The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is unique in world history. While not the only case where population displacement occurred it is one of a very few where the displaced population refused to lose connection with their native homeland for generations. Everything I wrote so far will immediately conjure in the Western mind images of displaced Jews returning to the promised land. In the Arab mind, it will of course conjure images of Palestinians in refugee camps refusing to lose their identity and teaching their children where their ancestors came from.
But what does the rest of the world think?
The world is not the West. And by the West I mean the cultural West, namely Europe, Canada, the US, and Australia. The world also includes enormous populations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa that do not necessarily conform to Western cultural norms. Historically, these populations were the object of exploitation, their economies were weak, and their contribution to the world had to be traced back centuries. However, these blocks of countries, traditionally defined as non-aligned supported the Palestinian side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The genesis of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was very similar to that of many national independence movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The nature of the PLO was also very similar to these liberation movements: Nominally socialist, somehow non-religious, but obsessed with independence and self determination. Israel was also nominally socialist, somehow secular, and very concerned with independence and a Jewish nature. However, Israel resorted to ethnic cleansing and colonialist techniques to establish the Jewishness of the state. This was definitely a turn-off for countries just getting out of their colonial phase.
Starting in the mid-nineties, with the demise of the Oslo peace process and the steady decline of Yasser Arafat, a shift in the nature of the Palestinian cause took hold. Through elections, violence, or frustration, Hamas took the forefront in the Palestinian territories. Using a one-vote one-time approach, Hamas took total control of the Gaza strip. And they steadily worked starting from the early 2000's into turning the Palestinian cause from a national independence cause into a religious war.
This happened in tandem with the influence and economies of countries like India, China, and Brazil skyrocketing. It also happened in parallel with increased Wahabization of Islam in the Arab World as Saudi Petromoney poured out in all directions, and increased Islamization of Arab societies. The ballot box frenzy following the "Arab Spring" also helped solidify this trend of increased Islamization of the Palestinian conflict, and increasingly losing its moral high ground and possibility of resolution.
As far as Israel is concerned, turning the conflict into a religious war is absolute bliss. For one it helps it establish near universal sway on International public opinion. As far as the West is concerned, if this is a religious war, then they know which side to take. It might give a lot of individuals and groups in the West a lot of pause when they are faced with a cause where one oppressed group of people horribly oppress and displace another group of people. But it certainly doesn't take much time to take a side when someone declares that they are in an eternal war with the Jews because they are prophet-killers.
But more critically adding, turning the conflict into a religious war rather than a war of independence and liberation completely loses the support of all the rising powers in what was formerly known as the "third world." Why would Brazil, a country with a majority of Catholics take the side of Muslims in a Muslim-Jewish religious war? Would India, with its existential conflict with Pakistan take the side of Palestinians? How about China, itself fighting a violent uprising by Uyghurs in its Northwest? Compare this with the near universal support Nasser managed to get in all non-aligned movement summits.
But Israel also benefits from the post-apocalyptic and Messianic nature that the Islamists add to the conflict. The PLO, for all its faults, had one goal in mind: To establish a Palestinian homeland. Whether through a two-state solution, or through a single secular Jewish-Arab homeland, the PLO and secular Arab intelligentsia never considered Armageddon a viable option. Hamas is fighting a religious war. They believe the war will end only with one side totally annihilating the other. To that end, Hamas does not seek to establish any form of Palestinian statehood in the near future. Loss of land is irrelevant, decline in the daily lives of their citizens is unimportant, even the safety and security of their Arab neighbors is of no direct consequence. Hamas believes, religiously, that one day they will fight the Israelis face to face and either side will kill the other to the last person; thus any interim steps to make the situation better are seen as futile. This perfectly mirrors the Messianic view of many Jews in Israel. But more importantly, it gives Israel a free hand to change facts on the ground, and it gives it if not International sympathy, then at least international apathy.
But what does the rest of the world think?
The world is not the West. And by the West I mean the cultural West, namely Europe, Canada, the US, and Australia. The world also includes enormous populations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa that do not necessarily conform to Western cultural norms. Historically, these populations were the object of exploitation, their economies were weak, and their contribution to the world had to be traced back centuries. However, these blocks of countries, traditionally defined as non-aligned supported the Palestinian side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The genesis of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was very similar to that of many national independence movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The nature of the PLO was also very similar to these liberation movements: Nominally socialist, somehow non-religious, but obsessed with independence and self determination. Israel was also nominally socialist, somehow secular, and very concerned with independence and a Jewish nature. However, Israel resorted to ethnic cleansing and colonialist techniques to establish the Jewishness of the state. This was definitely a turn-off for countries just getting out of their colonial phase.
Starting in the mid-nineties, with the demise of the Oslo peace process and the steady decline of Yasser Arafat, a shift in the nature of the Palestinian cause took hold. Through elections, violence, or frustration, Hamas took the forefront in the Palestinian territories. Using a one-vote one-time approach, Hamas took total control of the Gaza strip. And they steadily worked starting from the early 2000's into turning the Palestinian cause from a national independence cause into a religious war.
This happened in tandem with the influence and economies of countries like India, China, and Brazil skyrocketing. It also happened in parallel with increased Wahabization of Islam in the Arab World as Saudi Petromoney poured out in all directions, and increased Islamization of Arab societies. The ballot box frenzy following the "Arab Spring" also helped solidify this trend of increased Islamization of the Palestinian conflict, and increasingly losing its moral high ground and possibility of resolution.
As far as Israel is concerned, turning the conflict into a religious war is absolute bliss. For one it helps it establish near universal sway on International public opinion. As far as the West is concerned, if this is a religious war, then they know which side to take. It might give a lot of individuals and groups in the West a lot of pause when they are faced with a cause where one oppressed group of people horribly oppress and displace another group of people. But it certainly doesn't take much time to take a side when someone declares that they are in an eternal war with the Jews because they are prophet-killers.
But more critically adding, turning the conflict into a religious war rather than a war of independence and liberation completely loses the support of all the rising powers in what was formerly known as the "third world." Why would Brazil, a country with a majority of Catholics take the side of Muslims in a Muslim-Jewish religious war? Would India, with its existential conflict with Pakistan take the side of Palestinians? How about China, itself fighting a violent uprising by Uyghurs in its Northwest? Compare this with the near universal support Nasser managed to get in all non-aligned movement summits.
But Israel also benefits from the post-apocalyptic and Messianic nature that the Islamists add to the conflict. The PLO, for all its faults, had one goal in mind: To establish a Palestinian homeland. Whether through a two-state solution, or through a single secular Jewish-Arab homeland, the PLO and secular Arab intelligentsia never considered Armageddon a viable option. Hamas is fighting a religious war. They believe the war will end only with one side totally annihilating the other. To that end, Hamas does not seek to establish any form of Palestinian statehood in the near future. Loss of land is irrelevant, decline in the daily lives of their citizens is unimportant, even the safety and security of their Arab neighbors is of no direct consequence. Hamas believes, religiously, that one day they will fight the Israelis face to face and either side will kill the other to the last person; thus any interim steps to make the situation better are seen as futile. This perfectly mirrors the Messianic view of many Jews in Israel. But more importantly, it gives Israel a free hand to change facts on the ground, and it gives it if not International sympathy, then at least international apathy.
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