International Coexistence between Christians and Jews

International Coexistence between Christians and Jews

MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT(S): RELIGIOUS OR SOCIO/POLITICAL/ECONOMIC WAR(S)?

By: Gaby Kouchacji with Jason and Toni Kouchacji

1. Introduction to Chaos

When the phrase Middle East War, or conflict, is brought up for discussion, some people would be certain that the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab-Israeli situation is on the table. Others will ask the logical question: which war are we talking about? Once upon a time, the first supposition would have been a natural one in the days when Israel had just become a nation and began fighting a series of wars for its very survival. Looking around the playing field in the present day, however, the picture has changed dramatically and there are numerous candidates for such a discussion. Consider a partial list: the battle against Islamic State (IS) which began in Syria and Iraq and now has spread to other areas of the Middle East and the world as a whole; the Syrian civil war pitting the Assad regime and its Russian support against IS, several rebel groups, and a coalition of the U.S. , Turkey, and a number of European and Arab countries; the Saudi-led Arab battle in Yemen against the Shiite Houthis along with separate Al Qaeda and IS elements; the shared Western/Arab wars to contain terrorism emanating from IS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other groups who are setting themselves up, or already have, in Libya, Egypt’s Sinai area, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere; factional/sectarian fighting, often intense, between or among Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds in Iraq and Syria (and generally throughout the Middle East region); and combating the pervasive influences of Iran as it feeds money and weapons to Syria’s Assad along with Israel’s enemies Hezbollah and Hamas. Going back to our initial first thought of Israeli-Palestinian troubles, it should not be forgotten that the nature of that conflict has changed and intensified with the battleground now morphing into another internal Palestinian intifada (uprising) against Israeli authority.

Certainly, when all of these struggles are examined, it is easy to discern the usual power struggles that have characterized wars for time immemorial: fighting over land, or water rights, or oil, or one outside country supporting a faction in a civil conflict for its own eventual advantage, and the list goes on and on. But, most especially in the Middle East, religion has to be seriously considered as a major factor in all of the above mentioned clashes. Could it in fact be THE major problem, or is it only one factor among many in the usual list of multiple reasons for wars? Many people contend that religion is so pervasive that sometimes its true influence is not readily evident and/or it is all TOO evident when one side or both in a conflict declare a holy war, a jihad, a fight to the death with God on our side against the other obviously evil and godless heathen; so goes one explanation of the rhetoric. British/Tunisian Middle East analyst Soumaya Ghounnoushi came down strongly on the other side of the question in an October 2015 article entitled “Religion Is Not to Blame”:

“If I got a penny for every time I was told that religion is the cause of all trouble, I’d be a rich woman by now. If only we had John Lennon’s religion-less world, there would be no war or conflict and everyone would love their neighbor. If only the theologians, clergymen, mullahs, and priests could get on, the world’s problems would be resolved at a stroke. No doubt, religion does play a part in many of the crises and conflicts raging around us. But, more often than not, these problems take on a religious name and speak through the medium of religion, while having their roots in socio-political factors….Jews and Muslims (in the Middle East conflict)…did not come to blows because of their religious affiliations. Their grievances are fundamentally political, even if they hide themselves in the guise of religion and communicate in its language.”

2. Religion Being Used Only As An Excuse?

Ghounnoushi’s assertions, further supported in the rest of her article, present a very persuasive theme backed by many political scientists, historians, and even theologians. When conflict and violence rear their ugly heads, again particularly in the Middle East, various dictators or other power hungry “wannabe” leaders all too often trot out religious justifications to use for their particular nefarious ends. Islamic State has mangled the exact words and the philosophy of the Koran for its own purposes of grabbing territory and terrifying its many enemies. IS claims to be an aspiring Sunni caliphate and, to that end, it slaughters Shiites and other smaller Muslim sects, but also persecutes Christians and, of course, Jews. The many centuries old differences and hatreds between Sunnis and Shiites are in fact a major source of tension within a number of countries, and between many countries with Iraq and Iran being prime examples of how some of this devil’s maze of problems has grown and worsened. The IS example of using such historical divisions is only one of many instances. But, for the “religious card” to be so useful and powerful, isn’t it a very real consideration and not just an excuse?

Pakistani/Canadian author Ali A. Rivsi suggests that a number of concerns, including religion, are being shunted aside in his tongue-in-cheek 2014 article, “7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict” (his subject is specifically the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). In his #2 area for consideration, “Why Does Everyone Keep Saying This Is Not a Religious Conflict?,” Rivsi states:

“There are three pervasive myths that are widely circulated about the ‘roots’ of the Middle East conflict: Myth 1: Judaism has nothing to do with Zionism; Myth 2: Islam has nothing to do with Jihadism or anti-Semitism; and, Myth 3: This conflict has nothing to do with religion.”

