové v Nigérii, kde jich žije asi 13 milionů.


Causes.

All fabrics pill to some extent, although fibers such as linen and silk pill less than most. The primary drivers of pilling are the physical characteristics of the textile (including both the initial fibre, and the way in which it is processed during manufacturing), the personal habits of the textile's wearer, and the environment in which the textile is used. Fibers such as wool, cotton, polyester, nylon and acrylic have a tendency to pill the most, but wool pilling diminishes over time as non-tenacious wool fibers work themselves free of the fabric and break away, whereas pilling of synthetic textiles is a more serious problem, because the stronger fibers hold on to the pills preventing them from falling off.  In general longer fibers pill less than short ones because there are fewer ends of fibers, and because it is harder for the longer fibers to work themselves out of the cloth. Fabrics with a large number of loose fibers have a higher tendency to pill. Also, knitted fabrics tend to pill more than woven fabrics, because of the greater distance between yarn crossings in knitted fabrics than in woven ones. For the same reason, a tightly knitted object will pill less than a loosely knitted one. When a fabric is made of a blend of fibers where one fibre is significantly stronger than the other, pills tend to form as the weaker fibre wears and breaks, and the stronger fibre holds the pills onto the cloth.

Preventing.

Techniques used by the textile industry to avoid pilling include singeing the loose fibers protruding on the surface of textile, and spinning the yarn with a high number of twists per inch. Some fabrics are chemically treated during the manufacturing process in order to reduce their propensity to pill. Polymeric coatings are sometimes applied to bind fibers into the fabric surface and prevent initial fuzz from forming. Polyester and cotton fibers are sometimes modified to be of lower-than-normal strength, which results in pills detaching easily from fabrics, once they are formed. Cellulase enzymes are sometimes used on cotton fabrics during wet processing, which removes loose fibers.  Textile authorities say consumers can prevent or postpone pilling of their fabrics by treating them with chemical soil release treatments that make the surface of the fabric more hydrophilic, and by turning clothes inside out before washing them. Washing in laundry detergent containing enzymes will get rid of pills on cotton clothing.

Result.

Pills do not interfere with the functionality of the textile, unless a spot with a lot of pills turns into a hole in the fabric. This is because both pills and holes are caused by the fabric wearing—a pill is fibre that was in the cloth. After the pill forms the fabric is thinner there, increasing the likelihood that a hole will form.  Pilling can seriously compromise a textile's acceptability for consumers, and is the focus of significant industry research. In the textile industry, severity of pilling is objectively evaluated using five parameters: pill number, the mean area of pilling; the total area of pilling; contrast, and density.  Industry has produced fabric shavers that ease that end users remove pills.

A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, fuzzball, or lint ball is a small ball of fibers that forms on a piece of cloth. 'Pill' is also a verb for the formation of such balls.

Žmolky jsou nežádoucí uzlíky, které vznikají po určitém opotřebení textilie na jejím povrchu. Žmolkování se velmi často označuje anglickým výrazem "pilling".


Etymology.

Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. In Hebrew, "gat" means "winepress". In the 1950s, archaeologists found ruins at a nearby tell (Tel Erani) which were mistaken for the Philistine city of Gath. The location most favored for Gath now is Tel es-Safi, thirteen kilometers () to the northeast.

History.

Kiryat Gat was founded in 1954, initially as a ma'abara. The following year it was established as a development town by 18 families from Morocco. It was founded just west of the ruins of the Palestinian Arab village of Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was depopulated in 1949 after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The former location of Iraq al-Manshiyya is now within the built-up area of Kiryat Gat. By 1992, Kiryat Gat had grown and spread also on to the land formerly belonged to the village of Al-Faluja.  The population rose from 4,400 inhabitants in 1958 to 17,000 in 1969, mostly Jewish immigrants from North Africa. The economy was initially based on processing the agricultural produce of the Lachish region, such as cotton and wool. In December 1972, Kiryat Gat's municipal status was upgraded and it became Israel's 31st city.  During the 1990s, the mass immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel brought many new residents to the town and its population grew to 42,500 by 1995. The development of the Rabin industrial zone on the eastern edge of the city, and the opening of Highway 6 further improved the economy of the city.

Demographics.

In 2012, the ethnic makeup of the city was 93.8 percent Jewish. In its early years, Kiryat Gat was populated mainly by Jews of Sephardi/Mizrahi origin. Since the mass immigration of Soviet Jews, approximately one third of the inhabitants hail from the former Soviet Union.

Economy.

The Polgat textile factory was the main employer in the town until it closed in the 1990s. In 1999, Intel opened a chip fabrication plant, known as Fab 18, to produce Pentium 4 chips and flash memories. Intel received a grant of $525 million from the Israeli government to build the plant. In February 2006, the cornerstone was laid for Intel's second Kiryat Gat plant, Fab 28. Despite this, Kiryat Gat has one of Israel's highest unemployment rates. In January 2019, Intel was rumored to be planning an $11 billion investment in new manufacturing in Kiryat Gat.

Transportation.

Kiryat Gat is served by the Kiryat Gat Railway Station on the Tel Aviv - Be'er Sheva inter-city line of Israel Railways. Kiryat Gat is situated between two major highways, Highway 40 to the west of the town and Highway 6.

Schools and education.

Kiryat Gat has 25 schools with an enrollment of 10,676. Of these schools, 18 are elementary schools with a student population of 5,498, and 13 are high schools with a student population of 5,178. In 2001, 54.7% of Kiryat Gat's 12th grade students graduated with a matriculation certificate. Kiryat Gat has a Pedagogic Center, science centers, a computerized library and a center devoted to industry, art and technology. In 2012, a high school student from Kiryat Gat won first prize in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics competition.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Kiryat Gat is twinned with:

Kiryat Gat (), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of.

Kirjat Gat (hebrejsky, v oficiálním přepisu do angličtiny Qiryat Gat, přepisováno též Kiryat Gat) je město v Izraeli v Jižním distriktu. Starostou je Aviram Dahari.


Geography.

Amdo consists of all of former northeastern Tibet, including the upper reaches of the Machu or Yellow River and Lake Qinghai. Its southern border is the Bayan Har Mountains. The area is wind-swept and tree-less, with lots of grass. Animals of the region consist of the wild yak and the kiang. Domesticated animals of the region consist of the domestic yak and dzo, goats, sheep, and the Mongolian horse.

Demographics.

Historical demographics.

In historical times, the people of the region were typically non-Tibetan, such as Mongols or Tibetan speakers of non-Tibetan origin such as the Hor people.

Present demographics.

