On Israel, Gaza and the Absurdity of Religious Conflict (essay)
By Luke Labern
I’m not one for writing about politics—certainly not about current affairs.
The situation in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine—specifically Gaza—however, is something that interests me. Partly this is because I see the conflict as essentially a religious one. What has really inspired me to write this, however, is the response I have seen from almost everyone I have encountered—specifically those on social media.
My aim here is simple: to assess the situation using primarily reason, as opposed to numerous statistics (which are contested by both belligerents). The overall question I will be attempting to answer is a suitably provocative one:
Who, in this conflict, is most to blame: Israel, the stronger power, bombarding the tiny Gaza strip, or Hamas, the terrorist organisation in charge of Gaza, who peppers the streets of Israel with rockets of its own?
That I pose this question at all has already separated me from the vast majority of those discussing the issue today. It is worth pointing out that by this I do not mean intelligent commentators: I mean the public, the majority—those who watch the news, hear that Israel is killing children, and rashly decide that it is Israel who are solely in the wrong.
This is a mistake.
Let me be clear: that there are young children—not Muslim children, for no child is capable of possessing a religious belief—being murdered as I write this is a tragedy. That Israel has decided to bomb UN schools is inhumane.
What is equally inhumane, however, are the tactics used by Hamas. Why are Israel targeting hospitals and schools (which, to make it clear, should never be bombed under any circumstances)? Because Hamas purposely plant their rockets and haul of weapons in such places—that is, schools and hospitals—in the hope that Israel will rely on some form of moral aversion to destroying children along with the weapons of their enemies.
This one fact—perfectly tragic and absurd from both sides—is a microcosm of the ‘war’ as a whole. The battle being fought between Israel and Palestine (read: the Jews and the Muslims) is really a battle about religion, religiosity and religious intolerance.
It may seem as though, in using the word ‘intolerance’, that I am presupposing that tolerance is what would yield peace. Far from it. I believe we should not be tolerant of this state of affairs. Not tolerant of the deaths of children and non-combatants. Not tolerant of Hamas’ unspeakably devious attempts to prey upon the morality of their opponents.
What we should not have tolerance for, above all, is religious conflict of any kind.
The real tragedy of this battle—over and above the real lives being lost each moment—is that this battle cannot end. There really is no hope (if one thinks a ceasefire is an ending as opposed to a temporary cessation in the cycle of needless death, then they are as deluded as those fuelling the fight) whilst (organised) religion is taken seriously.
To be clear: Israel should not exist. No religious people should have a country of their own. Israel does, however, exist. That Islam refuses to recognise Israel as a nation is the source of this conflict; make no mistake.
It is true that Israel has one of the strongest armed forces in the world—don’t let their absurd choice of headwear fool you—and it is true that they are disproportionately strong compared to Hamas. But it is also a fact that Hamas provoked this conflict by firing rockets into Israel precisely because the believers of Islam are at war with unbelievers—especially those who are sitting on ‘their’ holy land.
The absurdity of this conflict is that both sides are capable of making sensible appeals for protection—but these claims are underwritten by the absurdity of religious delusion.
Israelis make a sound point in asking the question ‘What would you do if Hamas fired rockets into the UK?’
Gazans make a sound point in asking the question ‘What would you do if parts of the UK were reclaimed as part of Israel?’
Yes: these are points that get to the emotional, political and nationalist nub of the reasoning of those killing and dying in the conflict. But there is something underlying this: the absurdity of religion.
Both the Jews and the Muslims believe they alone are the only true religion: both believe they are entitled to the piece of land upon which Israel is based. (That the West dished out such land to Jews due to their feelings of guilt over the Holocaust is something I can barely fathom.)
Sadly, both of them are tapped deeply into the vein of pride: each believes its people, and its people alone, are God’s chosen people; each believes the other is the definition of sin on earth.
Whilst the conflict may appear to be about national borders and the unnecessary hostility of the Israelis, it is really about something much more fundamental: the national hostility, arrogance and blood-lust of monotheistic organised religions whose holy texts were written by primitive, backwards and uncultured almost-humans.
It is a tragedy that people are dying. It is a tragedy that Israel and Gaza—along with countless other peoples—are at war with one another.
The greatest tragedy of all, however, is that these people are killing, dying and sacrificing themselves for millenia-old stories the simplest child could undermine.
Who is most to blame? Both Israel and Gaza—but only because they, like all religious people, have sacrificed the space in their cognitive facilities where reason could be to an overwhelming intoxicant: the dogmatic poison of organised religion.
Published 06 August 2014