If the present day clash between Arabs and Jews is a religious conflict why and how does it carry over to affect America?

Answer 1

Thinking of it as a religious conflict only confuses things. Israel is an attempt by the Jews as a people to have their own country in their historic homeland. They did not do this by stealing the land, but by buying it and developing it. Most of the people who did this were not religious. Because most of the land had been owned by (Ottoman) absentee landlords, (Arab) tenant farmers did get displaced when the Jews began farming it. But the fundamental issue is that Arabs did not want to share the land with a non-Arab country. Although Arabs have been successful in portraying it as a religious battle, and in getting the support of most Muslim countries, it's really a conflict between Arabs and Jews, not Muslims and Jews. Probably the results would have been about the same if instead of Jews it had been (Muslim) Turks or Persians.

America is on the receiving end of this due to its need for oil and regional security. Israel has promoted American values and engaged in high-level diplomatic, military, technological, and economic exchanges with the United States. As a result, the United States has become a primary ally of Israel's and vice versa. Since the conflict is a national or ethnic one and not actually a religious one, it makes sense that America's grounds for supporting Israel are strategic, not religious.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Palestinian Jews had been living in what is now Israel for 3000 years - continuously. Whereas the Palestinian Arabs were largely Arabs from surrounding nations who were drawn to the area *after* the Jews irrigated the land and started transforming swamp and desert into a viable place to live.

The British promised the Jews a national home in Palestine and they also promised the Arabs that they could have the land. Thus the region of Palestine was a twice promised land - and that's where many of today's problems began.

Britain then gave 82% of Palestine to the Arabs - we know this area as JORDAN. Please also note: Jews are not allowed to live in Jordan. The official Jordanian constitution has a clause forbidding any Jews from becoming citizens or from owning land.

Britain then divided what was left of Palestine. A large part went to the Palestinian Arabs, which should have become their state. The remainder went to the Palestinian Jews - this became Israel.

The Jews celebrated and publicly extended the hand of friendship to the Palestinian Arabs.

The Arab world went beserk and publicly declared war.

And within 12 hours of Israel declaring independence - SIX ARAB ARMIES attacked the newly formed Jewish state.

The Arab Higher League broadcast programmes ORDERING the Palestinian Arabs to LEAVE their homes, so as to be out the way of the six armies poised to attack. Most Palestinians fled. Those that stayed became ISRAELI CITIZENS and today, their descendents are also.

Israel is the only democracy in the region. Citizens of all faiths have the same rights and enjoy the same freedom to work, and worship as they choose. There are ARAB members of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) and indeed, Israeli Arabs regularly speak up for Israel - I'll put a link to a site about this on my biography page.

Commentary on the word "Arab"

Note: The use of the term 'Arab' in relation to the non-Jewish inhabitants of Israel / Palestine, even of closely neighboring countries such as Jordan, may cause misunderstanding; there is strong evidence to suggest that the people we call today Palestinians are in fact very close relatives of the Jewish people - "Cousins" - as in descendants of the inhabitants of Biblical Israel / Judea, rather than people from the Arabian peninsula; history tends to confirm that some Jewish people stayed in Palestine after the Romans effectively banished as many as possible; then were converted, often forcibly, to Islam during the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE et seq. Hence the term 'Arab' should really be clarified as connecting more closely to the Arabic language, rather than the people of Arabia; the Arabic language, as the language of the Koran, being the language of Islam. The effect of such somewhat prejudicial language is quite pervasive; even Mizrahi Jews, aka Sephardis, the Jewish people of the Middle East, have been subjected to discrimination in the past in Israel in consequence of what is basically an Ashkenazi incomprehension - remember that the non-Jewish people of Eastern Europe are famously among the most racist in the world, mainly as a result of very limited intercultural interaction, so that the Ashkenazi Jews are in fact somewhat better than the non-Jewish culture that they have distanced themselves from.

Even so, it must be said that countries as far north as Syria, as far West as Morocco, as far South as Comores, belong to the 'Arab League', so that de facto, the Muslim world has happened to appropriate the word 'Arab' to really refer to 'Muslim' hence as you sow, so shall you reap as they say :)

Answer 2

The question "How is the present day clash between Arabs and Jews a religious conflict?" makes several assumptions that ought to addressed when considering an answer. First, the question implies that "Arabs" share a common religion. This becomes a dangerous assumption given the vastness of the Arab world. Needless to say, the Arabs with whom Israel engages tend to be either Sunni or Shiite (Shia) Muslims. Therefore, this will be discussed in the context of Judaism and Islam. Also, citing "present day" exclusively ignores centuries worth of important history which must not be neglected to gain an understanding of the situation; any inspection of the conflict looking exclusively at post-1948 history will inexorably be incomplete.

Muslims have historically persecuted the Jews (even though Jewish life under Muslim rule was better than under Christian rule) and forced them to live as second class citizens. The Koran calls Jews "pigs" and describes how Muhammad slaughtered villages of Jews because they would not convert to Islam. In Saudi Arabian textbooks, for example, children are taught that the Jews were insufferable infidels who, having insulted Islam, deserved to die. Though they were considered better than pagans, Jews have been reviled by the Muslim world for centuries.

Islam is used to indoctrinate children to hate Jews and Israel. Judaism, however, does not preach hate against Islam. When Israel fights to protect itself, it is not fighting using any religious justification whatsoever. Muslim terrorist organizations do justify their attacks with religion. Though the overarching reason behind the attacks on Israel are not so much that the Muslims in the region wish the Jews were Muslim as well, but antisemitism. Antisemitism is such a pervasive aspect of their society that it is a regular diet for them. Children are brought up to hate Jews without ever knowing them. Antisemitic television, literature, news, and discourse are all expected norms of Arab-Muslim society. Chants of "Drive the Jews into the Sea" and "Death to Israel, Death to America" are commonplace.

It is truly a war against a culture of hate. It would be naive to assert that these are fringe groups causing all the trouble.

Answer 3

The posted answer may or may not be true, but it does not answer the question. The present day conflict between Israel and the Arab States is a national conflict over land. Religion often gets dragged into on both sides but the conflict is not about religious dogma, it is over the national use of the land. The Zionist movement created a state of refuge for Jews called Israel, the non-Jewish inhabitants (mostly Palestinian Arabs) who lost part of the land because of this want the land back, and in many cases to destroy the state called Israel.

Please also see the Related Question about the Causes of the Jewish-Arab Conflict which may shed light on the numerous reasons (including some religious ones) for the conflict.