The Tibetan inhabitants of Amdo are referred to as Amdowa (ཨ་མདོ་པ།; amdo pa) as a regional distinction from the Tibetans of Kham (Khampa) and U-Tsang (Central Tibet), however, they are all considered ethnically Tibetan.  Today, ethnic Tibetans predominate in the western and southern parts of Amdo, which are now administered as various Tibetan, Tibetan-Qiang, or Mongol-Tibetan autonomous prefectures. The Han Chinese are majority in the northern part (Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) and eastern part (Xining city and Haidong city) of Qinghai province. While Xining city and Haidong city are geographically small compared to the rest of Qinghai, this area has the largest population density in Qinghai, with the result that the Han Chinese outnumber other ethnicities in Qinghai generally.  The majority of Amdo Tibetans live in the larger part of Qinghai Province, including the Mtshobyang (མཚོ་བྱང་།; Haibei in Chinese) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Mtsholho (མཚོ་ལྷོ་།; Hainan) TAP, Rmalho (རྨ་ལྷོ་།; Huangnan) TAP, and Mgolog (མགོ་ལོག།; Guoluo) TAP, as well as in the Kanlho (ཀན་ལྷོ།; Gannan) TAP of the southwest Gansu province, and sections of the Rngaba (རྔ་བ།; Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous prefecture of north-west Sichuan Province. Additionally, a great many Amdo Tibetans live within the Haidong (མཚོ་ཤར།; Wylie: "mtsho shar") Prefecture of Qinghai which is located to the east of the Qinghai Lake (མཚོ་སྔོན།, Wylie: "mtsho sngon") and around Xining (ཟི་ལིང།; "zi ling") city, but they constitute only a minority (ca. 8.5%) of the total population there and so the region did not attain TAP status. The vast Haixi (མཚོ་ནུབ།; "mtsho nub") Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, to the west of the Qinghai Lake, also has a minority Tibetan population (ca. 10%), and only those Tibetans in the eastern parts of this Prefecture are Amdo inhabitants.  Mongols too have been long-term settlers in Amdo, arriving first during the time of Genghis Khan, but particularly in a series of settlement waves during the Ming period. Over the centuries, most of the Amdo Mongols have become highly Tibetanised and, superficially at least, it is now difficult to discern their original non-Tibetan ethnicity. Amdo has been famous in epic story and in history as a land where splendid horses are raised and run wild.

Language.

There are many dialects of the Tibetan language spoken in Amdo due to the geographical isolation of many groups. Written Tibetan is the same throughout Tibetan-speaking regions and is based on Classical Tibetan.

History.

3rd century.

The Ch'iang people were early users of iron and stories abound of them in their iron breast-plates with iron swords.

7th century.

From the seventh through the ninth century, the Tibetan Empire extended as far north as the Tarim Basin, south until India and Nepal, east to Tang China, and west to Kashmir. During this period, control of Amdo moved from Songtsen Gampo and his successors to the royal family's ministers, the Gar (). These ministers had their positions inherited from their parents, similar to the emperor. King Tüsong tried to wrest control of this area from the ministers, unsuccessfully.

9th century.

In the 9th century, the central Tibetan kingdom broke into smaller polities; however Amdo and Kham maintained close culturally and religiously to the central Tibet. These small polities were small kingdoms or even governed as tribes and were officially under Chinese and Tibetan rule; however they held no allegiance to either. During this same time period the Buddhist monks were forced out of their temples by rampaging Chinese. These monks wandered for a period to settle in the Amdo region.  There is a historical account of an official from the 9th century sent to collect taxes to Amdo. Instead, he acquires a fief. He then tells of the 10 virtues of the land. Two of the virtues are in the grass, one for meadows near home, one for distant pastures. Two virtues in soil, one to build houses and one for good fields. Two virtues are in the water, one for drinking and one for irrigation. There are two in the stone, one for building and one for milling. The timber has two virtues, one for building and one for firewood. Other stories talk about the original inhabitants of the Amdo region. These consist of the forest-dwellers (nags-pa), the mountain-dwellers (ri-pa), the plains-dwellers (thang-pa), the grass-men (rtsa-mi), and the woodsmen (shing-mi). The grass men were famous for their horses.

10th century.

Gewasel is a monk that helped resurrect Tibetan Buddhism. He was taught as a child and showed amazing enthusiasm for the religion. When he was ordained he went in search of teachings. After obtaining the Vinaya, he was set to travel to Central Tibet, but for a drought. Instead he chose to travel in solitude to Amdo. Locals had heard of him and his solitude was not to be as he was sought after. In time he established a line of refugee monks in Amdo and with the wealth that he acquired he built temples and stupas also.

11th century.

The historical Qiang came into contact with the Sumpa, then with the Tuyuhun. Then around 1032, they formed the Western Xia, which lasted into the 13th century.

13th century.

The Mongols conquered eastern Amdo by 1240, and made the whole Tibetan region under Yuan rule, separated from the territory of former Song dynasty of China. A patron and priest relationship began in 1253 when a Tibetan priest, Phagspa, visited Kublai Khan he became so popular that he was made Kublai's spiritual guide and later appointed by him to the rank of priest king of Tibet and constituted ruler of (1) Tibet Proper, comprising the thirteen states of U-Tsang Province; (2) Kham, and (3) Amdo. He spent his later years at Sakya Monastery in Central Tibet, which required that he travel through Amdo regularly. On one of these trips, he encountered armed resistance in Amdo and required escorts from Mongol Princes to travel through Amdo. Tibet regained its independence from the Mongols before native Chinese overthrew the Yuan dynasty in 1368, although it avoided directly resisting the Yuan court until the latter's fall. Under the Mongol Yuan dynasty of Kublai Khan, Amdo and Kham were split into two commandaries, which, along with Ü-Tsang, were collectively referred to as the three commandaries of Tibet.

14th century through the 16th century.

The following Ming Dynasty nominally largely maintained the Mongol divisions of Tibet with some sub-division. However, from the middle of the Ming era, the Chinese government lost control in Amdo, and the Mongols again seized political control.

17th century.

Upper (Kokonor) Mongols from northern Xinjiang and Khalkha came there in 16th and 17th centuries. Power struggles among various Mongol factions in Tibet and Amdo led to a period alternating between the supremacy of the Dalai Lama (nominally) and Mongol overlords. In 1642 the fifth Dalai Lama received both spiritual and temporal authority from the Mongol king, Güshi Khan. This allowed the Gelugpa Buddhist sect and the Dalai Lama to gain enough power to last til the present day. The Mongol king also gave portions of Eastern Tiber (Kham) back to the Tibetans; however Amdo remained under Mongol control.

18th century.

In 1705, with the approval of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, Lha-bzang Khan of the Khoshud deposed the regent and sent the 6th Dalai Lama to Beijing; the 6th Dalai Lama died soon after, probably near Qinghai Lake (Koko nur) in Amdo. The Dzungar Mongols invaded Tibet during the chaos, and held the entire region until their final defeat by an expedition of the Qing imperial army in 1720.  When the Manchu Qing dynasty rose to power in the early 18th century it established Xining, a town to the north of Amdo, as the administrative base for the area. Amdo was placed within the Qinghai Province. During this period they were ruled by the Amban, who allowed near total autonomy by the monasteries and the other local leaders.  The 18th century saw the Qing Empire continue to expand further and further into Tibet as it engulfed Eastern Tibet including Amdo and even assumed control over Central Tibet.  The Yongzheng Emperor seized full control of Qinghai (Amdo) in the 1720s. The boundaries of Xining Prefecture, which contains most of Amdo, with Sichuan and Tibet-proper was established following this. The boundary of Xining Prefecture and Xizang, or central Tibet, was the Dangla Mountains. This roughly corresponds with the modern boundary of Qinghai with the Tibet Autonomous Region. The boundary of Xining Prefecture with Sichuan was also set at this time, dividing the Ngaba area of the former Amdo into Sichuan. This boundary also roughly corresponds with the modern boundary of Qinghai with Sichuan. A new boundary, following the Ning-ching mountain range, was established between Sichuan and Tibet. East of these mountains, local chieftains ruled under the nominal authority of the Sichuan provincial government; Lhasa administered the area to the west. The 1720s thus saw Tibet's first major reduction in area in centuries. Other parts of old Amdo was administered by the Administrator of Qinghai.  In all these predominantly culturally Tibetan areas, the Qing Empire used a system of administration relying on local, Tibetan, rulers. A 1977 University of Chicago PhD. thesis, described the political history of the Tibetan region in Gansu (which was historically one part of Amdo) during the Qing dynasty as follows: In the time of the Manchu dynasty, the entire region was administered by a viceroy of the Imperial Government. That portion of the country occupied by Chinese Moslems and some other, smaller, racial units was under traditional Chinese law. The Tibetans enjoyed almost complete independence and varying degrees of prestige. The Chone Prince ruled over the forty-eight "banners" of one group of Tibetans; other Tibetan rulers or chiefs held grants or commissions- some of them hundreds of years old- from the Imperial Government. At that time the ethnic frontier corresponded almost exactly with the administrative frontier.

