Religion and the Gaza Strip Incursion

Okay, the headline does include the word religion but is that an appropriate statement concerning the latest Israel and Hamas conflict in Gaza?

It is appropriate but not in a way that most people would think. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, namely Arabs have been going on for centuries but is religion the cause? Here we are, in the 21^st century and we still ask why these conflicts continue. One would think that after awhile, neither Israel nor the so called state of Palestine would still exist today considering all the bloodshed throughout the years.

Therefore, the question remains. Is religion a sole part of these conflicts? The answer is yes and no but that depends on how the situation is viewed and from what side that view is from.

The first question remains and has been a debatable issue going back many years and that is, who are the Palestinians and did the land of Palestine actually exist?

The answer to that is no, the state of Palestine as it is asserted today never existed. That area was ruled at one time or another by five separate entities. Rome originally ruled that area followed by the Islamic and Christians Crusaders, the Ottoman Empire as well as the British, shortly after World War I. Contrary to what modern day Arabs and even those in the liberal media state, Arabs never ruled that area as a separate nation Palestinian people do not exist.

That area by the Arabs is considered to be an area to continue a strategic initiative to wipe Israel off the map and displace the Jewish people outside their homeland, the land that God gave to the Jewish people in the first place. The religious aspect for Israel in this conflict stops there.

But, did the nation of Palestine ever exist?

Back in 1977, a Dutch newspaper, Trouw published an interview with the PLO executive committee member, Zahir Musein and guess what Zahir stated?

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan Palestinian people do not exist." The radical Islamic extremists have been stating many things over the years

Know them by their words but is completely ignored as the historic truths are thrown into the dust bin of world history.

Therefore, with that said by the PLO executive committee Zahir Musein, how does religion play in this conflict? No where except from the Islamic Jihad groups who use Islam to destroy its enemy, Israel. Moreover, the religion of Islam is also a political system, something that most people either don't know about or just ignore. Islamic extremists use both religious extremes and politics to conquer as they please and yet, the international community will criticize Israel for its self-defense actions.

How can the naysayers say Israel has no right to defend itself from a violent religious-political system when other nations have defended themselves against aggression and then state it is nothing more than a religious war?

Islam and its extremists can literally be viewed as a micro-country on its own merits. Many people state that religion cause much bloodshed and there may be some truth to that over the centuries but today, the only bloodshed being spilt is by Islamic extremists and a religion that is bent on conquering land that was never theirs to begin with.

This conflict and all of the previous conflicts in Gaza is about hatred of the Jewish people and Israel as a whole as well as power and conversion to Islam. Someday, the western world will realize that hatred exists in Islam and is perpetrated by extremists and not use the excuse of religion as the reason for conflicts in the Holy Land.

As for the Palestinian people, they have a homeland and it is not in Israel but in the neighboring countries, specifically Jordan. Unfortunately for them, they are used as pawns for the Islamic world.

Once people realize the magnitude of these conflicts, and that religion does not really play a large part of it, then there will be peace in Israel once and for all, but then again, maybe not as deception and denial are too grounded in today's political stones.

After all, a former PLO executive committee member statement back in 1977 must be a deception of sorts because history seems to have been re-written for many and deception lives on.