The factors that have led to the increasing prominence of religious issues and

identifications in the Israel-Palestine conflict since 1948?

Religion has played such a role in the politics of this small strip of land on the Eastern edge of the
Mediterranean that we need to consider briefly its history. By the time the Jews were expelled by
Rome following the revolts of 66 and 132AD, there was already a large dispersed ethnic Jewish
population worldwide.1 There was little Jewish return to Palestine, except for isolated religious
communities, until the latter part of the 19th century when, as a result of increased anti-Semitism in
eastern Europe, both secular and religious Zionist movements developed. 2,3 When the State of Israel
was created in 1948 the majority of the population was Arab Sunni Muslim; Jews living in dispersed
settlements and segregated areas of some cities formed a largish minority group and there were
enclaves of Christians and Christian Arabs around Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, with
Samaritans4 and Druzim5 in villages in the northern Galilee. For the last two thousand years, with a
hiatus during the crusades, the different religious communities had co-existed; however the years
leading up to 1948 saw increasing inter-community violence, primarily of a political nature, 6,7

In 1948 the major Arab combatants were secular states and the majority of the leaders of the Yishuv8
were secular socialists. 9 A Jewish state by definition needs to be inhabited by a Jewish majority, but
the whole concept of Jewish ethnicity is fraught with difficulty as, during the centuries of dispersion,
people of different ethnicity have become Jews. 10 It proved impossible to find a satisfactory secular
definition of a Jew, or of Jewish nationality, which forced the early Zionists to adopt a religious
definition; the Orthodox Rabbinate was taken into the structure of the state and this brought religion
1

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4

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7

8
9
10

There were large centres of Jewish culture in Alexandria, throughout the eastern Mediterranean, in India and in Rome itself. Recent
research has also discovered lost Jews such as the Beta Israel (the term Falasha is considered derogatory) from Ethiopia, widely held
to be the remnants of the tribe of Dan, dispersed during the break up of the northern kingdom in the 8th century BCE. (Beta Israel on
http://en.wikipedia.org) The Lemba people of Zimbabwe also claim Jewish heritage, again by descent from one of the ten lost tribes;
DNA testing of the Lemba has tended to confirm this. (Jewish Lemba on http://www.haruth.com; Lemba on http://en.wikipedia.org)
Ben-Sasson H.H. (1976) p.916 The Jewish population of Palestine was estimated as 10,000 in 1840 despite the lifting of Roman and
Byzantine restrictions on Jewish habitation by the Muslim rulers (Herbert RIH p.261)
Ben-Sasson H.H.(1976) p.896, p.903; Herbert in Religion in History p.254
The Samaritans were (and are) a small community of ethnic Jews in the Galilee who practice a pre-Babylonian exile form of Judaism.
They are believed to be the remnants left behind when the Northern tribes were carried off into exile in the 8th century BCE:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/Samaritans
The Druze are a small offshoot of Shia Islam considered heretical by most mainstream Muslims.;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity)
Robinson (1999) quoted in AA307 Study Guide 5 p.17
Despite the intervention of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on the side of the Axis powers during WW2 which was decidedly religious
and anti-Jewish as against anti-Zionist.
The Hebrew name for Jewish settlement in Palestine pre 1948
Herbert in Religion in History p.258; The exception being Saudi Arabia which played very little part in the war
Ben-Sasson H.H. (1976) p.728

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into the conflict. It is impossible to get universal (or even partial) agreement on who is a Jew; the
various Jewish sects cannot agree, and the Israeli secular Law of Return 11 presents a definition at
odds with all the religious ones. Thus the need to legitimize the Jewish state became a major factor in
allowing religious involvement in Israeli politics after 1948. Many of the ultra-orthodox refused to
recognize the State of Israel, their interpretation of scripture required the appearance of the Messiah; 12
this forced compromises and accommodations in order to present a united front and, while on paper,
Israel is a secular democracy, the religious authorities are allowed to control many aspects of
citizenship.13 As Herbert argues: For liberal democracy, citizenship entails equal rights and freedoms for all, regardless of
religious or ethnic identity, a claim which sits uneasily with the Israeli declarations 14 linkage of national identity to ethnicity and
religion.15

Legislation that differentiates between citizens of different religions means that religion

intrudes into the everyday life of the population, a factor that has now moved into the conflict.