20th century.

In 1906, the 13th Dalai Lama while touring the country, was enticed by a procession of a thousand lamas, to stay at the temple at Kumbum. He spent a year resting and learning among other things Sanskrit and poetry.  In 1912, Qing Dynasty collapsed and relative independence followed with the Dalai Lama ruling Central Tibet. Eastern Tibet, including Amdo and Kham, were ruled by local and regional warlords and chiefs. The Hui Muslims administered the agricultural areas in the north and east of the region. Amdo saw numerous powerful leaders including both secular and non. The monasteries, such as Labrang, Rebkong, and Taktsang Lhamo supervised the choosing of the local leaders or headmen in the areas under their control. These tribes consisted of several thousand nomads. Meanwhile, Sokwo, Ngawa, and Choni, had secular leaders appointed, with some becoming kings and even creating familial dynasties. This secular form of government went as far as Machu.  The Muslim warlord Ma Qi waged war in the name of the Republic of China against the Labrang monastery and Goloks. After ethnic rioting between Muslims and Tibetans emerged in 1918, Ma Qi defeated the Tibetans, then commenced to tax the town heavily for 8 years. In 1925, a Tibetan rebellion broke out, with thousands of Tibetans driving out the Muslims. Ma Qi responded with 3,000 Chinese Muslim troops, who retook Labrang and machine gunned thousands of Tibetan monks as they tried to flee. Ma Qi besieged Labrang numerous times, the Tibetans and Mongols fought against his Muslim forces for control of Labrang, until Ma Qi gave it up in 1927. His forces were praised by foreigners who traveled through Qinghai for their fighting abilities. However, that was not the last Labrang saw of General Ma. The Muslim forces looted and ravaged the monastery again.  In 1928, the Ma Clique formed an alliance with the Kuomintang. In the 1930s, the Muslim warlord Ma Bufang, the son of Ma Qi, seized the northeast corner of Amdo in the name of Chiang Kai-shek's weak central government, effectively incorporating it into the Chinese province of Qinghai. From that point until 1949, much of the rest of Amdo was gradually assimilated into the Kuomintang Chinese provincial system, with the major portion of it becoming nominally part of Qinghai province and a smaller portion becoming part of Gansu province. Due to the lack of a Chinese administrative presence in the region, however, most of the communities of the rural areas of Amdo and Kham remained under their own local, Tibetan lay and monastic leaders into the 1950s. Tibetan region of Lho-Jang and Gyarong in Kham, and Ngapa (Chinese Aba) and Golok in Amdo, were still independent of Chinese hegemony, despite the creation on paper of Qinghai Province in 1927.  The 14th Dalai Lama was born in the Amdo region, in 1935, and when he was announced as a possible candidate, Ma Bufang tried to prevent the boy from travelling to Tibet. He demanded a ransom of 300,000 dollars, which was paid and then he escorted the young boy to Tibet.  In May 1949, Ma Bufang was appointed Military Governor of Northwest China, making him the highest-ranked administrator of the Amdo region. However, by August 1949, the advancing People's Liberation Army had annihilated Ma's army, though residual forces took several years to defeat. By 1949, advance units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (the PLA) had taken much of Amdo from the Nationalists. By 1952, the major towns in the region were fully under the control of People's Republic of China, though many of the rural areas continued to enjoy de facto autonomy for several more years.  In 1958, Chinese communists assumed official control of Tibetan regions in Kham and Amdo. Many of the nomads of Amdo revolted. Some areas were reported virtually empty of men: They either had been killed or imprisoned or had fled. The largest monastery in Amdo was forced to close. Of its three thousand monks, two thousand were arrested.  In July 1958 as the revolutionary fervor of the Great Leap Forward swept across the People's Republic of China, Zeku County in the Amdo region of cultural Tibet erupted in violence against efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose rapid collectivization on the pastoral communities of the grasslands. Rebellion also stirred the region at the beginning of the 1950s as “Liberation” first settled on the northeastern Tibetan plateau. The immediate ramifications of each disturbance both for the Amdo Tibetan elites and commoners, and for the Han cadres in their midst, elucidates early PRC nation-building and state-building struggles in minority nationality areas and the influence of this crucial transitional period on relations between Han and Tibetan in Amdo decades later.  As a prelude to the Beijing Olympics, protests broke out in 2008 in Amdo, among other places. Some were violent; however the majority were peaceful.

Monasteries.

Amdo was traditionally a place of great learning and scholarship and contains many great monasteries including Kumbum Monastery near Xining, Rongwo Monastery in Rebgong, Labrang Monastery south of Lanzhou, and the Kirti Gompas of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and Taktsang Lhamo in Dzoge County.

Traditional pastoral economy.

Amdo Tibetans' traditional lifestyle and economy are centered on agriculture. Depending on the region and environment Amdo Tibetans live in, they are either nomads (Drog pa) or farmers (Sheng pa). The economy of Amdo of has been constant throughout history and has changed little in the modern time. A typical family has two homes or bases: one for when they move up into the mountains with their animals in the summer for better grazing, and another down in the valleys where they weather harsh winters and grow fodder for their livestock in small agricultural fields. The families of some villages may make a shorter seasonal trek as their pasture may be nearby, and they may even migrant between homes each day.

Local government.

After 1949, the Chinese communists inherited and adopted the earlier Republican county system, and the basic arrangements of local government in Amdo have changed little up to the present day. With the advent of communist administrators in Amdo during the 1950s, a series of larger Tibetan autonomous prefectures were newly established on top of the existing county system in those places where Tibetans formed the majority of the population. This development was in line with the policy towards minority nationalities set down in the new constitution of the PRC.

Amdo ( ]; ) is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu (Yellow River) to the Drichu (Yangtze). While historically, culturally, and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo was administered by a series of local rulers since the mid-18th century and the Dalai Lamas have not governed the area directly since that time. From 1917 to 1928, much of Amdo was occupied intermittently by the Hui Muslim warlords of the Ma clique. In 1928, the Ma Clique joined the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), and during the period from 1928 to 1949, much of Amdo was gradually assimilated into the Qinghai province (and part of Gansu province) of the Kuomintang Republic of China. By 1952, Communist Party of China forces had defeated both the Kuomintang and the local Tibetans and had assumed control of the region, solidifying their hold on the area by 1958 and formally spelling the end of the political existence of Amdo as a distinct Tibetan province.

