Nationalism, religion and ethnicity are all factors that contribute to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These three factors also contribute to both nations’ narratives. Such narratives contribute towards the conflict, but paradoxically may also be a key factor in mitigating the conflict, or potentially even resolving it. Before discussing these factors, it will help to clarify what is meant by a national narrative.
Wertsch (2021) wrestles with this question and proposes that countries understand their identities, values and goals by looking towards their pasts. He observes nations manifest two different types of ‘national storytelling.’ One he dubs ‘national memory’, and the other he dubs ‘analytic history.’ He presents these two concepts as being antithetical to one another. Analytic history is the cold, fact-based history of a nation at the expense of any narrative, romanticism or story; national memory is precisely the opposite - it is narrative storytelling at the expense of facts and evidence. Wertsch uses Russia as an example in his book, noting how Russia uses both analytical history and national storytelling to cement its own identity as a nation-state. He points to several pivotal events in its history, often describing Russia ‘heroically resisting’ attacks from hostile powers, including the Mongols in the 1200s, the European armies of Napoleon in the 1800s and the fascist armies of Hitler in the 1900s. Such notions have even permeated Russia’s calendar. ‘Unity Day’ on November 4th commemorates when the Russian people expelled a Polish-Lithuanian garrison from Moscow in November 1612. This exemplifies how people often combine both facts and emotions in understanding their homeland’s history and a country’s standing in the world.
This same approach applies to Israel and Palestine. The storytelling approach permeates many factors of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including national issues, religious issues and ethnic issues. One contributor to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is nationalism. Both Israel and Palestine are relatively young nations; Israel was founded on 14th May 1948; Palestine was only officially proclaimed a state on 15th November 1988. While nations rise and fall throughout history and time, young nations often struggle to establish themselves on the world stage. This struggle can manifest in different ways. One way is from struggling to claim ‘legitimacy’ and sovereignty over an area of land. This has proven to be a particularly difficult task for both Israel and Palestine. Since both nations are ‘young’ in political terms i.e., their founding as modern political entities was relatively recently, it leads to waves of criticism, hostility and questioning of both countries ‘right to exist.’ Irredentism occurs not only between Israel and Palestine, but many external governments, organisations, and movements express irredentist views towards both states too.
Towards the Israeli side, irredentism has been expressed through wars, invasions, intifadas and attacks waged against it since the UN partition of Palestine in 1947, all the way to the present day. Israeli irredentism is more often dubbed anti-Zionism since it is opposition to the Zionist movement, a factor which will be discussed later. Anti-Zionism has also been expressed through international institutions, such as the notorious United Nations Resolution 3379, which "determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." (UN, 1975) NGOs such as BDS and Amnesty International frequently criticise Israel’s defence and foreign policy decisions (Amnesty International, 2019.) Jewish organisations such as Jewdas even oppose Israel and Zionism not only politically, but philosophically and religiously too (Elgot, 2018.)
Towards the Palestinian side, irredentism has been expressed through international politics. Palestine is a permanent, non-member, observer state in the UN, a strange position to be internationally – the only other state in this position is the Holy See. Moreover, only 138 out of 193 UN members recognise the State of Palestine, compared to 165 recognising Israel. Furthermore, many argue that the Oslo I and II Accords during the 1990s which attempted to further the peace process were heavily favoured towards Israel’s interests at the expense of Palestine’s interests. The accords did not even create a defined Palestinian state (Hedges, 1994.) One American-Palestinian philosopher Edward Said called the Oslo Accords a “Palestinian Versailles.” (More, 2008.)
The Oslo Accords were signed by Israeli and Palestinian representatives in front of US President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1993.
Ironically, irredentism can often have the opposite effect on a nation’s identity to what irredentists’ desire – a pertinent example of this is Ukrainian irredentism. Russia’s anti-Ukrainian political position and war against it has likely solidified Ukraine’s ‘right to exist’ as a separate nation-state from Russia. This same phenomenon applies to both Israel and Palestine too. Attempts to undermine a nation-state often play into that nation’s narrative, or to use a more psychological term, a nation’s mythology.