The Israeli voting system16 leads to coalition governments; the major parties of both the left and right
often needing the support of, mainly religious, minority parties to form a government. 17,18 After 1948
Jewish immigration from Europe slowed,19 but, despite the exodus of Palestinians from their homes
during the hostilities, Israel needed more immigration to create a Jewish majority; so immigration
from the Sephardi20 communities in the Middle East and North Africa was encouraged. The elite of
these communities had nearly all left for Europe or North America, while those Jews remaining were
generally poor, uneducated, devout, and Arab in dress, appearance and tradition. Arriving in Israel they
were treated as second class citizens by the predominantly European ruling elite, placed in sink
estates, pressurized to abandon their traditions and to adopt a secular lifestyle. 21 Their reaction was to
reject secularism and form their own closed religious communities. In the 1980s they formed a
successful political party, Shas, which successfully forced concessions on the government. In the late
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21

The Law of Return allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent or who is married to a Jew to immigrate and become a citizen,
however apostate Jews and members of the Jews for Jesus sect are specifically excluded: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_jew
Indeed there are still orthodox communities within Israel/Palestine who refuse to recognise the state, speak Yiddish and refuse to serve
in the army.
The right of return does not confer Halachic status on the returnee; to be legally considered a Jew in Israel one must conform to the
Orthodox definition. Israel has no form of civil marriage, only Orthodox marriages are legal, and this is enforced by the civil law, the
rules governing whom a Jew may, and may not, marry are strictly in accordance with Orthodox Judaism and all interfaith marriages are
illegal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_jew
The Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948
Herbert D. (2004) in Religion in History p.251
The system is a proportional representative one - a party obtaining 1% of the vote receives a parliamentary seat.
AA307 Study Guide 5 p.22
Herbert D. in Religion in History p.274
Lehman D. on AA307 CD5
Jews, many of Arab appearance and descent resident, in the Arab countries and North Africa, many of whom were the descendants of
Jews expelled from Israel after the revolts and from Spain in the middle ages
Lehmann D. on AA307 CD5

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90s Shas controlled almost 10% of the Knesset22 seats and held the key ministries of the interior,
religious affairs and labour. This gave them the ability to channel funds into their own communities,
especially for health and education which had been neglected by successive governments, and created
a religiously motivated pressure group which has played a role in desecularising the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.

Until the 1970s the role of religion in politics, beyond the use of religious symbols, festivals and stories as part of Israeli national identity,
remained relatively limited. 23 A major

reason for the change was the overwhelming defeat of the Arab armed

forces in the 1967 Six Day War and the Jewish occupation of Jerusalem and the biblical West Bank:
The Six day war made a powerful and deep impression on the Jewish people, who felt that they had been providentially snatched from
destruction and given the victory as dramatically as when God had saved the ancient Israelites at the Red Sea. .24 As

a result

support for the religious parties increased, but it also had a similar effect on the support for Islamist
groups in the Arab world. Jewish occupation of biblical Judea convinced some ultra-Orthodox Jews
that the time of the promised Messiah was imminent. It also convinced some fundamentalist Christian
sects in America of the imminent second coming of Christ; they have lent their not inconsiderable
influence and support to the more extreme religious groupings in Israel. 25

Following the war, despite the fact that over 400,000 had fled the occupied territories, the Israeli
government was suddenly faced with the presence of over a million Palestinians under its control. 26
Those Palestinian residents of the occupied territories who remained, or, as in the case of Gaza, had
nowhere to flee, have had their land and property confiscated for Jewish settlements and security
areas, faced restrictions on travel and are subject to Israeli military law. Not surprisingly the
combination of this illegal apartheid27,28 and the manifest failure of the Palestinian Authority to
alleviate their condition, has fostered support for Islamic resistance movements. Hamas, religiously
inspired and seen as untainted by corruption, has provided social relief programs and education to the
22
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24
25

26
27
28

The Israeli parliament

Herbert D (2004) in Religion in History p.252
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.277
At the same time some Shia believe that the expulsion of all Jews from the land will hasten the reappearance of the Hidden Imam:
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.139
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.278
Not only is the occupation in breach of UN resolution 242 but it is also in contravention of international law
Although this is an emotive concept there is really no other comparison that can be made with the treatment of the Palestinian people
under Israeli control unless it be with the segregationist states of the American south prior to the success of the civil rights movement
there.

