Is israel - palestine issue religious issue?

1. 62

   pisean282311posted 12 years ago

   what r u views on this?...is it political issue or religious issue?

   replyreport
   1. 73

      sarovaiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Only political. I don't see any religious thing there.

      replyreport
   2. 60

      secularist10posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There is definitely an important religious component. There are also important ethnic, cultural and geopolitical components.
      
      Israel is located in a place that Judaism claims is the "promised land" given by God to the Hebrews. This is why Zionists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries sought a state in that location, rather than, say, China or Australia.
      
      Radical Jews in Israel are constantly pushing for more land, more land, more land. Their justifications are entirely religious in nature.
      
      Many Muslims develop a hatred for Israel and the Jewish people through religious indoctrination. Wahabi textbooks (Wahabbis are the fanatics that run Saudi Arabia) are prominent throughout the Muslim world, and feed Muslim children all sorts of hateful and bigoted ideas about Israelis and Jews.
      
      That said, politics and other factors are essential too. Most modern Israelis are secular, i.e. they don't really take religion very seriously. For them, Israel is more of an ethnocultural nation-state, not a religious one.
      
      There is also non-religious ethnic animosity between Palestinians and Israelis, or between Arabs and Israelis generally.
      
      So it is not a purely religious issue, but there is certainly a religious component.

      replyreport
   3. 51

      paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It is not a religious issue; it is political through and through.

      replyreport
   4. 58

      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That depends on whether or not Jews and Muslims would fall back on their religious views when making political or social decisions.
      
      And, we find that they most certainly do.

      replyreport
2. 61

   JBBlackposted 12 years ago

   It is obvious that it is a blend of both.  Let me just share something I have thought.  The creation of the Jewish state and support of it from within this country, USA, is connected to the Christian end of the world.  I'm not going to go read Revalations to get the the exact quote, but isn't one of the benchmarks for the return of Christ the refounding of Israel?  Seems like intentional or subconscious encouragement, trying to game the apocalypse.  Some sort of evidence to point to and say to yourself, see this is happening in our lifetime.
   
   As far as Palestine and Israel are concerned its politcal for them.  For the US, it is both religious and political.  Obviously the two groups have different religions and this is a factor.  But security issues and terrorism and settlements and other things of this sort can hardly be blamed on religion, and are products of society and culture, rather than sourced directly from the religion.

   replyreport
3. 84

   oceansnsunsetsposted 12 years ago

   I think it is a religious issue in a deeper sense, yes.  In fact, a lot of what we have seen with Israel, is often only really made sense of in the light of some religion.  Without going into detail here and now on that, I think something has to make sense of something that on its own, makes no sense at all.  What would that be?
   
   Think of just HOW strange it is, that this little tiny country, continues to make waves tot he degree it does over the centuries.....  There is a sheer hatred.... it doesn't make sense to keep wanting to remove it from the map like so many want done to it.  Others have had good thoughts on it also.  I think this is an excellent question to ask, to make one ponder and think more deeply about things.
   
   I think its meant to be that way to some degree.

   replyreport
4. 61

   TMMasonposted 12 years ago

   Islam is by its very nature a religious/political beast.
   
   And yes religion is at the heart of the matter.
   
   Islam MUST kill the Jews in order for their Mahdi to come and bring about judgment.
   
   That sort of lokcks the entire Ummah into war with the Dar Al'Harb, the house of harbis, unbelievers.
   
   Politics is a nice cover... but even should all the political issues be resolved, Islam is still obliged to kill the Jews.
   
   So it would not end... as Arafat knew when he walked away from everything. He knew damn well he could not go back and tell his fellows to stand down, the conflict was over... that would not have worked at all. And he knew it well.

   replyreport
   1. 60

      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      TMM - you're a bit of a scholar on this stuff.  Do these guys still believe the old text that tells them to kill the infidels (in the modern age) or was that a place and time thing from when it was written similar to some OT Christian wars?

      replyreport
      1. 60

         secularist10posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Of course it is just a time and place thing. The vast majority of Muslim people don't believe in killing Jews, otherwise they would all be signing up to travel to Israel to kill everybody.
         
         The Islamic community learned quickly to live peacefully with Jews, as it did in North Africa, Spain, Egypt, etc. This was very soon after Muhammad's time. Jews like Maimonides were prominent in the Islamic world and did quite well.
         
         There are even some passages in the Quran encouraging Muslims to be in peace with Jews and Christians.
         
         If we look at people's actual behavior and history, while there is plenty of violence, it's not the cartoonish "evil" religion that conservative Christians like Mason think of it.

         replyreport
5. 70

   AshtonFireflyposted 12 years ago

   According to my exfiance, who is Muslim and lived in Jordan, yes it is only a religious issue. He was rather adamant about that...

   replyreport
   1. 61

      mischeviousmeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Aperantly we still hold the caste system. There are people we talk to and there are people we kill. It is a harsh reallity and it is an ugly one.

      replyreport
      1. 70

         AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I always asked him why they hated jews so much and why they couldn't live in peace. He told me it was because they had done many terrible things to the Muslims  But a Jew would tell me that the Muslims had done many terrible things to the Jews. I was friends with a Jew at the time. Needless to say this was a topic of some tension. At the time, as I didn't understand fully, I tried to get him to think that there could be peace. He said he didn't want peace.

         replyreport
         1. 62

            pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            He said he didn't want peace.?...strange...

            replyreport
            1. 70

               AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               He didn't want peace, in the sense of, to accept peace would be to let what he called the Jews' atrocities against them go unpunished.

               replyreport
               1. 62

                  pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  then it becomes endless cycle till both seize to exist...

                  replyreport
                  1. 70

                     AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Exactly....
                     
                     But he assured me that Muslims would wage holy ware on the rest of the world and only Muslims would remain. At the time, this frightened me and so I asked him would he wage holy war on me, too? (since I am not muslim) He didn't really answer.

                     replyreport
                     1. 62

                        pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        programmed brain...even i have had discussion with few such people...they seriously believe that world would become peaceful when everyone converts to islam and only muslim would be there...till then muslims would keep waging war...

                        replyreport
                        1. 70

                           AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Yes that's exactly what he felt and that was exactly his position. Peace was impossible and of no value, with him. He told me that it is stated in the Quran...only the Muslim will remain. Then the world would be as God wanted it to be (at the supposed "end of time.") To me, it sounded an awful lot like a Nazi concept. The weird thing was, he said he was allowed to marry me (being Christian at that time) but once the end of the world holy war began, suddenly Christians were worthy of death. Including me. I ddin't understand thre contradiction.

                           replyreport
                           1. 62

                              pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              thats scary

                              replyreport
                              1. 70

                                 AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                                 Yes. It was.

                                 replyreport
6. 60

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   Israel is the only religious state by law allowed in the world. You have to be Jewish to obtain citizenship. Now is that a racial state or religious? However when they steal Palestine, it is political in so far as theft is usually a legal matter and law is political.

   replyreport
7. 60

   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   People moved in, took over, stole everything. How would you respond? That is what happened in 1946 to Palestine. Israel did not exist [prior to that year] It hadn't existed for a thousand years, and then it had been called Palestine, and Israel consisted of a single tribe, the tribe of Judah IN PALESTINE. Just how would you respond?

   replyreport