Amdo (ཨ་མདོ།) je jedna ze tří historických zemí Tibetu. Další dvě jsou Kham a Ü-Cang. V Amdu ve vesnici Tagccher se narodil současný 14. dalajláma Tändzin Gjamccho. Provincii většinou vládli místní vládci, avšak po čínské anexi v padesátých letech 20. století byla rozdělena mezi čínské provincie Kan-su, S’-čchuan a Čching-chaj.


Treaty structure.

The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles. Although the concept of "pillars" is not expressed anywhere in the NPT, the treaty is nevertheless sometimes interpreted as a "three-pillar" system, with an implicit balance among them: These pillars are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. An effective nonproliferation regime whose members comply with their obligations provides an essential foundation for progress on disarmament and makes possible greater cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. With the right to access the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology comes the responsibility of nonproliferation. Progress on disarmament reinforces efforts to strengthen the nonproliferation regime and to enforce compliance with obligations, thereby also facilitating peaceful nuclear cooperation. The "pillars" concept has been questioned by some who believe that the NPT is, as its name suggests, principally about nonproliferation, and who worry that "three pillars" language misleadingly implies that the three elements have equivalent importance.

First pillar: Non-proliferation.

Under Article I of the NPT, nuclear-weapon states pledge not to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices to any recipient or in any way assist, encourage or induce any non-nuclear-weapon state in the manufacture or acquisition of a nuclear weapon.  Under Article II of the NPT, non-nuclear-weapon states pledge not to acquire or exercise control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and not to seek or receive assistance in the manufacture of such devices.  Under Article III of the Treaty, non-nuclear-weapon states pledge to accept IAEA safeguards to verify that their nuclear activities serve only peaceful purposes.  Five states are recognized by NPT as nuclear weapon states (NWS): China (signed 1992), France (1992), the Soviet Union (1968; obligations and rights now assumed by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom (1968), and the United States (1968), which also happen to be the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Second pillar: Disarmament.

Under Article VI of the NPT, all Parties undertake to pursue good-faith negotiations on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race, to nuclear disarmament, and to general and complete disarmament.  Article VI of the NPT represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon states. The NPT's preamble contains language affirming the desire of treaty signatories to ease international tension and strengthen international trust so as to create someday the conditions for a halt to the production of nuclear weapons, and treaty on general

Third pillar: Peaceful use of nuclear energy.

NPT Article IV acknowledges the right of all Parties to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and to benefit from international cooperation in this area, in conformity with their nonproliferation obligations. Article IV also encourages such cooperation. This so-called third pillar provides for the transfer of nuclear technology and materials to NPT Parties for peaceful purposes in the development of civilian nuclear energy programs in those countries, subject to IAEA safeguards to demonstrate that their nuclear programs are not being used for the development of nuclear weapons.  As the commercially popular light water reactor nuclear power station uses enriched uranium fuel,

Key articles.

"Article I": Each nuclear-weapons state (NWS) undertakes not to transfer, to any recipient, nuclear weapons, or other nuclear explosive devices, and not to assist any non-nuclear weapon state to manufacture or acquire such weapons or devices.  "Article II": Each non-NWS party undertakes not to receive, from any source, nuclear weapons, or other nuclear explosive devices; not to manufacture or acquire such weapons or devices; and not to receive any assistance in their manufacture.  "Article III": Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.  "Article IV": 1. Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use

History.

The impetus behind the NPT was concern for the safety of a world with many nuclear weapon states. It was recognized that the Cold War deterrent relationship between just the United States and the Soviet Union was fragile. Having more nuclear-weapon states would reduce security for all, multiplying the risks of miscalculation, accidents, unauthorized use of weapons, escalation in tensions, and nuclear conflict. Moreover, since the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it has been apparent that the development of nuclear capabilities by States could enable them to divert technology and materials for weapons purposes. Thus, the problem of preventing such diversions became a central issue in discussions on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.  Initial efforts, which began in 1946, to create an international system enabling all States to have access to nuclear technology under appropriate safeguards, were terminated in 1949 without the achievement of this objective, due to serious political differences between the major Powers. By then, both the United States and the former Soviet Union had tested nuclear weapons, and were beginning to build their stockpiles.  In December 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his "Atoms for Peace" proposal, presented to the eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, urged that an international organization be established to disseminate peaceful nuclear technology, while guarding against development of weapons capabilities in additional countries. His proposal resulted in 1957 in the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was charged with the dual responsibility for promotion and control of nuclear technology. IAEA technical activities began in 1958. An interim safeguards system for small nuclear reactors, put in place in 1961, was replaced in 1964 by a system covering larger installations and, over the following years, was expanded to include additional nuclear facilities. In recent years, efforts to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the efficiency of the IAEA safeguards system culminated in the approval of the Model Additional Protocol by the IAEA Board of Governors in May 1997.  Within the framework of the United Nations, the principle of nuclear non-proliferation was addressed in negotiations as early as 1957. The NPT process was launched by Frank Aiken, Irish Minister for External Affairs, in 1958. The NPT gained significant momentum in the early 1960s. The structure of a treaty to uphold nuclear non-proliferation as a norm of international behaviour had become clear by the mid-1960s, and by 1968 final agreement had been reached on a Treaty that would prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, enable cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. It was opened for signature in 1968, with Finland the first State to sign. Accession became nearly universal after the end of the Cold War and of South African apartheid. In 1992, The People's Republic of China and France acceded to the NPT, the last of the five nuclear powers recognized by the treaty to do so.  The treaty provided, in article X, for a conference to be convened 25 years after its entry into force to decide whether the treaty should continue in force indefinitely, or be extended for an additional fixed period or periods. Accordingly, at the NPT Review and Extension Conference in May 1995, state parties to the treaty agreed-without a vote-on the treaty's indefinite extension, and decided that review conferences should continue to be held every five years. After Brazil acceded to the NPT in 1998, the only remaining non-nuclear-weapon state which had not signed was Cuba, which joined the NPT (and the Treaty of Tlatelolco NWFZ) in 2002.  Several NPT states parties have given up nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs. South Africa undertook a nuclear weapons program, but has since renounced it and acceded to the treaty in 1991 after destroying its small nuclear arsenal; after this, the remaining African countries signed the treaty. The former Soviet Republics where nuclear weapons had been based, namely Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, transferred those weapons to Russia and joined the NPT by 1994 following the signature of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances.  Successor states from the breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also joined the treaty soon after their independence. Montenegro and East Timor were the last countries to accede to the treaty on their independence in 2006 and 2003; the only other country to accede in the 21st century was Cuba in 2002. The three Micronesian countries in Compact of Free Association with the USA joined the NPT in 1995, along with Vanuatu.  Major South American countries Argentina, Chile, and Brazil joined in 1995 and 1998. Arabian Peninsula countries included Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in 1988, Qatar and Kuwait in 1989, UAE in 1995, and Oman in 1997. The European states of Monaco and Andorra joined in 1995–6. Also acceding in the 1990s were Myanmar in 1992 and Guyana in 1993.