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Palestinian population and is increasingly respected by them and seen as the only power group capable
of striking back at the might of the Israeli state.

The near defeat of Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, far from giving a setback to the religious right,
allowed them to argue that negotiations regarding the return of the occupied territories were against
the will of God who had given them victory in 1967.29 [] It can hardly be entirely coincidental that
the growth of extremist right wing and religious organisations in Jewry dates from around this time;
nor can it be ignored that in the 1970s nearly half a million Israelis, almost all secular Jews, left Israel
for permanent self-imposed exile abroad, leaving the field open for the religious elements in the
country.30

Government support for extreme religious sects within Israel has become a significant factor in the
escalating prominence of religion in the conflict, sending a clear signal to religious groups that
religious pressure matters when the secular government decides on policy. Support for illegal 31
religious settlement activities, has demonstrated the active involvement of the Israeli state in religion. 32
Despite the racist religious pronouncements of its leaders 33,34,35 and its commitment to the removal of
all but Jews from Israel,36 funds were provided to Gush Emunim37 for educational establishments and
exclusive Gush army units were allowed to be formed. Religious settlement activity in the occupied
West Bank, intentionally focused on areas of Arab population, along with physical attacks on
Palestinians, has played its part in the developing the religious aspects of the occupation. The
massacre of Muslims in a mosque in Hebron by a member of Kach,38,39 was almost universally

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36
37

38

39

Begin, a devoutly religious man who had survived a Stalinist slave labour camp in the Arctic after his family had been massacred,
became Prime Minister in 1977 having run on a platform of Greater Israel on both sides of the Jordan: Armstrong, K. (2001) p.299
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.279
All the settlement activity in the Occupied territories is illegal and prohibited by international law but here the term is used in the sense
of illegal activity under Israeli law
In 1979 following his return from signing the Camp David agreement the first action of Begin, who was ready to surrender the Sinai in
exchange for the security of Israels southern border as it was never a part of the biblical Promised Land, was to announce the
establishment of 20 new settlements in the West bank: Armstrong, K. (2001) p.301
[T]he body of a Jewish person is of a totally different quality from the body of [members] of all nations of the worldthe difference
is so great that the bodies should be considered as of a completely different species.: Rabbi Schneerson 1965 quoted in Religion in
History p.276
A Jew who killed a non-Jewhas not violated the [religious] prohibition of murder: Rabbi Arieli ibid
halacha (Jewish law)requires the death penalty for Arabs who throw stones at Jews: Rabbi Aviner ibid
Herbert D. (2004) in Religion in History p.279
Hebrew for Bloc of the Faithful a splinter group of the National religious Party. Originally secular in nature it has become increasingly
religious in character: AA307 Study Guide 5 p.22
Baruch Goldstein, an American doctor and member of the extremist Kach movement, killed 29 Muslim worshippers and wounded 125
at the cave of Abraham mosque in Hebron in 1994: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre Accessed July 2010
The subsequent rioting led to the deaths of 26 more Palestinians shot by the Israeli Army and 9 Israelis killed by the rioters: Ibid

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condemned by religious and secular Jews, other than the more extreme sects. [] However it can
possibly be identified as the trigger for the religious escalation of the conflict as it led to the first
religiously inspired suicide bombings of Israeli civilians by an Islamic organisation - Hamas.40,41 The
occupation of Lebanon, and the complicity of Israeli troops in the subsequent massacres by Maronite
Christian Militias of old men, women and children in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut,
resulted in the extremist Hezbollah religious movement gaining popular support, especially among the
Shia population of southern Lebanon.42

