The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s religious framing is recent rather than primordial

Evidence

We came to this project, not as scholars of religion and nationalism per se, but more as involved scholars of a conflict in which the intertwining between religious claims and nationalism are transforming its dynamics. While mainstream discourse across the globe often invokes religion as a major reason for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the majority of Israelis and Palestinians have historically understood the conflict as fundamentally secular in nature – either national or settler colonial on the Palestinian side, or a conflict of liberating Eretz Yisrael (read Palestine) from foreigners on the Zionist side. Yet, in the past few decades, the apparent invocation of religious claims and interpretations and the role of religious players in the conflict have been on the rise, as evidenced by the increased infusion of religious claims into the local and global discourse and into state politics, particularly on the Israeli side and on the part of Hamas. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 51

Categorization

• XREF: Directly speaks to the reader’s research question about whether group solidarity rests on manufactured external enemies versus primordial identity — the conflict’s secular history versus its recent sacralization offers a natural test case. — connects to: The question is which religious part causes conflict, not whether religion does — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 516; Culture clash narratives frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a battle between modernity and stasis. — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 226; Today’s religious-strife flashpoints in Israel date back to the 1920s — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 460 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: Does the recent rise in religious framing reflect a genuinely new ideological turn or elites instrumentally sacralizing an older secular-nationalist conflict? The causal direction matters for the reader’s threat-hardening question.
• recurring: this claim recurs 3 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Today’s religious-strife flashpoints in Israel date back to the 1920s #contradicts (0.82) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 460
• The question is which religious part causes conflict, not whether religion does #qualifies (0.80) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 516
• Culture clash narratives frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a battle between modernity and stasis. #complicates (0.75) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 226