Jerusalem: Don't call it a religious conflict - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 0 views
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Those who insist on stressing the religious dimension are bolstered by the reaction from Hamas to this attack, as the Islamist group has, with bleak predictability, praised and celebrated it.
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For some months now, this hard right coalition government has not just tolerated but actively supported a movement agitating for "Jewish prayer rights" at Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif - a sacred site to both Muslims and Jews.
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This movement goes against a long-established status quo agreement, whereby non-Muslims can visit, but not worship at this holy site housing both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
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the issue is political, not religious
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But pushing this conflict into the religious realm, defining it as a "religious war", serves a clear political purpose. It means the Israeli government can bind its cause with the "war on terror", claiming that Palestinians are just like ISIL in their motivation - a hyper-violent, hyper-fundamentalist jihadi mission rather than a quest for self-determination. It deprives Palestinians of cause or motivation, save for just one factor: religious hatred.
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religious-hate
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with religion so rampantly abused to weaponise increasingly brutal wars in the Middle East, the worst thing we could do is to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as religious. Now more
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These territorial conflicts are coming to be due to the fact that Islamic and Jewish Holy Lands are build right on top of each other and these two groups have to fight for control. Why can't Jerusalem just become a non governed state? Why do any of the conflicting religions need control?