Leaving the treaty.

Article X allows a state to leave the treaty if "extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country", giving three months' (ninety days') notice. The state is required to give reasons for leaving the NPT in this notice.  NATO states argue that when there is a state of "general war" the treaty no longer applies, effectively allowing the states involved to leave the treaty with no notice. This is a necessary argument to support the NATO nuclear weapons sharing policy, but a troubling one for the logic of the treaty. NATO's argument is based on the phrase "the consequent need to make every effort to avert the danger of such a war" in the treaty preamble, inserted at the behest of U.S. diplomats, arguing that the treaty would at that point have failed to fulfill its function of prohibiting a general war and thus no longer be binding. Many states do not accept

Recent and coming events.

The main outcome of the 2000 Conference was the adoption by consensus of a comprehensive Final Document, which included among other things "practical steps for the systematic and progressive efforts" to implement the disarmament provisions of the NPT, commonly referred to as the Thirteen Steps.  On 18 July 2005, US President George W. Bush met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and declared that he would work to change US law and international rules to permit trade in US civilian nuclear technology with India. At the time, British columnist George Monbiot argued that the U.S.-India nuclear deal, in combination with US attempts to deny Iran (an NPT signatory) civilian nuclear fuel-making technology, might destroy the NPT regime.  In the first half of 2010, it was strongly believed that China had signed a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan claiming that the deal was "peaceful".  Arms control advocates criticised the reported China-Pakistan deal as they did in case of U.S.-India deal claiming that both the deals violate the NPT by facilitating nuclear programmes in states which are not parties to the NPT. Some reports asserted that the deal was a strategic move by China to balance US influence in South-Asia.  According to a report published by U.S. Department of Defense in 2001, China had provided Pakistan with nuclear materials and has given critical technological assistance in the construction of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development facilities, in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which China even then was a signatory.  At the Seventh Review Conference in May 2005, there were stark differences between the United States, which wanted the conference to focus on non-proliferation, especially on its allegations against Iran, and most other countries, who emphasized the lack of serious nuclear disarmament by the nuclear powers. The non-aligned countries reiterated their position emphasizing the need for nuclear disarmament.  The 2010 Review Conference was held in May 2010 in New York City,

Criticism and responses.

Over the years the NPT has come to be seen by many Third World states as "a conspiracy of the nuclear 'haves' to keep the nuclear 'have-nots' in their place". This argument has roots in Article VI of the treaty which "obligates the nuclear weapons states to liquidate their nuclear stockpiles and pursue complete disarmament. The non-nuclear states see no signs of this happening". Some argue that the NWS have not fully complied with their disarmament obligations under Article VI of the NPT. Some countries such as India have criticized the NPT, because it "discriminated against states not possessing nuclear weapons on January 1, 1967," while Iran and numerous Arab states have criticized Israel for not signing the NPT. There has been disappointment with the limited progress on nuclear disarmament, where the five authorized nuclear weapons states still have 22,000 warheads among them and have shown a reluctance to disarm further.  As noted, the International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, stated that "there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control. Some critics of the nuclear-weapons states contend that they have failed to comply with Article VI by failing to make disarmament the driving force in national planning and policy with respect to nuclear weapons, even while they ask other states to plan for their security without nuclear weapons.  The United States responds to criticism of its disarmament record by pointing out that, since the end of the Cold War, it has eliminated over 13,000 nuclear weapons, and eliminated over 80% of its deployed strategic warheads and 90% of non-strategic warheads deployed to NATO, in the process eliminating whole categories of warheads and delivery systems and reducing its reliance on nuclear weapons. U.S. officials have also pointed out the ongoing U.S. work to dismantle nuclear warheads. By the time accelerated dismantlement efforts ordered by President George W. Bush were completed, the U.S. arsenal was less than a quarter of its size at the end of the Cold War, and smaller than it had been at any point since the Eisenhower administration, well before the drafting of the NPT.  The United States has also purchased many thousands of weapons' worth of uranium formerly in Soviet nuclear weapons for conversion into reactor fuel. As a consequence of this latter effort, it has been estimated that the equivalent of one lightbulb in every ten in the United States is powered by nuclear fuel removed from warheads previously targeted at the United States and its allies during the Cold War.  The U.S. Special Representative for Nuclear Nonproliferation agreed that nonproliferation and disarmament are linked, noting that they can be mutually reinforcing but also that growing proliferation risks create an environment that makes disarmament more difficult. The United Kingdom, France and Russia likewise defend their nuclear disarmament records, and the five NPT NWS issued a joint statement in 2008 reaffirming their Article VI disarmament commitments.  According to Thomas Reed and Danny Stillman, the "NPT has one giant loophole": Article IV gives each non-nuclear weapon state the 'inalienable right' to pursue nuclear energy for the generation of power. A "number of high-ranking officials, even within the United Nations, have argued that they can do little to stop states using nuclear reactors to produce nuclear weapons". A 2009 United Nations report said that:  The revival of interest in nuclear power could result in the worldwide dissemination of uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing technologies, which present obvious risks of proliferation as these technologies can produce fissile materials that are directly usable in nuclear weapons. According to critics, those states which possess nuclear weapons, but are not authorized to do so under the NPT, have not paid a significant price for their pursuit of weapons capabilities. Also, the NPT has been explicitly weakened by a number of bilateral deals made by NPT signatories, notably the United States.  Based on concerns over the slow pace of nuclear disarmament and the continued reliance on nuclear weapons in military and security concepts, doctrines and policies, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted in July 2017 and was subsequently opened for signature on 20 September 2017. Upon entry into force, it will prohibit each state party from the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance to those activities. It reaffirms in its preamble the vital role of the full and effective implementation of the NPT.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Smlouva o nešíření jaderných zbraní (anglicky: "Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons") je mezinárodní smlouva, která má omezit šíření jaderných zbraní. Byla podepsána 1. července 1968 a vstoupila v platnost v roce 1970. Do současné doby byla podepsána a ratifikována 189 zeměmi, z nichž pět – Spojené státy americké, Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska, Francouzská republika, SSSR a Čínská lidová republika – vlastní jaderné zbraně. Myšlenkou této smlouvy je, že se státy, které vlastní jaderné zbraně, zaváží k jadernému odzbrojení, zatímco státy, které nevlastní jaderné zbraně, se vzdají práva je vyrábět nebo je jinak získávat. Na oplátku, že se státy, které nedisponují jadernými zbraněmi vzdají jejich výroby, jim byl přislíben rovnoprávný přístup k jaderným technologiím. Jedinými státy, které smlouvu nepodepsaly jsou Indie, Izrael a Pákistán. Severní Korea smlouvu přijala, ale později vypověděla. Všechny tyto státy také jaderné zbraně vlastní: všichni kromě Izraele oznámily úspěšné provedení jaderného testu, Izrael dosud oficiálně držení jaderných zbraní nepřiznal, ale z různých nepřímých dokladů lze usuzovat, že jimi rovněž disponuje.


Biography.

The early years (1991–1995).