It is not just current events that mould a nation’s narrative though. As mentioned previously, nations understand themselves by remembering their pasts. Khoury (2020) argues that nationalism is “the congruence of memory and territory.” This notion explains one reason why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so bitter... both nations make very strong claims to the same territory. This can make the peace process between Israel and Palestine very difficult, since both sides claim cultural, religious, ethnic, and territorial ‘legitimacy’ over the Holy Land. Before discussing these other factors, it is critical to understand nationalism as being interrelated to other factors such as culture, religion, and ethnicity. There can be a tendency to separate these factors from one another to understand them better, which is something this essay aims to do; but it is vital to understand just how deeply interrelated each of these factors are. Israel’s and Palestine’s claims as legitimate nations are based in these factors, plus many more factors this essay does not cover.
Khoury theorises that both Israel and Palestine have a ‘founding myth’ each. Another notion could be each nation has a ‘causal event’ historically. For Israel, the foremost event is the Holocaust; for Palestine, it is the Nakba i.e., the expulsion of 700,000 Arabs and destruction of 400 – 600 Palestinian villages after the UN partition of the Levant between Jews and Arabs in 1947 – 48. These historical events affected people in profound ways. They did not just affect and mould people’s views towards their national identities; the Holocaust and Nakba had huge cultural, religious and ethnic consequences too.
The Holocaust has affected Israel’s standing in the world profoundly, but it also affected Jews, Judaism and Jewish culture too. These combined factors have affected Israeli society, discourse, politics and culture today. Whilst the Holocaust did not exclusively target Jews, over half of its murdered victims were Jews (estimated to be ~6 million Jews out of ~11.5 million victims) (Gerlach, 2016.) This amounts to 1 out of 3 Jews on Earth being wiped out in a 4-year period. Therefore, it is accurate to call the Holocaust a ‘genocide of the Jews’, especially when Hitler himself ‘prophesied’ that if another world war broke out, the consequence would be “the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” (United States Holocaust Encyclopedia, 1939.) The Holocaust was a culmination of thousands of years of antisemitism occurring in human civilisation, being recorded in ancient Egypt, the Greek states, the Roman empire, medieval Europe and in ‘Enlightenment states’ after the French Revolution (Riley-Smith, 1984; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2019.) Jewish expulsions, deportations, exoduses and death marches occurred in most European states for hundreds of years (Levy, 2006.) This does not include numerous massacres of Jews in Eastern Europe (Biddiss et al., 2011.) ‘Murder riots’ were so common that a Russian word specifically describes a massacre of Jews: pogrom (it derives from ‘по-громи́ть’ i.e., po-gromit’, which literally means ‘to destroy.’)
Many believe the Nazis were uniquely antisemitic, yet Europe has been awash with Jew-hatred for centuries. Note how Jews were even expelled from areas they were forced to flee too.
Such hatred has manifested for different reasons and has targeted Jews for different reasons; what is relevant is these motivations include religion-based hatred and ethnic, race-based, pseudo-biological hatred. Since Jewish history has been so bleak, Zionism became a movement in 1800s Europe that was preoccupied with protecting Jews from repeated exoduses, persecutions and pogroms. The Zionist project aimed to allow Jews to practice Judaism, observe Jewish festivals, or simply embrace being ethnically Jewish without fear of reprisal (Biger, 2004; Herzl, 1896.) These aims influence the State of Israel today in a multitude of ways.
One way is Judaism - this religion makes Israel a unique country in the world since Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. Whilst Israel does not have a codified constitution which officially codifies it as a Jewish state (Knesset, 2021), Judaism is the majority religion in Israel. Moreover, Israel’s flag and seal are based upon Jewish religion and liturgy e.g., the Israeli seal contains a 7-branched menorah, the candle used to celebrate Hanukah. It is undeniable that Israel is completely intertwined with the Jewish faith. In other words, religion is a huge factor which deeply entwines itself with Israeli nationality and the Israeli state. This is hardly a unique position for a nation to be in – most countries have a majority religion or even a state religion i.e., a nation based upon religious laws and practices. For example, England’s state religion is Anglicanism, with Christianity influencing England's laws, customs, culture and value system. However, England is also a multi-faith and multi-cultural society... yet it paradoxically affirms an official religion too. In contrast, India is officially a secular state yet many dub it ‘the Hindu country’ since 94% of the world’s Hindus live there and India’s majority religion is Hinduism (Majumdar, 2019.) The point of comparing India and England to Israel is this: the relationship between religion and nationality is often a deep and complex one.
