What are the main causes of Jews and Muslims fighting over the holy land?

Answer 1

Historical past. If you read The Bible in the Old Testament. The people who were surrounding neighbors of Israel in the old days are ancestors to today's people of the Muslim world.

Also that the land of Jerusalem is a holy city to them, which they both want.

Plus, some Muslims believe that, if your not one of them and don't convert you will die. "some Muslims believe that, if your not one of them and don't convert you will die." WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT FROM?! so does that mean that you think that Muslims think that they are immortal? are you serious? if you want to answer a question, answer it correctly. Obviously, asker, Jews and Muslims don't fight because Muslims think they are immortal and every non Muslim person is not. i mean really! they fight because Jews are illegally occupying land that belongs to the palestinians and are killing palestinians and bulldozing their homes. Muslims are fighting for their land and Jews are fighting to steal.

Answer 2

To be frank, the problem is that the parties involved take their holy books seriously. The books contradict each other.


Answer #2
Acccording to the Book of Genesis, God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants for all time.

The Arabs (who are now mostly muslims) claim the land is rightfuly theirs as they are the descendants of Ishamael, who was oldest son of Abraham, and therefore the rightful heir.

The Jews claim that the land is theirs as they are the descendants of Issac who was the legitimate son of Abraham; being born of Rebecca Issac's wife. Ishmael was born of Haggar, a servant girl; and was therefore illegitemate.

Answer 3

Not all Jews and Muslims are fighting; those Jews living in Israel- the Israelis, are in a conflict with the Muslims who live there: the Palestinians. Israelis and Palestinians are fighting over many different issues, but some of the more important ones are: the status of Jerusalem (is it the Jewish capital, or do Palestinians have the right to claim it as their city as well), the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, and the Israeli occupation and domination over the Palestinians since the 1967 war. From a religious perspective, the Jewish settlers living in the occupied territories believe that they are doing God's work, and that the Messiah will only come to the world when the Jews are ruling over all of the territories of the biblical land of Israel. To this end they are willing to intimidate and harass Palestinians in the hope that they will leave these territories. There is also a group of ultra-orthodox and right wing Jews who want to blow up the mosque of Omar that is on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. They want to do this in order to rebuild the Jewish Temple that once stood on this site. Several attempts to do this were uncovered by Israeli security forces in the mid-80s.

Answer 4

Because their lands were divided arbitrarily and without long term thought by the victors of WW1. - British and French politicians have much to answer for in this mess.

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Answer #2:

They have not been fighting over land. That would be easy to understand.

In every outbreak of military conflict, Israel has always stopped short of
what it could have conquered, and has later given up most of what it did
conquer.

The fight is over an issue that is much harder to understand than a simple
competition for land: Israel and its people want to live in peace within
secure borders, whereas several of the surrounding nations refuse to accept
the existence of a Jewish democracy in their neighborhood.

Answer 5

They were fighting over Jerusalem to be specific. And it was simply for control over the religious capitol of the world, as Jews, Muslims, and Christians, the three core religions of that region , all congregated there. And the Muslims and Christians battled for control over this land, as they wished to appease their God by controlling that area.

Answer 6

Causes for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:

1) Hallowed Land: The Jews consider the Land of Israel (which is not necessarily all in the borders of the State of Israel) to be a holy piece of land in that God promised it to the Jewish people as an eternal inheritance. Thus, some Jews, especially Religious Zionists see resettlement of the Land of Israel by Jews to be part of God's plan and mandate and therefore do everything in their power to settle it. In addition, it contains specific religious and historical sites such as the Western Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem, the Cave of Machpelah, the Old City of Jaffa, and the Sanctuary of Shiloh among others. Muslims also consider Jerusalem holy because of Mohammed ascending to Heaven on the Buraq over Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Both cultures want to ensure maintenance and access to the sites which they feel have been limited by the other. (Jews claim that Jordanians used the Western Wall as a landfill and Arabs argue that Israelis arbitrarily close off access to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

2) Zionism: A number of Jews in Europe began to feel that they were being permanently and deliberately excluded from parts of European society because of the prevalent racial and pseudo-scientific forms of Anti-Semitism. They believed that there was no possible equality between European nationals and their Jewish residents and were disinterested in the Andalucian Solution because they did not want to be second-class citizens. They believed that the Jewish people needed to form a political apparatus (an Independent State) to defend themselves and their civil rights. Zionism originally had purely secular connotations, but with the advent of Religious Zionism, the powerful secular cause of Zionism joined with the Hallowed Land idea to provoke conflict. Zionism is strongly opposed by many for many different reasons. See the link at the bottom of the page for Anti-Zionist arguments and rationales.