Dillon comes from an area steeped in Irish traditional music. Since she was a schoolgirl she has sung and performed. She learned local folk songs from teachers and workshops held in the town. She can also play the fiddle and whistles. At the age of 14 she won the All Ireland Singing Trophy at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.  In 1991 she formed a band called Óige (an Irish word meaning 'youth') with school friends Murrough and Ruadhrai O'Kane, bringing her take on Irish traditional songs to Ireland, Scotland and further afield. During this time she also performed with big names such as De Dannan and Phil Coulter. Óige recorded two albums with Dillon: a studio and a live album. "Inspiration" was recorded in 1992 to sell at concerts in Europe. The live album, simply called "Live", was recorded at a concert in Glasgow on 15 August 1993. A cassette tape version also exists under the name "Live in Glasgow". Dillon left Óige in 1995 after being asked to replace Kate Rusby in a so-called folk supergroup Equation; however, she guests on their second studio album, "Bang On", playing fiddles on the last track, "Maids of Mitchelstown".

Blanco y Negro Records (1995–2000).

Equation comprised five members: Sean Lakeman, Sam Lakeman, Seth Lakeman, Kathryn Roberts and Dillon. They signed a major record deal with Blanco y Negro (part of Warner Music Group) and recorded an album at Peter Gabriel's Realworld Studios in winter 1995–'96. The album, entitled "Return to Me", was produced by David Bottrill. There was a single release, "He Loves Me", with an accompanying promotional video. The band performed on MTV and VH1, but weeks before the release of the album the record label shelved it. It was not released in 1996, but in 2003 it saw a release under Rough Trade after Geoff Travis (the band's former manager) bought its rights.  Dillon left Equation with original band member Sam Lakeman because of musical differences and together they immediately signed a separate deal with the same label. The duo was known as "Polar Star". During this time Dillon formed a strong musical partnership with Lakeman. They recorded several albums with top songwriters and producers in the UK and San Francisco, but none of their work was released. Dillon provided the vocals to the song "Man in the Rain" on Mike Oldfield's 1998 album "Tubular Bells III", where she was credited as "Cara from Polar Star". By 2000, Dillon and Lakeman had decided that they would never be able to give the label what they wanted. Circa summer 2000, Dillon and Lakeman ended their five-year relationship with Warner Music Group and signed to Indie label Rough Trade Records.

Rough Trade Records (2001–2007).

Dillon recorded her first album in The Firs, Lakeman's parents' house. There were also recordings made in County Donegal, Ireland. The album was produced and recorded by Lakeman and mixed by John Reynolds (Sinéad O'Connor and Damien Dempsey). It contained nine traditional songs Dillon had since her schooldays and also had two original Dillon/Lakeman songs "Blue Mountain River" (which became a single in her native land) and "I Wish I Was". The album was released on 16 July 2001, to critical acclaim. The reaction to the album, according to Dillon, was very unexpected. The opening track of the album is "Black is the Colour". The track was given a more modern arrangement by Lakeman with Hammond organs and bass playing combined with a piano riff. Dillon's vocal earned her comparisons to Kate Bush. Throughout 2001 and 2002, Dillon toured the album extensively in the UK, Ireland and Europe and her fan base grew steadily. The album won many awards and got very positive reviews. The couple ended 2002 on a high with their marriage in December.  The follow-up album, "Sweet Liberty", was released on 22 September 2003. In terms of sales and airplay, the album was a bigger success. Sales were helped by the inclusion of Dillon's popular version of "There Were Roses" (notably featured on the BBC series Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales). The album entered the Irish album charts and the UK indie album charts. The album was promoted with songs "High Tide", "There Were Roses" and "Everywhere". The album also had a more balanced mix of traditional and original material, including another Kate Bush-esque track, "Falling Like a Star" and "Broken Bridges". Both songs showed Dillon and Lakeman's songwriting could successfully cross musical borders. The album was again produced by Lakeman and mixed by John Reynolds and Alan Branch and was recorded "at home in Somerset".  In January 2004, Dillon travelled to Japan on a promotional tour of the album. Cara's solo career up this point was polished with her receiving "The Meteor Irish Music Award" for Best Irish Female. With two albums under her belt, Dillon's music was showcased on an international scale. Her relationship with WOMAD played a crucial part in this. The couple returned to the studio again in summer 2004 to record their third album.  Her third album, "After the Morning", was released on 27 February 2006. The album was the longest in the making to date and featured several guest appearances. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra recorded for two tracks on the album, "Garden Valley" & "The Snows They Melt The Soonest"; Martin Simpson, the acclaimed blues guitarist featured on "Grace"; two of Ireland's finest traditional musicians Mairtin O'Connor and Cathal Hayden perform on "Bold Jamie" and Cara duetted with Paul Brady on album highlight "The Streets of Derry".  The album gave Dillon her most successful radio hit to date, "Never in a Million Years", garnering a good amount of airplay on radio stations in the UK and Ireland. The song featured on the Radio 2 playlist for six weeks and was record of the week on BBC Radio Ulster and RTÉ Radio 1. Despite the encouraging reception of the song, an official single release was never given to the song and it was released on download-only by iTunes a week prior to the album release and climbed into the top 40 most downloaded songs that week. An official single release was planned for after the album came out but it did not happen. The next single to be released from the album was a double A side: "This Time/I Wish You Well". It featured a new radio mix of "This Time" with added vocals and guitars. The single generated some airplay on Radio 2 in July 2006 and was scheduled for release on 14 August, however Rough Trade cancelled it, citing a lack of airplay.

Charcoal Records (2008-present).

In January 2008, Cara and her band recorded a DVD "The Redcastle Sessions" in County Donegal which led to an extensive tour starting in the May and continuing through the folk festival season to the winter of 2008/9. This tour took in venues across Ireland, Great Britain and The USA and introduced guitarist John Smith as a duet partner on the single "If I Prove False", this single and a fourth album "Hill of Thieves" (released 26 January 2009) saw Cara move to her own label Charcoal Records.  Despite being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2008, Dillon has continued touring, recording and performing interviews throughout the world. She announced her illness and her strong Roman Catholic faith on Aled Jones' radio show in 2009.

Notable events, collaborations and guest appearances.

