¨New Holy War: Politics and Religion’s Greatest Conflict¨ by Bryant

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In December 2017 United States President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the U.S. would move its embassy to the city. The move is praised by most Jews but despised by most Muslims. The area has been the center of religious conflict for centuries. Muslims and Jews are the latest to clash over the Jewish state known as Israel. In the 20th century Jews living in Europe sought refuge from persecution by establishing Israel. Muslims who had been living in the region for centuries saw this sudden intrusion as an act of war, and in 1967 a war broke out that left part of Israel to be known as Palestine and under Muslim authority. Now it seems the ticking time bomb planted by history is going off as the West formally recognizes Israel as Jewish and Jerusalem as the capital.

Pakistanis protest the U.S. moving the embassy to Jerusalem on Monday May 24

According to The Guardian on May 14, “Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza on Monday, killing dozens and injuring more than 2,400 people protesting the Monday opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.” This event occurs ahead of the landmark decision to move the United States embassy into Jerusalem. The Palestinian protestors, angry over the U.S. siding with the Jews, turned their protests violent hurling stones, attacking Israeli soldiers, and attempting to cross into Israel. The soldiers were then forced to defend themselves by firing on the protestors. According to the New York Times, “The Israeli Defence Force used crowd control methods including rubber bullets, high powered water, and tear gas to contain the crowds until the protests turned too violent.”  The Israelis response to the protestors has come with international scrutiny from many states. One particular being a spokesperson for the U.K.’s prime minister Theresa May saying, “We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts.” Another response being Turkey removing their foreign diplomats from the U.S. and Israel. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the critics via Twitter stating, “Every country has an obligation to defend its borders.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

As protests continue to heat up and the body count continues to rise, one must ask themself is all of this violence necessary? Can this conflict be solved? Is total Jewish control a good thing or a bad thing? With millions of different opinions a person must see both sides of the conflict. To the Jews they are fighting terrorists for control of their homeland. To the Palestinians they are fighting Jews who stole their land they had controlled for generations. Also they are fighting Western powers who encroach on their lands and culture whenever and however they want. With so many viewpoints there is no clear solution. Both sides must come together and meet each others needs. The Israelis must understand the Palestinians and vice versa. Only when the two can come together without toting machine guns will hope for lasting peace be a real possibility.

Works Cited

Beauchamp, Zack. “What Are Israel and Palestine? Why Are They Fighting?” Vox, Vox, 31 Mar.

“Fresh Violence Erupts along Gaza-Israel Border as Palestinians March Again.” Flipboard on
Flipboard,
flipboard.com/@flipboard/-fresh-violence-erupts-along-gaza-israel/f-09d8368740%2Fcnn.c
om.

Holpuch, Amanda, et al. “Israeli Forces Kill Dozens of Palestinians in Protests as US Embassy
Opens in Jerusalem – as It Happened.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 May
2018,

Landler, Mark. “Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to
Move.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Dec. 2017,

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/6/netanyahu-beats-deadline-form-new-government/.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 16, 2018 at 9:19 AM

    Bryant. wow. Super informative, and pretty easy to understand for people like me who don't watch the news ;) I loved how you broke it down to its simplest terms, and how you chose a topic that is so here and now. I definitely want to learn more about it. It's crazy what can spark conflict these days, and you definitely laid out each and every perspective to the topic. Great job.

    ReplyDelete

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