That’s fair. Religion can be a very important part of both identities.
However, I would like to stress that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not directly motivated by religious differences. As in, it’s not a case of “their religion is different! GET EM!”. The direct problem isn’t that the other side has a different religion, it’s that the other side essentially has competing land claims, and a competing nationalist vision.
Since religion is an important part of Hamas’ identity (and possibly of some factions in Israel, I’d guess), that affects how each side frames the conflict, and what some of their means and ends are. But the key issues of the conflict have to do with things like land borders and economic conditions.
The direct problem isn’t that the other side has a different religion, it’s that the other side essentially has competing land claims, and a competing nationalist vision.
Right.
But those nationalist visions aren’t entirely secular in origin. For both Hamas and religious zionists, they’re rooted in their religion.
This isn’t religiously motivated violence the same way that the Spanish Inquisition was. But religion is pretty deeply baked into the conflict, in some very important ways.
That’s fair. Religion can be a very important part of both identities.
However, I would like to stress that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not directly motivated by religious differences. As in, it’s not a case of “their religion is different! GET EM!”. The direct problem isn’t that the other side has a different religion, it’s that the other side essentially has competing land claims, and a competing nationalist vision.
Since religion is an important part of Hamas’ identity (and possibly of some factions in Israel, I’d guess), that affects how each side frames the conflict, and what some of their means and ends are. But the key issues of the conflict have to do with things like land borders and economic conditions.
Right.
But those nationalist visions aren’t entirely secular in origin. For both Hamas and religious zionists, they’re rooted in their religion.
This isn’t religiously motivated violence the same way that the Spanish Inquisition was. But religion is pretty deeply baked into the conflict, in some very important ways.