In the 1950s and early 60s the emerging Palestinian resistance movements of Fatah, the PFLP and
FLP were secular in nature;43 in line with the prevailing socialist leanings of Arab governments these
organisations had few religious connections. Even as Arafat emerged in 1967 as the charismatic leader
of the newly organised, secular, Palestine Liberation Organisation, Armstrong argues that: If the people of
the Middle East wanted to assert their independence they would have to find a stronger weapon than secular nationalism would prove to
be. Some of them would discover that religion was precisely the weapon they needed and would revive the jihad.44 The

failure of

many Arab governments to finance educational and health provisions for their own populations, along
with their abandonment of the Palestinian refugees to life in degrading, squalid conditions in refugee
camps, allowed Islamic organisations a clear field in which to generate support. The Intifada of 1987,
provoked by the economic stagnation of the refugee camps and the heavy handed actions of the Israeli
military, brought about the emergence of Hamas the first time a religious dimension had appeared in
a Palestinian resistance movement. 45 Many Egyptians turned to religion after 1967 to explain their
defeat,46 and the success of 1973 was also seen as: Gods endorsement of their cause in the time honoured manner of
the holy war.47

Sadats subsequent opening up of Egypt to the secular West was a disaster for most

Egyptians who saw only the foreigner and the Egyptian millionaires benefit, not the smaller Egyptian businessmen.48 The

40
41

42

43
44
45
46
47
48

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre
At its inception Hamas was encouraged by the Israeli government who saw it as a counterbalance to the secular PLO: Armstrong, K.
(2001) p.90
Israeli troops did not turn a blind eye as Herbert states (Herbert D. in Religion in History p.269). Their officers were given direct
orders by Arial Sharon to allow the Maronite militias into the camps which they were guarding. This information was given to me by
soldiers with whom I had served in 1967 who were traumatised by the experience. They subsequently left Israel for good shortly after
the Israeli High Court failed to do more than censor Sharon.
Herbert D. in Religion in History p.258
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.128
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.viii
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.321
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.335
Armstrong, K. (2001) p.337

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resulting large scale economic disruption encouraged large sections of the Egyptian population to turn
to traditional Islam.

In Israel, Muslim anger was provoked when, despite the Chief Rabbis ban on Jews entering the
Haram,49 militant religious groups encroached upon the precincts and announced their intention of
rebuilding the temple. When Ariel Sharon also defied the ban and entered the Haram in 2000 with a
force of armed police to deliver a message of peace50 it was an excuse for another outbreak of religiously
inspired violence the second intifada. The 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council,
confirmed as free and fair by international observers, resulted in a landslide victory for Hamas over
Fatah. Israel refused to accept the result, closed off access to the Gaza Strip and blocked all funding to
the population there, a situation which has continued off and on to the present day. The failure of the
West, especially America, to provide positive support to the elected representatives of the Palestinian
people reinforced the view that these events are an attack upon Islam, a view fostered by Islamic
organisations and influential clerics in the Muslim world to muster popular support for Jihad.51

The success of the religiously motivated suicide bombers, along with the perceived failure and
corruption of secular organisations on the Arab side, have resulted in an escalation of the involvement
of religion in the conflict. From the Arab perspective the invocation of Islam is working. The growth
in influence of the religious right in Israel ensures that any secular Israeli government will have
problems recognizing Palestinian independence and that the movement towards Holy War will
continue.

49

50
51

The Temple Mount itself where the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosques are located. There are two schools of though among
orthodox Jews regarding this. One group, once the mainstream regards it as too holy to approach while the other, increasing in numbers,
regards it as defiled by the presence of mosques and seeks to destroy them. This has led to the attempted bombing and random shootings
in the al Aqsa mosque in 1982 .
Herbert D. in Religion in History p.253
In this sense Jihad is possibly the correct description as it implies Holy War of self defence against a force attempting to subjugate an
Islamic people

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Bibliography

Armstrong, K. (2001) Holy War - The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World; New
York: Anchor Books; ISBN 0-385-72140-4
Ben-Sasson H.H. (Ed.) (1976) A History of the Jewish People; Cambridge Mass: Harvard
University Press ISBN 0-674-39731-2
Religion, Conflict and Coexistence since the Holocaust Study Guide 5 : OU publication
SUP 00480 3
Wolfe J.(Ed) (2004) Religion in History: OU publication; ISBN 0-7190-7107-0
Websites
http://www.haruth.com/JewishLemba.html: accessed 8/7/2010
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/Samaritans accessed 9/7/2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity accessed 9/7/2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel: accessed 8/7/2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemba: accessed 8/7/2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_jew: accessed 8/7/2010
(only Wikipedia entries with adequate citations have been used)

Other Media
Open University Publication: AA307 CD5

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