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Michael Anbar , PhD, is a professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo. Formerly a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, he is the author of , published by iUniverse.
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By Michael Anbar
May 19, 2004
What is the driving force behind the Arab-Israeli conflict? What is its "underlying cause"?
We have witnessed in the last 85 or so years, since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, violent hostilities of Arabs against Jews in the Middle East. These hostilities have taken different shapes over the years, including: (1) Religion-incited mob riots against defenseless ancient Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Hebron (1929). (2) Attacks by armed, well-trained paramilitary guerillas against Jewish isolated villages and transportation (1935-9). (3) Concerted invasions by armies of the neighboring Arab countries (1948,67,73). (4) Long-range missile attacks on Israeli towns and villages (1979-81, 2001-04). (5) Arab marine commando raids from the Mediterranean, including kidnapping and murder of individual Jews (1980-2004). (6) Anti-Jewish incitement of Muslim masses by Islamic clergy throughout the Muslim world (1935-2004)). (7) Desecration of Jewish holy sites by agitated Arab mobs (2000-01), and (8) indiscriminate brutal terrorist attacks against Jewish civilians, including suicidal mass murders of non-combatants (1997-2004). Finally, (9) a relentless wave of anti-Semitism emanates in the last 20 years from the Arab world.
In addition, there is a boycott of personal interactions between Arabs and Jews in international forums and ostracizing Israelis in international organizations, including certain European Universities, ostensibly because Jews are according to the Koran subhuman beings - descendents of apes and pigs. There is also a worldwide jihad - a "holy war" against all Jews and their supporters, the U.S. in particular, bombing and desecrating synagogues and Jewish graveyards and religious schools all over the world.
Excuses or "explanations" in Western media for all those murderous outrages and other anti-Jewish manifestations include: (1) Sheer Islamic xenophobia as well as envy of the spectacular economic and technological success of the young Jewish country. (2) Some of the Western commentators suggest that Arab dictators use the Israeli issue to distract their masses from their oppressive misery at home. But even if the latter explanation was partially true, it does not give good reason for why the Jewish presence in the Middle East is such an effective rallying point for Arab masses in despotic regimes. And (3) the western values of Israeli society, especially gender equality, threaten the stability of Arab neighboring societies and therefore the Arab leadership must denounce Israel and its culture.
Then there are "ideological" explanations: (4) Refusal to recognize pre-Islamic Jewish and Christian biblical and post-biblical histories. (5) Refusal to recognize contemporary Jews as descendent of the ancient "Children of Israel." (6) Adherence to Islamic religious tenets that mandate the elimination of "infidels" whose presence "contaminates" "Arab land" (i.e., killing of all non-Muslims who are not readily subjugated by Islam).
Finally there are explanations associated with Western "political correctness" and anti-colonialism: (7) Armed rebellion against an "illegal occupation" of "Palestine" and the "national liberation" of the "Palestinians", who actually constitute just a minute fraction of the Arab nation that happens to live in the Land of Israel. Then there is (8) the need to repatriate refugees of the 1948 "Jewish aggression" (when, in fact, the Israelis were the victims of Arab aggression, fighting for their very physical survival against the armies of seven Arab countries).
The different expressions of Islamic Arab anti-Jewish animosity associated with the presence of Jews as an independent political entity in their ancient homeland (Jews continued to live there under foreign occupation since their loss of independence 2000 years ago), manifest a deep-seated anti-Jewish hatred shared by the majority of contemporary Muslims, especially orthodox ones. The large variety of explanations and excuses for this underlying Arab anti-Jewish hatred strongly suggests that none of those explanations or excuses is the genuine root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The true cause has remained undeclared most probably for political reasons. It must be discerned, therefore, from Islamic and Arab inherent rhetoric and behavior rather than from Arab propaganda aimed at and echoed by Western media.
Why should the presence of a small independent Jewish state in the Land of Israel be so objectionable to Muslims? Why do Arabs dream of elimination of all Jews between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean (some Arabs with the same end goal are ready "expeditiously" to conquer the Jewish state in stages, as they did to the Crusaders)?
