Few people are unaware of the violence which keeps occurring between Israelis and Palestinians. Why is this happening - what are the causes, and are there any solutions? Everything comes back to religion: the disagreement and violence between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Understanding the role of religion in these disagreements is necessary to understanding the violence itself.
Perhaps the most intractable political issue in the world today, and one which drives so many other international crises, is the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. These two groups have been at each other's throats for decades, each insisting that they alone have exclusive rights to control the same lands.
The biggest international issue today is the growing militancy of Islam. Everyone knows about it, but not everyone is fully aware of the background. Islam has been growing more militant for decades, and this militancy has taken a variety of forms over time. The religious extremism of today may be incredibly significant, but it is also just one piece of a larger social movement...
One of the problems which has plagued American interventions in the Middle East has been the relative lack of knowledge they have had about the region - ignorance which has covered religion, culture, history, and relations between the various states. Would greater education about the Middle East improve the quality of interventions, prevent them entirely, or not really have any effect at all?
Few people are unaware of the violence which is currently plaguing the Middle East today, especially the violence which keeps occurring between Israelis and Palestinians. At times, it threatens to engulf not only the surrounding nations, but the rest of the world as well. Yet why is this happening - what are the causes, and are there any solutions?
It has often been said that when you want the straight truth about something, it is generally better to try to go to the original sources rather than allowing the authors of secondary literature to tell you what those sources say. Naturally many in the West are intensely interested in learning the truth about what radical Islamists think and why - but where can they find the original sources?
America isn't the first Western nation to enter the Middle East, attempting to transform its politics and social institutions for ostensibly good reasons. Although most Americans realize this in the abstract, they are unaware of the details and consequences of earlier excursions. This is unfortunate because those excursions not only failed, but are partially responsible for today's problems.
In the West, it is known as the Six Day War. Among Arab Muslims it is known as The Disaster or The Setback. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria went to war with Israel - and lost badly. In the aftermath Israel captured large amounts of territory - land which the Torah said was granted to the Jews by God and conquered by military force, land now conquered by force again.
What role is played by religion and religious nationalism in the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis today? We often hear about the conflict over national ideals and national sovereignty, but not so much about how religious ideals have influenced the violence. This is unfortunate, because much of what is going on is inexplicable without that information.
Conflict in the Middle East has resulted in untold death, destruction and suffering. Although many have offered plausible arguments as to the social, political, and economic origins of the various conflicts, inevitably everything keeps coming back to religion: the disagreement and violence between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. This means that understanding the role of religion.
