Is belief in their own God getting in the way of peace between Palestinians and Israelis?

Of course it is.

I would say not so much for the Jews. Jewish people never try to convert people, we are a small group and just want to be safe and left alone, and we know we will always be surrounded by people of other religions. The Jewish PEOPLE (we cannot choose our heritage like people can choose to be a religion) want to have a place to feel safe.

About 40% of Jewish people consider themselves to be secular and on DNA test the Ashkenazi Jews especially come up Jewish on the DNA test like the people with German or Italian heritage come up as those identities. The ultra-orthodox Jews are very religious, and some are fanatics,and they think the entire land of the river to the sea should be Israel, but most Israelis want a compromise and peace.

I know very little about the Muslims religion, but it seems to me most Palestinians don’t want a two-state solution, so then there will be no peace. There are Palestinians who are willing to negotiate for that, so we can hope. I posted an interview with Queen Rania recently on fluther and she talks about a two-state solution. I am not sure if the Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza care what she says. Hamas is a religious zealot organization that wants Jews gone, so they will never bring peace to the region.

Here is a Nas recent video for you. Nas is Palestinian-Israeli, born and raised in Israel, and lives outside of Israel now. He makes videos around the world. Recently, he started doing videos about different religions. Here is the one about “Judaism” he went back to Jerusalem to film it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwwW8HFT8UE

As a Jewish person I think the Jewish God is the same as the Christian and Muslim God. Just Christians add in that Jesus was the son of God and seem to see Jesus as replacing God, which is weird to me. I am not sure what Muslim think about God.

Israel and Palestine are mostly about LAND, and the people who lived on the land. For Jews that it is the ONLY place they have that is a Jewish state and Jewish majority, although the minority population is fairly large, while there are Muslim and Arab countries throughout the Middle East, and Muslim countries in other parts of Asia. So, that is the safety part, because in other countries Jewish people always feel at risk of being hated and a holocaust happening again. Both the Palestinians and the Jewish people have claim to the land, it just depends how far back you want to go.

Yes.

@JLeslie Seems to me there will never ever be peace in that land until non-religious zealot leaders on both sides are elected and placed in charge of negotiating for peace.

No.

It’s nationalism.

@mazingerz88 Possibly leaders who aren’t religious are more likely to achieve a peace deal, but I don’t think it’s that simple. The two groups have a hard time trusting each other.

Around the world the media is reporting on the protests and the Palestinians are getting support for one Palestine, not for a two state solution, so that might make them less willing to make peace.

I have no idea if Netanyahu is religious, but part of his more loyal followers who he plays to are very religious. I seem to remember he was not from a religious family, but that wouldn’t matter anyway, he might have stronger religious beliefs than his family.

Often dictator type leaders aren’t religious themselves, but know religion (or a religion formula) will get people to follow and fight. For instance, I think Trump is an atheist, but he knows religion gets him support.

We have to hope for leaders who want peace and that eventually if there was a treaty that the people would get used to the new circumstance and accept it. It’s a long shot.

There is more pressure now from other Arab countries to accept Israel as a state.

I don’t think so.

Many / most Israelis are not orthodox or even very religious. They identify as Jewish but not militantly so. Yes, Israel has a minority of orthodox and ultra-orthodox nationalists, but they’re the minority. They are in the governing coalition, so they have some – but not total – power.

In the past, there was a sizeable Christian Palestinian population in the West Bank (and less so in gaza) They were generally peaceful and happy to coexist with the muslim population.

However, now – 30 years later – almost all of the Christians have been pushed out of the West Bank and Gaza by the muslimes – there have been wars (Lebanon Civil War, some of the Jordan refugee camp fighting) where the Muslims essentially overwhelmed the Arab Christians.

To summarize, the Muslim arab states (and Muslim population in Israel and other countries, has become more religiously motivated than before. Keep in mind that Egypt (Regime change in 2011) elected the Muslim Brotherhood, but the secular majority in Egypt overthrew them several months later.

Bottom line, the Muslims say they are religiously motivated. Other countries, including Israel, are more secular and democratic.

@elbanditoroso Isn’t the majority in Egypt Muslim? Are you saying Egyptian Muslims are mostly secular? I don’t know much about the Egyptian population.

@JLeslie many muslims, but Egypt has a substantial minority of Coptic christians that have lived there for millennia.

One of the reasons the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown is because they wanted to create a right wing religious state (burkas, subjugation of women) and most Egyptian citizens did not want to turn the country into Iran.

Most Israelis are not religious.

@elbanditoroso I thought the Christian population was very small there, but I guess still big enough. I find it interesting when Muslims are secular, I don’t know how that gets recorded, because Muslims and Christians usually feel like they can’t say they are either of those religions if they are atheists.

I don’t know why people overlook that Christians have been driven out of the ME? Jewish people too of course, but my main point is I think a lot of people who think a New Palestine from the river to the sea can be a secular democracy like the US and there is no risk of Muslim imperialism taking over and trying to control and purge the country seems naive to me. I like to think a Palestinian majority country would be different, but Hamas and the Palestinian Authority make it difficult to believe.

In 1948 the Druze went with Israel, because they had been treated like crap by the local Muslims.

Absolutely. When Hamas has a charter that dictates that Allah has ordered them to take back all the historic lands of Palestine and to drive away anyone that is not Muslim, that pretty much says exactly where they are coming from. That is why they will never accept and abide by a peace treaty with Israel.

Religion has always been a weapon of evil.
It is more of an excuse, these days, but it is the origin of why the relationships are strained.

I don’t believe nationalism alone, fits here. They are both proud of their religious heritage.
They have irreconcilable differences, because of religious beliefs.
Religion is also being weaponized (nothing new,) by both sides.

The Middle East, as a whole, is hamstrung more than anything because of religious differences.

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”

There are Christian Palestinians, not just Muslims.

You have to think of it like Iraqis and Lebanese, not so much religion.

Iran is pushing Muslim Imperialism and fanaticism and the Muslim brotherhood or whatever fanatics in the ME. They pushed millions of Christians out of Lebanon and other parts of the ME. They pushed the Jews out too.

They are a minority, but a large enough minority, and evil doers don’t need to be a majority to wreak havoc.