3) Halutzim & Jewish Land Acquisition: In the First Zionist Congress in 1897, the main resolution was to acquire, by any means, a piece of land to be made a country for the Jews. Early Zionists tried to figure out how to attract Jews to leave their country of origin and come to build this Jewish State. The general consensus always revolved around building a State in the Land of Israel/British Mandate of Palestine since that would make attraction easiest. (The idea of the Jews Returning to Israel had a very romantic notion to Jews at the time and still does today.) As a result, politically influential Jews began purchasing tracts of land from the Ottoman Pashas in control of the territory without indigenous consent and promptly began to develop it. The indigenous Palestinians took issue with the migrations of these Halutzim (Jewish Pioneers) but as the land was bought legitimately, they had little recourse but to allow them to arrive. This occupation and colonialism were certainly not greeted with friendly handshakes or pats on the back by the indigenous inhabitants who stood to lose everything.

4) Balfour Declaration, the Holocaust, and UN Resolution 181: The European Climate also supported the Zionist idea of forming a Jewish State in the Middle East, as it would allow Jews to leave Europe, stop being a European problem, and prevent Europeans from needing to absorb Jewish refugees. This led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Jews in Israel. In addition, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration which declared Britain's intent to create a Jewish State in the Middle East. This, however, was not on most people's radar, until the Holocaust proved to Europeans (and Jews) that Europe was no longer safe for Judaism. UN Resolution 181 promoted a partitioning of the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State. While this resolution did pass (and is in fact legally binding) many Arabs find issue with its decision because there were not enough independent Arab States to vote it down.

5) Palestinian Exodus & UNRWA: This is probably the most thorny issue between Israel and Palestine. During the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9 (in which Palestinian militias also participated), many Palestinians were forced out of their homes by Israeli soldiers due to brutal atrocities. In addition, many left because they feared similar outcomes. Also Arab leaders encouraged the exodus, because they believed that they could destroy Israel and safely return all of the Palestinians after the conflict. However, this did not happen and a large number of Palestinians (some estimate four million) are in UNRWA Refugee Camps and there is a large Palestinian Diaspora. They have not forgiven Israel for not allowing them to return after the War or at any subsequent point in time.

6) Occupation of the West Bank & Gaza: In 1967, Israel fought the Six-Day War against the Arab States and took over control of the West Bank and Gaza. These territories did not come under Israeli Civil Authority and have been instead militarily controlled. Palestinians who live in these territories have to contend with Israeli checkpoints, military provisions, and incoming settlers (from the Hallowed Land section). This occupation is perceived by Palestinians to be a repression of their Right to a State and their ability to lead normal productive lives. Settlers in the territories act in a very cavalier fashion (similar to cowboys in the Wild West) and steal property owned by Palestinian families for generations in the name of Religious Zionism. Zionist Squatters are a huge problem in cities like Hebron where these individuals have "liberated" over a quarter of the city from its Palestinian inhabitants and begun to drive a wedge into those communities.

7) Blockade of Gaza & Dependence of the West Bank: Due to the militancy of Hamas, Israel has found it necessary for defense to form a blockade around Gaza and to only allow certain materials into the territory. This has resulted in a Human Relief Crisis in the Gaza where the average caught in the struggle barely have enough food, heat, and light to adequately survive. On a different token, the West Bank (as controlled by the Palestine Authority) is a patchwork of separate unconnected jurisdictions. As a result, the West Bank leaders depend on Israel for defense coordination, tax collection, and assurances of safety from settlers. This creates a secondary occupation-dynamic where the Palestinian government is bound to the desires and wishes of the Israeli people in addition to its actual constituency.

8) Retaliation: This one is fairly simple. Each side honors its fallen by engaging in retaliatory killings and attacks. In addition, the retaliation is usually on a larger scale than the offense. (I.e. one death results in ten retaliatory deaths etc.) The memories of these attacks remain years and decades after the actual events took place.

9) Euro-American Superiority to Muslims: (Written by someone else) After WWII, Zionists claimed that a state should be established for the Jews. Israel being created was another example of the British and American leaders feeling superior to Muslims. England and US must still see 'Muslims' as inferior humans, while still defending Israel.

10) Jewish Rejection of Dhimmitude: (Written by someone else) The Arabs rejected the Jewish state purely because it was Jewish. Had it been just another Muslim group, a separate state would have been accepted without controversy. But it was intolerable to allow the Dhimmis (the non-Muslims who lived in Muslim States) to set up a state. Even worse, one in which Dhimmis would rule over some Muslims. This problem - and nothing else - is the root cause of the conflict.

Additional Info:
See the related questions for a more in-depth discussion of the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

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