Editing Openai/688608a4-457c-8006-a7e1-658159d1705b (section)

=== Assistant: The short answer: The Israel–Palestine conflict is fundamentally a political and nationalist struggle over land, rights… ===
The short answer: '''The Israel–Palestine conflict is fundamentally a political and nationalist struggle over land, rights, and sovereignty, not a purely religious war—but religion plays a powerful role''' in the identity, rhetoric, and motivations of many actors on both sides.

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* The conflict began with the rise of '''modern Zionism''' and '''Arab nationalism''', both rooted in nationalism, not theology. Jewish settlers sought a homeland; Palestinians resisted as indigenous inhabitants Arab News<ref>{{cite web|title=Arab News|url=https://freethinker.co.uk/2023/12/is-the-israel-palestine-conflict-fundamentally-a-nationalist-not-a-religious-war/|publisher=Arab News|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.
* Early violence—like clashes over prayer rights at the Western Wall (Kotel)—was tied to religious symbolism, but emerged within a broader ethnic and territorial dispute The Guardian<ref>{{cite web|title=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/20/israel-palestine-conflict-religious-war|publisher=The Guardian|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== - The '''1948 war''', known as the Nakba by Palestinians, displaced hundreds of thousands. While religion factored into attitudes, the conflict was fundamentally about land, statehood, and national identity Reddit<ref>{{cite web|title=Reddit|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/18ob86r|publisher=reddit.com|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_suicide_attacks|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>. =====

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* For many Israelis and Palestinians, holy sites (e.g. Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Al‑Aqsa) are deeply sacred, so emotions run high when politics intersects religion The Washington Institute<ref>{{cite web|title=The Washington Institute|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2023/11/08/how-unique-is-the-israel-palestine-conflict/|publisher=The Washington Institute|date=2023-11-08|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.
* Hamas has named its operations invoking these symbols—e.g. “Operation Al‑Aqsa Flood”—and often frames Gaza’s plight in Islamic terms of defending a sacred site prio.org<ref>{{cite web|title=prio.org|url=https://www.prio.org/comments/1093|publisher=prio.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== - Senior Israeli leaders and religious Zionists sometimes invoke Biblical narratives to justify aggressive policies, shaping political discourse in religious terms prio.org<ref>{{cite web|title=prio.org|url=https://www.prio.org/comments/1093|publisher=prio.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>Universiteit Utrecht<ref>{{cite web|title=Universiteit Utrecht|url=https://www.uu.nl/en/achtergrond/religion-plays-a-smaller-part-in-this-war-than-people-think|publisher=Universiteit Utrecht|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>. =====
* On the Palestinian side, Hamas draws on Islamist ideology rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, calling for “jihad” and portraying the conflict in religious apocalyptic terms Arab News<ref>{{cite web|title=Arab News|url=https://www.uu.nl/en/achtergrond/religion-plays-a-smaller-part-in-this-war-than-people-think|publisher=Arab News|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== - Experts (e.g. Wagemakers, Van Liere) argue that '''religion plays a supporting role''', enhancing identity-based nationalism but not serving as the root cause—religion is woven in, but often instrumentalized The Washington Institute<ref>{{cite web|title=The Washington Institute|url=https://www.uu.nl/en/achtergrond/religion-plays-a-smaller-part-in-this-war-than-people-think|publisher=The Washington Institute|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>. =====
* Viewing the conflict as religious often forecloses pragmatic negotiation, since each side then imagines an intractable divine struggle rather than a policy dispute Wilson Center<ref>{{cite web|title=Wilson Center|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/religion-and-the-israel-palestinian-conflict|publisher=Wilson Center|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

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* '''Israel is formally a secular democracy''', with a parliamentary system and civil law. It does not adopt religious law as the basis for governance.
* However, '''religious parties (especially Orthodox and ultra‑Orthodox)''' exert political leverage (e.g. on marriage laws, military conscription), shaping certain policies and public behaviors Le Monde.fr<ref>{{cite web|title=Le Monde.fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/10/11/denis-charbit-israeli-political-scientist-israel-does-not-function-like-a-normal-state_6729103_23.html|publisher=Le Monde.fr|date=2024-10-11|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>Universiteit Utrecht<ref>{{cite web|title=Universiteit Utrecht|url=https://www.uu.nl/en/achtergrond/religion-plays-a-smaller-part-in-this-war-than-people-think|publisher=Universiteit Utrecht|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== - In the '''West Bank''', the Palestinian Authority (PA) is largely secular/nationalist, though personal status laws often follow Islamic jurisprudence. =====
* In '''Gaza''', '''Hamas applies Islamist ideology''', enforcing stricter religious interpretations in education and public life—but Gaza remains distinct within a broader political struggle.

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* Religious Zionist settlers wield influence over West Bank policies; extremist infighting has targeted Palestinian communities and Christian sites, sometimes with alleged lax enforcement from Israeli authorities Reuters<ref>{{cite web|title=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/clerics-accuse-west-bank-settlers-attacking-christian-sites-2025-07-14/|publisher=reuters.com|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>AP News<ref>{{cite web|title=AP News|url=https://apnews.com/article/9a2e01963d8c9a313c85b1b9c1b4ab27|publisher=AP News|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== - Hamas and PIJ explicitly define their struggle in religious terms, but their core conflict with Israel is about territorial control and governance of Gaza/West Bank Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_suicide_attacks|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>. =====
* Extremists amplify myths—e.g., Jewish plans to destroy al‑Aqsa or rebuild the Third Temple—to mobilize support, even if secular actors are the real decision makers on both sides thetimes.co.uk<ref>{{cite web|title=thetimes.co.uk|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/religion-and-israel-palestinian-conflict-cause-consequence-and-cure|publisher=washingtoninstitute.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

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==== - Conflicts like this often escalate into what scholars call '''“ethno‐national/religious hybridity”'''—where religion and nationalism reinforce each other, though nationalism remains back at the roots. ====
* The war we see today—especially since October 2023—is '''not holy war in origin''', but political violence that religious institutions and ideologies have inflamed.
* '''Solving the conflict requires practical political language and recognition of historic grievances''', not religious absolutes. Misreading it as an eternal religious struggle makes compromise nearly impossible washingtonpost.com<ref>{{cite web|title=washingtonpost.com|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/religion-and-the-israel-palestinian-conflict|publisher=wilsoncenter.org|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>Reddit<ref>{{cite web|title=Reddit|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateReligion/comments/17ctqb5|publisher=reddit.com|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>Reddit<ref>{{cite web|title=Reddit|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/samharris/comments/17646jy|publisher=reddit.com|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>time.com<ref>{{cite web|title=time.com|url=https://time.com/6343572/common-ground-between-israelis-palestinians/|publisher=time.com|access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref>.

===== The Israel–Palestine conflict is a political‑territorial conflict shaped and hardened by religious symbolism and identity politics. Religion is neither the root cause nor the ultimate war objective—but it is deeply embedded in the narratives, motivations, and mobilization of actors on both sides. =====

I hope this evidentiary overview helps you see the logical underpinnings, the role religion plays, and why achieving peace demands moving beyond religious framing toward political pragmatism.