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The Arab-Israeli Conflict Is about the Existence of Israel

(Gatestone Institute) Tawfik Hamid - In 1947, the UN Partition Plan gave the Arabs control over most of the Holy Land. The rejection of the plan by the Arab nations, and their declaration of war against Israel, was the first clear indication that the Arabs' desire was never to provide a state for the Palestinian people, but to erase Israel from the map. This destructive intent is memorialized in the Hamas Charter, which calls for the eradication of the State of Israel. This intent is also aligned with the Iranian leaders' continuous entreaties to destroy Israel. An evaluation of social media commentary in the Arab world demonstrates a genuine desire by many - if not most - to see the destruction of Israel and the killing not just of all Israeli Jews but of all Jews. Rejecting the State of Israel is related to the fact that it is a Jewish rather than a Muslim country. On several occasions I have asked Arab Muslims whether they would continue fighting Israel if its entire population converted to Islam. The answer is a unanimous "no." Then the problem has nothing to do with the land, as many claim, but with the Jewishness of the State of Israel. The only place I have found discrimination in Israel was by Muslims, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where non-Muslims are not permitted to enter (because non-Muslims are seen as unclean). By contrast, I - with my Muslim background - was freely allowed to visit the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem without any objection from the Israeli authorities.
2019-08-02 00:00:00
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