Skip to main content

Jews, Arabs use religion as tool to escalate conflict

The murders at the Bnei Torah Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem are yet another sign of both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict adding religious elements to the territorial dispute.
A bullet hole is seen in a door of a synagogue in Jerusalem where two Palestinian militants killed four rabbis and a policeman, November 19, 2014. Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed five people in the Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR4EP08
Read in 

The Bnei Torah Kehillat Yaakov synagogue, whose worshipers joined other victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Nov. 18, does not serve the residents of one of the radical settlements in the heart of the West Bank. The Har Nof neighborhood, where this house of prayer is located, is not one of the Jewish neighborhoods built in East Jerusalem after the 1967 war despite fierce Arab opposition. Very few among the population of this ultra-Orthodox neighborhood on the western outskirts of West Jerusalem serve in the military. Those among them who vote in general elections often cast their ballots for the ultra-Orthodox Yahadut HaTorah or Shas Party. These two parties are not part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the one that approves the expropriation of Palestinian lands for the construction of Jewish neighborhoods and encourages Jews to settle in the village of Silwan, at the foot of the Temple Mount.

The decision by two Palestinians to conduct a massacre at this site, of all places, and to select these particular people to murder, out of all others, is a sign that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is undergoing a dangerous shift. It has been turning from a dispute over land and security, for which rational solutions can be found, into a religious-nationalistic conflict, a less rational realm. Terms such as “compromise,” “logic” and “brotherhood of nations” are located outside the latter's jurisdiction.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.