Violence breeds violence

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has warned that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is turning more and more into religious warfare.

As if the enmity between Israelis and Palestinians — brought about by Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands — were not enough, there are fears that the killings are assuming religious overtones, which could further inflame spirits.

Four Israelis were killed in a Jerusalem synagogue last week in retaliation for the lynching of an innocent Palestinian bus driver by Jewish settlers.

The synagogue attack was used by settlers as a reason to attack more innocent Palestinians.

The worst that can happen to the Palestinian struggle is to have it depicted as a war against Judaism and have it linked, one way or another, to the sectarian violence engulfing the region.

Palestinian Muslims and Christians have no quarrel with Judaism. Muslims view it as one of the three monotheistic faiths that belong to “ahl al kitab”, or people of the book.

The Palestinian people’s problem is with the state that is committing all injustices and atrocities against them in the name of Judaism and world Jewry.

Giving the Palestinian struggle a religious dimension only complicates it more.

That said, it is doubtful that the Palestinians who attacked the synagogue in Jerusalem last week were driven by religious motives.

It would be more correct to say that the attackers were politically motivated and their acts stemmed from pent-up anger and frustration with Israel, and not with Judaism.

Having been denied freedom and an independent state for well over six decades, during which they suffered a ruthless occupation, Palestinians are driven to desperation.

And after the repeated violations and threats to Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine to Muslims all over the world, the synagogue attack might be seen by some as an attempt to give Israelis a taste of their own medicine.

Only the two-state solution, which would see the Palestinians independent and with no cause to feel frustrated anymore, could put an end to the violence in the holy land.

Violence breeds violence. It is a truism that could not have escaped even the Israelis.