Throughout Dillon's career she has ventured into many successful collaborations with a range of artists. In 1998, she was guest vocalist (credited as "Cara from Polar Star") for Mike Oldfield on the single from his "Tubular Bells III" album, "Man in the Rain". In 2001, she featured on two tracks on the John Reynolds project "Interview with the Angel", an album by "Ghostland". Cara sang on the tracks "Faith in Love" and "Sacred Touch of Beauty", the former being the album's lead single. 2005 saw her guest on the soundtrack to "Keeping Mum", a British comedy. In 2003, she performed at the Belfast Festival at Queen's Opening Ceremony with the Ulster Orchestra.  Also on the dance scene, Dillon's award winning version of "Black Is The Colour" was remixed by DJ Pete Devine (2Devine/Coco & Green) and became an instant hit on the dance floors in 2005. Over the next year, the popularity grew steadily and the track topped many polls and became a favourite of the top DJs on the scene. Following legal difficulties with the clearance of the track the release on the Anjunabeats dance label was not until 19 March 2007.  The year 2006 Dillon was honoured with the invitation to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club in Ireland. She sang the Irish song "Mo Ghile Mear" to an audience estimated at 500 million worldwide with Afro Celt Sound System vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, a 60 piece choir and 23 piece band. In October 2006, she performed at the re-opening of the prestigious Grand Opera House in Belfast. In 2006, Judge Jules released his debut album, to which Cara provided vocals on the lead UK single "Ordinary Day". The trance track was a big club hit and entered the UK dance charts at 3. 2006 also saw Dillon involved with the BBC Radio 2 Radio Ballads, and her vocals feature on the episode "Thirty Years of Conflict". This was released on CD and an album of songs from the radio ballads has also been released (see Discography).  In 2009, Cara recorded the official Children in Need single, "All You Need Is Love" alongside Peter Gabriel, Terry Wogan, Hayley Westenra and others at Abbey Road Studios. In September she also recorded a live DVD called "Cara Dillon – Live at the Grand Opera House" in the Opera House in Belfast with the line up from her award winning album Hill of Thieves. Acclaimed loudspeaker manufacturers Bowers & Wilkins used 11 songs from this recording in their Society of Sound music club which showcases ultra high quality audio recording for audiophiles. The live recording of "The Hill of Thieves" was also used by Bowers & Wilkins as a demonstration song in-store throughout the world on their Zeppelin Air iPod Speaker.  In 2010, Cara recorded the opening song "Summer's Just Begun" for Disney's Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue as well as narrating the opening sequence. She also sang a lullaby called "Come Flying With Me" featured during the credits for the movie. It reached the Box Office Top 10 upon its national cinema release in the UK in August 2010 and is the third instalment of Disney's highly successful franchise.  In January 2012 Cara recorded the vocals on a song called "Come Dream A Dream" which forms the closing sequence of the nighttime spectacular show, Disney Dreams!, which was designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Disneyland Paris. In the summer of 2012 Cara performed two concerts with the Ulster Orchestra. The first was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Ulster Hall at an event called the Great Northern Songbook where "Hill of Thieves" was voted by BBC listeners as one of the "Top 10" original songs to come out of Northern Ireland. The second was a concert where the Ulster Orchestra joined Cara and her band in the Grand Opera House in Belfast.

Family.

Dillon married Sam Lakeman in December 2002. The couple live in Frome with their three children, twin sons born in 2006 and a daughter born in 2010.

Cara Elizabeth Dillon (born 21 July 1975, Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving the group, she collaborated with Sam Lakeman under the name Polar Star. In 2001, she released her first solo album, "Cara Dillon", which featured traditional songs and two original Dillon\Lakeman compositions. The album was an unexpected hit in the folk world, with Dillon receiving four nominations at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Cara Dillon (* 21. července 1975 Dungiven, Severní Irsko) je irská folková zpěvačka. V mládí byla ovlivněna irskou lidovou hudbou. Svou profesionální hudební kariéru začala již v 90. letech (např. v roce 1998 nazpívala pro Mika Oldfielda písničku „Man in the Rain“ pro album "Tubular Bells III"). Své první sólové album vydala v roce 2001. V současnosti také spolupracuje s mnoha dalšími hudebníky (např. Judge Jules, Billy Connolly).


Early life.

Yigal Amir was born in Herzliya to an Israeli Orthodox Yemenite Jewish family, one of eight children. His father Shlomo was a sofer who held a post supervising the kosher slaughtering of chickens and taught Shabbat lessons at a local synagogue. His mother Geula was a kindergarten teacher, and ran a nursery school in the family home's backyard. Amir attended a Haredi elementary school in Herzliya, and a high school yeshiva in Tel Aviv. He did his military service in the Israel Defense Forces as a "Hesder" student, combining army service in a religious platoon of the Golani Brigade with religious study at "Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh". Despite being in a religious unit, even his comrades considered him a religious fanatic.  Following his military service, Amir was nominated by the religious-Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva to teach Judaism in Riga, Latvia, as part of Nativ.  In 1993, Amir began studying at Bar-Ilan University as part of its kollel program, mixing religious and secular studies. Amir studied law and computer science, as well as Jewish law at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies. Amir was strongly opposed to the Oslo Accords. He participated in protest rallies against the accords on campus, was active in organising weekend bus outings to support Israeli settlers, and helped found an illegal settlement outpost. He was especially active in Hebron, where he led marches through the streets.  During his years as an activist, Amir became friendly with Avishai Raviv, to whom he revealed his plan to kill Rabin. While Raviv posed as a right-wing radical, he was working for Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service. Some rightists have accused the Shin Bet of having orchestrated the assassination to discredit them.  In 1994, during his university studies, Amir met – and began a (non-sexual) relationship with – Nava Holtzman, a law student from an Orthodox Ashkenazi family. In January 1995, after five months, Holtzman ended the relationship after her parents objected due to Amir's Mizrahi background. She married one of his friends soon afterwards. Amir, who attended the wedding, went into a deep depression.

Assassination.

On November 4, 1995, after a demonstration in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in support of the Oslo Accords, Amir waited for Rabin in a parking lot adjacent to the square, close to Rabin's official limousine. There, he shot Rabin twice with a Beretta 84F.380 ACP calibre semi-automatic pistol, and injured Yoram Rubin, a security guard, with a third shot. Amir was immediately seized by Rabin's bodyguards. Rabin was rushed to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center where he died on an operating table 40 minutes later of blood loss and a punctured lung. According to the court, Yigal Amir's brother Hagai and his friend Dror Adani were his accomplices in the assassination plan.  Upon hearing that Yitzhak Rabin was dead, Amir told the police that he was "satisfied" and was acting on the "orders of God". At his trial, Amir said he did not care if the outcome was death or paralysis as long as Rabin was "out of the way". He expressed no regret for his actions.

Failed attempts.

The assassination was preceded by three unsuccessful attempts that same year: at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, at the Nof Yerushalayim Hotel, and at a ceremony inaugurating a highway in Kfar Shmaryahu. These plans fell through moments before implementation.

Trial.

The trial lasted from January 23 to March 27, 1996. Amir was initially defended by attorneys Yonatan Ray Goldberg and Mordechai Ofri, and later by Gabi Shachar and Shmuel Flishman. The judges ordered a mental examination by three district psychiatrists and a clinical psychiatrist who all agreed that Amir understood the meaning of his actions and was fit to stand trial. Despite attempts to defend his actions on religious grounds, Amir was found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment plus six additional years in prison for injuring the bodyguard. In the verdict, the three judges wrote: Every murder is an abominable act, but the act before us is more abominable sevenfold, because not only has the accused not expressed regret or sorrow, but he also seeks to show that he is at peace with himself over the act that he perpetrated. He who so calmly cuts short another's life, only proves the depth of wretchedness to which [his] values have fallen, and thus he does not merit any regard whatsoever, except pity, because he has lost his humanity.  Amir's action was condemned by Bar-Ilan University. A professor of Talmud at the university, Daniel Sperber, said that this act "in no way represents the university or the policy of the university".  Amir's claim that he was acting in accordance with Jewish law was rejected by the judges: "The attempt to grant religious authority to the murder...is completely inappropriate and amounts to cynical exploitation of Jewish law for goals that are alien to Judaism."  Amir was later sentenced to an additional five years, and after an appeal on behalf of the state, eight years, for conspiring to commit the assassination with his brother Hagai Amir and Dror Adani. All of the sentences were cumulative. In Israel, a sentence of life imprisonment is usually reduced to a period of 20–30 years by the president, with the possibility of further reduction for good behaviour. However, President Moshe Katsav did not reduce the sentence, saying that there is "no forgiveness, no absolution, and no pardon" for Yigal Amir. Present Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have also said that Yigal Amir will never be released from prison.  On December 19, 2001, the Knesset by majority of 62 members approved the Yigal Amir Law, which prohibits a parole board from recommending pardon or shortening time in prison for a murderer of a Prime Minister. In the discussion that ensued, it was hoped the law would prevent another political murder.