Let us remember that a key Arab demand for any settlement of the conflict is the establishment of Jerusalem as an Arab capital. Let us remember that Arafat threatened that he is ready to sacrifice a million Palestinians as martyrs to conquer Jerusalem. Let us notice that the terrorist units of Arafat's Fatah party ("Conquest" in Arabic) are called "The al-Aqsa (Jerusalem's Temple Mount) Martyrs Brigades" and the prime terrorist units of the Iranian-Syrian sponsored "Islamic Jihad" (holy war in Arabic) organization, are called "The Al-Quds (Jerusalem) brigades." The conquest of Jerusalem is evidently the key target of Arab religious and/or political aspirations. Islam is a uniquely political religion, and so its religious and political objectives are inseparable. Therefore other "reasons" for Arab violent behavior are just a cover for this true goal of the Muslims.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is just one of many flash points in the global conflict between Islam and Western Civilization. However, symbolically it is probably the most critical one. The goal of the Muslims - spearheaded by the militant, conservative Wahabists - is to impose fundamental Islam on all of humanity by all means possible - including persuasion, deception, coercion or violence. Basically, Islam is a supremacist ideology that denies the validity, not to speak of equal status of other faiths, and mandates their eventual annihilation. The sovereignty of Muslims over Jerusalem is tantamount to proof of the supremacy of Islam over Judaism and Christianity. The believers in these two faiths are fatally flawed people according to the Qur'an - the Jews are subhuman beings, descendents of apes and pigs who must be killed, at least by the End of Days, whereas Christians are pagans who worship three gods, and are bound to be killed just like the Jews. Islamic sovereignty over Jerusalem is, therefore, symbolically a prerequisite of Islamic global sovereignty. This is the secret reason of the Arab assault on Israel. It is not being proclaimed to the Western public so as to sedate the Christian world until that prime goal is achieved.
The militant Muslims abuse the naivety of the Vatican that, notwithstanding the embarrassment of the Pope in Damascus, does not realize that Islam has changed since the days of the Ottoman Empire when coexistence of Islam and Christianity was possible. The Catholic Church, which hardly understood the spiritual meaning of Zionism in Judaism as well as in Christianity, for that matter, has not realized that sovereignty over Jerusalem by traditional Islamists negates all beliefs about the spiritual role of Jerusalem at the Christian or Jewish End of Days.
The belligerent Muslims in Arabia and Tehran manage to manipulate secular westerners who are insensitive to religion-motivated ideologies and do not care about the sovereignty of any religion over Jerusalem, and persuaded them to support the militant Islamic cause for political or economic reasons. Moreover, some atheistic westerners are even happy to see Jewish and Christian beliefs, strongly associated with Jerusalem, crushed.
Unfortunately, there are many secular Israelis who do not realize the symbolic value of Jerusalem in the current clash of civilizations, and are ready to concede the sovereignty over the "Holy City" to the mortal enemies of their own 3000 year-old culture.
In summary, the sovereignty over Jerusalem is the main motivation of Islamic violence against the Jews and the State of Israel. Unlike the sovereignty over Mecca or Medina, the sovereignty over Jerusalem is not essential for upholding or preservation of Islam as it is not even mentioned in the Qur'an; it is however needed as a proof of the supremacy of Islam, demonstrating Islam's ability to deprive Judaism and Christianity of their spiritual quintessence. This must be realized by the Israelis as well as by the West, which is founded on Judeo-Christian values. Loss of Jerusalem to supremacist Islam might herald the demise of Western civilization. The whole Western World must therefore defend, without compromise, the integrity of Jerusalem, the City of Peace, against the ongoing Islamic violent assault. Until the Muslims accept Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem as part of the historical rights of the Jewish nation to its ancient homeland, there will be no peace in the Middle East. On the other hand, if the Muslims accept these premises regarding the Land of Israel, there is room for coexistence of Islam with Western civilization to the benefit of both.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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