“Religion plays a smaller part in this war than people think”
The role of religion in the war between Israel and the Palestinians
In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nationalism, faith and identity play important roles. Scholars of religion Joas Wagemakers, Eric Ottenheijm and Lucien van Liere assess the specific role of religion. To what extend is this a religious conflict?
Religion viewed through an academic lens
It is important to shine a light on the role of religion from an academic perspective, Lucien van Liere emphasises. He teaches and publishes on the role of religions in the context of violent conflicts. “As academics, we can study and analyse language, symbolism and meaning without immediately passing moral judgement or taking a political position. Because people often have sharp judgements on both religion and violence, a nuanced, down-to-earth, maybe even ‘dry’ analysis is of great importance. Because of this, you don't get carried away by the moral or political day-to-day affairs.”
One can see the overall conflict fundamentally as a clash of identities.
Religious conflict or not
Whether or not one can call the war between Israel and the Palestinians a religious conflict, is debatable. Joas Wagemakers is specialised in the history of Islam and is currently working on a book about Hamas. “I believe one can see the overall conflict fundamentally as a clash of identities. These mostly take form in the national sense of the word, but can be reinforced by including religion. This means that the religious dimension exists, but does not play a primary role to many of the people involved.”
The role of religion should therefore not be exaggerated either, Wagemakers says. “People quite often think religious factors are responsible for a kind of perpetual conflict between populations, but in themselves they can be very flexible and often do not play as prominent a role as people sometimes think.”
Van Liere agrees: “Religion can be seen as a piece of a puzzle that determines people's identities, alongside other pieces, such as nationalism and perspectives on history. You can't isolate this piece and remove it without changing the puzzle as a whole.”
Different Jewish perspectives on the state of Israel
Eric Ottenheijm works on inter-religious relations and how Christianity and rabbinic Judaism came into being. “Being Jewish first and foremost means being part of a people, that is, an ethnicity. Religion is part of that ethnicity, and even for non-religious Jews it is a recognised part of who they are: after all, it comprises the collective memory of the Jewish people. But religious visions of the Land (Israel), and thus indirectly of the conflict, are so diverse that they cannot all be lumped under one heading. In addition to the state of Israel within the 1948 ‘green line’, ‘the Land’ for these groups also includes the territories of Judea and Samaria occupied since 1967.”
Each group has its own relationship to faith, Ottenheijm explains. “For Jewish religious settlers in the West Bank, for example, messianism is of great importance. That is, the belief that inhabiting the Land not only enables but even hastens redemption. For them, giving it up is no less than letting go of the dream of redemption.”
Religious concepts deployed by politicians
At the moment, we see that Judaism in politics can be used mainly to accommodate the more orthodox Jews and thus ensure electoral gains, Van Liere observes. “For instance, some politicians use examples from TeNaCH (the Hebrew Bible) and compare Hamas to Amalek, Israel's enemy from the Jewish scriptures. This sets up sharp contradictions and sends the message that destroying or expelling ‘enemies’ would be a better solution than peace negotiations.”
Hamas and Islam
“On the other side of the conflict, Hamas claims Islam mainly as a propaganda tool,” Van Liere continues. “It is mainly about land and its control. Hamas therefore mainly uses the rhetoric of the suffering of the Palestinian people and uses that as a basis from which to appeal to the Muslim community for solidarity.”
The idea of mixing politics and religion within Hamas is something Wagemakers also observes. “Hamas is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood, an activist, populist, Sunni organisation that does not deal with doctrinal details much, but instead focuses on social and political activism. This is in line with Islamism, the movement within Islam whose adherents believe that Islam is not only a religion of doctrines, texts, rituals, community and charity, but also a politically and socially relevant ideology. Hamas falls within this definition.”
As academics, we can study and analyse language, symbolism and meaning without immediately passing moral judgement or taking a political position.
Increase of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism
In the meantime, the West is seeing hatred against Jews and Muslims increase. Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are reported on more often. When asked what anti-Semitism is, Van Liere replies: “The term relates to the political, economical, and religious exclusion of Jews and Judaism. Anti-Semitism appeals to a dark history of violence, from the Spanish pogroms of 1391 to the Russian pogroms, the Shoah and all kinds of current conspiracy theories.”
“Being in favour of Palestine and concerned about this war, can manifest itself in fierce criticism of Israeli policies without being anti-Semitic. But there are two situations where this backfires: when Israel's political aggression is seen as an essential characteristic of Jews. And also when Israelis want to parry any criticism with the word ‘anti-Semitic’, which only hardens positions.”
This is something that these three scholars of religion agree on: this war is so much more complicated than people think. Thus concludes Ottenheijm: “Those who think they have the solution, are soon becoming part of the problem.”