The Religious Dogma of Palestinian Statehood
Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn of the Religious Zionists of America, Philadelphia, argue in the Algemeiner, a German newspaper, that advocates for a Palestinian state are “religious.” Their argument is ironic because they ignore the idea that Arab Muslims see Jerusalem and the west bank, what Israel calls Judea and Samaria, as Muslim holy land. Instead they argue that liberal supporters of a Palestinian State are irrational ..i.e. religious,
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remark about the dangers of a Palestinian state has sent advocates of Palestinian statehood into a rage so hysterical that you would think he had questioned somebody’s sacred religious beliefs. The Palestinian statehood crowd has become so inflexible and doctrinaire, and so oblivious to the changing realities of the Middle East, that their political positions are starting to resemble a set-in-stone religious faith.”
They go on to dispute that Israel (or the US for that matter) has ever committed itself to existence of a Palestinian state and ignoring the obvious fact that Israel’s own existence depends on a very much religious belief that the Jewish people have a right to this land.
Sadly, their abuse of the word religious hides their own argument that peace efforts have not worked so that Israel has no choice other than to occupy and presumably incorporate the rest of the west bank and Gaza. Somehow Messers Phillips and Korn think that the failure of the Palestinians to pursue peace justifies their own .. dare I say the words? .. religious fervor for an Israel that incudes the historic Jewish homeland in Judea, Jerusalem, and Samaria.
Oddly, they ignore the religious conflict most people see over Israel … the 1500 year old conflict between Islam and Judaism. On the Islamic side the belief is that Muslims are a beleaguered people who have a Quranic imperative to fight for their lands .. including lands they have acquired by conquest. Phillips and Korn seem to forget that when Umar conquered Jerusalem 1500 years ago, the Caliph was liberating Palestine from another holy occupation .. the Byzantine empire, the heir to Rome. Umar truly liberated the city, welcoming the Jews back for the first time since Jesus!
So, it is as reasonable for Arabs .. after 1500 years, to have as strong a religious attachment to this land as that held by the neo messianic Bibi and his followers.
Phillips and Korn, however, ignore the entanglement of Bibi with the fanatical, evangelical right in the US. These people are a huge part of the Tea Party and they see the Israelis as being chosen not only to own Israel but to fight to the death before the battle of Armageddon brings Jesus back to rule the world. That evangelical community, in other words, wants a jihad against the Palestinians.