‘Holy War’: A perspective of the ArabIsraeli conflict

Superficially, the conflict is about who has sovereignty in Israel: “the occupation,” “colonialism,” etc. On a deeper level, however, it is about jihad, a religious obligation in Islam that many interpret as a demand to destroy Israel. That is the core and heart of Palestinianism.

From this perspective, the Arab-Israeli conflict is not only national, the desire for a state; it is fundamentally a religious conflict. Islamists consider “Palestine” to be part of the house of Islam and Jews as “dhimmis,” a subject religious community, not a nation.

Violence waged by Islamists against Israel, therefore, is not only over enclaves, neighborhoods or territory; it is also a struggle over ideology – Zionism (Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people) and Palestinianism, which advocates Israel’s destruction. As long as Israel denies Palestinianism, there will be violence, promoted by the PLO, Hamas and most Islamist groups as “resistance” or “intifada.” The struggle, therefore, is not only about who has sovereignty, or even about Palestinian statehood; it is about Israel’s existence.

The resurgence of Palestinian violence is inevitable because Islamists have a long-term strategic goal to eliminate Israel. Every move by Israel to assert its authority and sovereignty is a threat to Palestinianism. This is based on the PLO Covenant and Hamas Charter, both of which define the problem as Israel’s existence.

Any recognition of Israel’s right to exist and its sovereignty is seen as a defeat of the fundamental Palestinian narrative, the Nakba (“catastrophe”) – Israel’s creation in 1948, the failure of Arab armies to destroy it, and the flight of Arabs who became refugees. It is also interpreted as a violation of Islamic law. This explains why efforts to resolve the conflict always fail.

Even if some Palestinians would like to have peace, they would be threatened by Islamists, led by Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, Islamic Jihad, PFLP and many anti-Israeli NGOs. The Arab-Israeli conflict, therefore, does not stand alone; it is the focus of a world-wide effort to destroy Israel.

Can this difficult conflict be resolved? Nothing that Israel does or doesn’t do matters. The answer lies with Muslim scholars and leaders. That is the only real “peace process” or not.

The current unrest must also be seen as a response to the recent Abraham Accords; an enlightened, positive approach to relationships with Israel and Jews. These agreements also threaten the hate campaigns of the PLO and Hamas. They demonstrate that the choice is between a “holy war” and holy peace. It’s a choice.