Prison conditions.

Amir was held in solitary confinement in Beersheba's Eshel Prison, and moved in 2003 to the Ayalon Prison in Ramla, where a solitary confinement wing was built especially for him. In 2006, he was transferred to Rimonim Prison in Tel Mond, near Netanya. He was also granted the privileges of having no surveillance cameras in his cell, the right to receive visitors in the visiting room, rather than in his cell, and the right to speak with other prisoners. Amir was interviewed by the Israeli press in 2008, but the planned broadcast was controversial, and subsequently cancelled. As punishment for giving the interview, Amir was moved to Ramon Prison, and had a number of privileges withdrawn, including the removal of his TV and DVD player and the refusal of family visits; Amir went on a hunger strike in protest. In February 2010, the Nazareth District Court permitted the "Ynet" internet news service to interview Amir.  In July 2010, after 15 years of solitary confinement, Amir appealed to the Petah Tikva District Court to be permitted to participate in group prayers in accordance with Jewish law. He claimed that the terms of his imprisonment were worse than any other prisoner in the history of the State of Israel, on the grounds that no other prisoner had been in solitary for this amount of time. He said that failure to allow him to pray in synagogue would be a violation of his right to freedom of worship. In August 2010, the court ruled that Amir would be allowed to meet another prisoner for prayer three times a week, and that he would be allowed to study Torah with another prisoner once every two weeks.  In July 2012, it was announced that Amir would be released from solitary confinement. Under his new prison conditions, he will be allowed to watch television and use a phone more frequently. Though he will not be moved to an open cell block, where prisoners are allowed to spend most of the day outside their cells, he will be allowed to meet other prisoners during his two hours' exercise in the prison yard.

Campaigns for Amir's release.

Amir's appeals of both sentences were rejected. Subsequently, a law was passed by the Knesset barring the pardon by the President of Israel for any assassin of a prime minister. Amir has never expressed regret for his actions. Since 2007, the Amir family and the "Committee for Democracy" campaigned to release Yigal and Hagai Amir. The campaign includes statements for the media, stickers, posters, and short films.  From time to time, radical Israeli right-wing organisations carry out campaigns (via posters or videos) which call for the release of Yigal Amir and his brother Hagai. Such a campaign was held in October 2007 in which the prominent Israeli singer Ariel Zilber also participated. In response to this campaign, the Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter stated: "This man is in the closest status a person can be to a death sentence", and also added that, "A reduction of his sentence is impossible and illogical, and it will surely accompany him until he would pass away".

Personal life.

Marriage.

Amir is married to Larisa Trembovler, who was born in Russia. She has a Ph.D. in philosophy. She has published a novel in Russian ("A Mirror for a Prince"), and is an Orthodox Jew. She met Amir in Latvia, where he was teaching Judaism. After her immigration to Israel, she visited Amir with her then-husband, Benjamin (with whom she has four children), for humanitarian reasons. She expressed ideological support for Amir, and they began to correspond and speak on the phone. She divorced Benjamin in 2003.  Trembovler announced that she was engaged to Amir and wanted to marry him, while he was in jail. In January 2004, after their request was filed, the Israel Prisons Service declared it would not permit the marriage. In April 2004, the matter was brought before the Tel Aviv District Court. At the time, the Prisons Commissioner instructed his legal aides to defend the decision based on security considerations. But Amir's lawyers said this claim violated their client's basic rights and would not hold up in court. They noted that several Palestinians serving multiple life terms for crimes such as murder have been permitted to marry in prison. Legal analysts have said the Supreme Court would likely uphold any appeal by Amir's lawyer, unless specific legislation is enacted prohibiting him from marrying. In August 2004, Trembovler and Amir were wed in a surreptitious proxy marriage. Under Jewish law, a prospective husband can grant a form of "power of attorney" to a chosen representative, who can then transfer a wedding ring, or something of similar value, to the prospective wife. In July 2005, their marriage was validated by an Israeli rabbinical court. Trembovler submitted a petition after the Interior Ministry refused to register her and Amir as a married couple. Israel's Justice Ministry defined Amir's marriage as "problematic" because according to a past ruling, a marriage ceremony not conducted in the presence of a rabbi from the Chief Rabbinate is unrecognised.

Conjugal visits and artificial insemination.

On February 6, 2006, "Haaretz" reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had ordered the Interior Ministry to register Amir and Trembovler as a married couple. They then filed requests with the Prison Authority and petitions to court to enable them to hold conjugal visits or conceive a child through artificial insemination.  In March 2006, the Israeli Prison Service approved Amir's petition for in vitro fertilisation. The service was to study how this process would be conducted without Amir leaving the prison. A week later, Amir was caught handing a pre-prepared bag of semen to his wife, and the visit was terminated. After the incident, a disciplinary tribunal barred visits from his wife for 30 days, and phone calls for 14 days. He was fined NIS 100 (then US$21). When the IVF treatments were withheld due to a petition by several members of Knesset, Amir went on hunger strike. After being warned that hunger strikes are in violation of prison regulations, some of his privileges were cancelled.  Up until October 20, 2006, the Shin Bet security service had opposed unsupervised visits. Four days later, Amir was allowed a 10-hour-long conjugal visit. Five months later, it was reported that Trembovler was pregnant. On October 28, 2007, she gave birth to a son, who was named Yinon Eliya Shalom. The brit milah was held in prison on November 4, 2007, the 12th anniversary of Rabin's assassination.

In popular culture.

On July 8, 2015, a documentary on Yigal Amir, "Beyond the Fear", was premiered in Jerusalem. The film explored the thorny drama of the Moscow-born intellectual Larisa Trembovler, who married assassin Yigal Amir after he was sentenced to life in prison and, following a court battle for a conjugal visit, gave birth to their son in 2007. The late filmmaker Herz Frank, who died in 2013, spent about 10 years following Trembovler, receiving unprecedented access to her and their son, Yinon. Rabin's granddaughter called the film a "cynical use of the freedom of expression with intent to harm it".  The 2019 film "Incitement" consists of a portrayal of the factors that led Amir to commit the assassination. It won the 2019 Ophir Award.

Yigal Amir (; born May 23, 1970) is an Israeli law student who assassinated Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place on November 4, 1995, at the conclusion of a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel. Amir is serving a life sentence for murder plus six years for injuring Rabin's bodyguard, Yoram Rubin, under aggravating circumstances. He was later sentenced to an additional eight years for conspiracy to murder.

Jig'al Amir (:, * 23. května 1970, Herzlija) je náboženský sionista, bývalý student informatiky na Bar-Ilanově univerzitě a vrah premiéra Jicchaka Rabina. Narodil se v Herzliji, v rodině sefardských Židů pocházející z Jemenu. Jeho matka Geula byla učitelkou v mateřské škole, otec Šlomo byl řidič. Byl členem židovské bojové organizace Ejál.