And, a little bit further in his analysis after presenting quotes from the Hebrew Bible and the Koran to underline his point on myths, Rivsi avers that:

“Denying religion’s role seems to be a way to be able to criticize the politics while remaining apologetically ‘respectful’ of people’s beliefs for fear of offending them. But, is this apologism and ‘respect’ for inhuman ideas worth the deaths of human beings? People have all kinds of beliefs – from insisting the Earth is flat to denying the Holocaust. You may respect their right to hold these beliefs, but you’re not obligated to respect the beliefs themselves. It’s 2014, and religions don’t need to be ‘respected’ any more than any other political ideology or philosophical thought system. Human beings have rights. Ideas don’t. The oft-cited politics/religion dichotomy in Abrahamic religions is false and misleading. All of the Abrahamic religions are inherently political.”

3. Can They Be Both?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can indeed be viewed as ethnic and political, but there are those on both sides who view it as very much a religious war as well, a central point that Rivsi tried to make. Other writers and expert analysts also will cite a mix of factors, not just one, as accounting for what seems to be almost the inevitability of Israelis/Palestinians (and/or, Jews/Muslims) not being able to work out their differences peacefully over so many years. The modern day version of the conflict happened partially because of worldwide sympathy for the horrific slaughter of Jews during WWII. That fact became a major factor in the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel; the events were both religious and political. Likewise, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Civil War that preceded it. Present day numbers of Palestinian refugees are difficult to calculate, but more than 4.3 million are registered with the UN.

The fundamental cause remains Jewish religious and historical claims to the land that Israel presently controls, while Palestinian Muslims make their own historic claims to the same areas and express the same kind of religious fervor towards holy sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the area. Jews cite their sacred texts on being the chosen people of God; Muslims cite passages in the Koran which “clearly” show that God (Allah) intended the “Promised Land” for the children of Islam. “Christian Zionists” most often support the Israeli claims because of the “ancestral right of the Jews to the Holy Land,” and their belief that the return of the Jews to Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ. As matters of faith, such arguments are impossible to resolve, so any possible solutions on peaceful ownership must come from political compromises that also have the backing of religious authorities. Without the will, or the way, to forge such compromises, the violence continues and builds in the areas and countries outside the immediate Israeli/Palestinian battleground.

Looking more broadly outside the specific example of Israeli/Palestinian antipathy in the Middle East, the Pew Research Center released a seminal report in early 2014 on violence and discrimination against religious groups by governments and rival faiths. Except in the Americas, the report shows that the problems reached new highs in all other regions of the world. Violent attacks on minority faiths and/or pressures on them to conform to certain norms were strong in one third of the 198 countries surveyed in 2012, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. Religious-related terrorism and sectarian violence occurred in one fifth of those countries. Pew, which is non-partisan and takes no policy position in its reports, gave no reasons for the sharp rises in hostility towards Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Bah’ais, and atheists. Hindus, Buddhists, and folk religions actually saw lower levels of hostility in the same six year period prior to and leading up to 2012. Pew estimated that 76% of the total global population faces some sort of official or informal restrictions on their faiths, a percentage that was made higher due to the four restrictive countries of China, Indonesia, Russia, and Egypt having large populations.

While religion alone may be the cause of some (most?) of the hostility and violence noted in the Pew research, as well as in various wars of the past and present, religion is part of a social fabric that includes more than just purely religious beliefs. Sometimes socio/political/economic motivations and reasons for war or violence may surge blatantly and obviously to the fore as the answer to the “why” in any given situation. But, perhaps there are religious factors present also that are buried, possibly intentionally, below the seemingly more evident “secular” points. The reverse is almost certainly true with proclaimed religious reasons, even to the extremes of declarations of jihad or holy war, or Jewish assertions of self-defense against pogroms or threats of extinction. The social fabric that includes all the history (pleasant or unpleasant), economics/finances, politics, and myriad other “facts” also incorporates matters of faith. Even the neutral Pew report did note that “tensions in Israel arise from the Palestinian issue, disagreements between secular and religious Jews, and the growth of ultra-Orthodox sects that live apart from the majority.” Likewise, tensions in Islam between Sunnis and Shiites contribute to the violence and, yes, wars between these two sects/factions of Islam, and the reasons are not purely religious.
There is very strong evidence and arguments which can be made for and against regarding present day Middle East conflicts as primarily or wholly religious OR primarily social/political/economic. A mix of all these factors, as noted above, seems more likely, but one striking occurrence or pronouncement at any given time can influence the course of events by pushing religious considerations (or something else) to the front of the line. In essence, one motivation, and it could be religious, might become the “elephant in the room” at any given time or in any given situation. One writer did offer the interesting thought that “religion is often the mirror that reflects worldly tensions.”

  

 

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