The Middle East

The current general impression of the 'Middle East conflict' is that it is a political struggle between Israel's demand for security vs. the Palestinian people's insistence on having their own homeland, with the United States serving as a bystanding broker. The main question regarding this characterization is if it is based in ignorance, or, in dishonesty. For, as anyone with a passing familiarity with history knows, what is transpiring today is only the latest episode in a religious struggle for control of Israel, the 'Holy Land', and for divine favoritism. And, there are three parties in contention, not merely Judaism and Islam, but also Christianity, whose special stake in the fate of Jerusalem is well-documented, even if papered over in the United States. So, with the fundamental religiosity of the problem exposed, there would seem to be three general solutions on those terms. First, there could be a concession on the part of Christianity and Islam to the historical priority of Judaism's claim to Israel. But this will never happen, not merely because such would destroy the theological essences of the former two, but further, because it fails to recognize the claims of the descendants of Abraham's oldest son, Ishmael, and the claims of the Jewish people who do not identify themselves as subscribers to the Judaistic religion. Second, there could be a renunciation by all three parties to any absolute claims, in an effort to find a mutual accommodation. This would seem to be the current approach taken by some representatives of all the sides, but their capacities to control the recalcitrant factions of each are challenged on a daily basis. Finally, a Solomonic solution would be to ban all religion in Israel, and then hand the territory over to whoever still wants to live there. The chances of that course being followed seem nearly nil, but at least it confronts the issue squarely.