Hamas is literally an offshoot of the Muslim brotherhood.
Fatah is reasonably secular. But Hamas is fighting a literal jihad against Jews. To Hamas, this is very much a religious war to establish a Muslim theocracracy over all of Israel.
You’re still confusing the pretext with the actual reason. Hamas and the Zionists both say they are doing this for religious reasons, but the actual reasons are much more complex and almost entirely political and social. You’re buying into the propaganda from both sides of you really think the root of this catastrophe is religion.
Hamas only exists because of the occupation and oppression caused by the state of Israel.
Hamas, as mentioned, is an offshoot of the Muslim brotherhood. The Muslim brotherhood still exists in Egypt, despite Egypt not oppressing Muslims. Hamas might not have split off into a separate organization, but they’d basically still exist without Israel.
More to the point, though, why Israel? Why did Jews want to establish a state in Israel? Are you really going to argue that had nothing to do with religion? The second intifada was literally caused by Ariel Sharon visiting the Al-Aqsa mosque. Clearly, that had nothing to do with religion either.
I’m not saying that the conflict is purely religious. It’s a complex blend of religion and politics.
Arguing that religion has nothing to do with it is ridiculous.
Why did Jews settle in Israel?
There were many there already. It is their historical homeland of origin.
It has cultural significance as a past Jewish homeland.
And frankly I think being surrounded by enemies has been galvanizing for them, not a minus at all.
AND, here’s the main thing I think you are insisting on missing: it has religious significance too, which whips up certain people into a fervor.
Just because leaders manipulate people with religion doesn’t mean they are religiously motivated. Religion is for manipulating people. It has a great impact on certain people and situations, but it’s a tool. For example, if you want suicide bombers, it’s a tool for convincing them to die. This doesn’t mean religion is the reason you’re bombing. Religion is a how not a why (except for in the minds of some pawns, which I’ll allow is true).
