So.......
I think many people who frequent these threads are aware of the history of the modern state of Israel but can we talk about conflict in the middle East and completely avoid religion?
The press in the UK are very sensible in limiting mention of the religion of the various players in this middle East congregation but is it useful to discuss the impact of religion even though some of us (or maybe most of us) aren't religous?
If we want to look at the broad sweep of history Jerusalem is the centre of perhaps all the Abrahamic religion, Islam, Christianity and Judaism so the governance of the 'holy land' to those that are devout is important. Jerusalem contains sites that are the most important to Christians, Jews and perhaps the third most important in Islam so from a purely religious point of view is either a delightful convergence of religion or a constant source of tension which can ignite conflict.
I am not particularly religious but can see how the proximity of such important religious sites is an inextrictable issue. Additional y I think you can't deny the impact of religious extremism on either side of this conflict.
when people use terms like 'Zionist' do they realise such terms are from biblical text or Torah or Quran). Even the name Israel is the name of a biblical Patriarch who is of importance to all 3 religions.
Are we right to talk about the middle East and Israel while for absolutely understandable reasons minimising the religion of the combatants?