This complex relationship between religion and nationality profoundly impacts Palestine too. Palestine is a majority Muslim state, but contains a sizeable Christian minority (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2010.) Different political parties in Palestine are more ‘oriented’ towards Islam than others, with Fatah being more secular, and Hamas being much more religious in its party doctrine (Cheema, 2008.) The Palestinian Liberation Organisation is a nominally secular organisation preoccupied with uniting the Palestinian people in the Palestinian cause, but the PLO has also acknowledged how much Islamic law influences its political decisions (Palestinian National Authority, 2003.) Many conflate Palestinians with Islam automatically, just as many conflate Israelis with Judaism automatically, despite 20% of Israelis being Arab Muslim (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2019.)
Islam has had a long presence in the Holy Land, predating the Palestinian state by thousands of years. Many states that ruled the Holy Land were Muslim states, including various caliphates, sultanates, dynasties, and Muslim empires. Many Muslims settled in the region, and over time identified themselves with the land itself just as much as being Muslim. This identity came to be known as ‘Palestinian’ in the late 1800s to early 1900s. One does not have to be Muslim or Arab to be Palestinian, although nearly all Palestinians are ethnically Arab (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2010.) Because of this fact, Arab ethnicity constitutes an integral part of Palestinian identity. Palestine is arguably an Arab ethno-state more than a Muslim state, just as Israel is arguably an ethno-democracy i.e., a Jewish-centred democracy, both ethnically and culturally. Islam further influences the Palestinian nation through Palestine’s cultural practices, language, place names and political organisations. Islam’s influence in Palestinian politics has been mentioned, but Palestine’s official tongue is the language of Islam and the Quran – Arabic (this notion applies to Israel also – its official language is Hebrew, the language of Judaism and the Tanakh/Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.) The coat of arms for Palestine contains the ‘eagle of Saladin’, a symbol harkening to the coat of arms of Saladin, the intrepid Muslim warlord who defeated the European crusader states of the time, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem which ruled the Holy Land. This means Palestine’s national symbol commemorates Islam being a dominant presence in the region. Just as Judaism is entwined with Israel, Islam is entwined with Palestine.
The Ibrahimi (Abraham) Mosque, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs is located in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. The holy figures of Abraham, Issac, Rebecca and Jacob are believed to be buried here. It is now half-synagogue, half-mosque, while also being a tomb holy to Jews, Christians, Muslims and other monotheists.
The point with Palestine’s nationalism is that is reflects Israel’s model of nationalism – both are deeply rooted in religion; the relationship between nationality and religiosity is complicated, nuanced, and multi-faceted. Arguably, religion’s relationship to territory is the ultimate source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is possibly a factor that causes more conflict than any other, more so than differing nationalities, ethnicities, cultures or backgrounds. There is plenty of evidence to back up this claim: the Tanakh/Old Testament records how God promises the first Jew, Abraham, and all his descendants the Promised Land, which is the territory of the Holy Land today (The Bible, n.d.) This is a critical point: ethnic and/or religious Jews and many Israelis do not just make territorial or ethnic claims to the disputed land; a sizeable group make a divine claim. In other words, many Israelis do not merely make jus soli claims (right of soil) or jus sanguinis claims (right of blood), but also a ‘jus Dei’ claim (rights from God.)
However, non-Jewish ‘Palestinians’ have lived on the land both before and after Jewish settlement took place during the conquest of Canaan in 1300 - 1200 BCE (the land of Israel-Palestine was called Canaan at this time.) Many people who lived in Palestine before and after Jewish settlement maintained different religious beliefs, including paganism, Yahwism, strange Judaic-pagan religions, with a period of Christian dominance during 200 – 600 CE, and Islam becoming the dominant religion of the region by around 800 – 900 CE (Tessler, 1994.) Non-Jewish Palestinians also have very strong jus soli and jus sanguinis claims to the land, considering many have lived there for generations, sometimes going back thousands of years. Religious belief (predominantly but not exclusively Islam) has a huge cultural impact on the region too, considering the lingua franca of the region has been Arabic for over 1000 years, with many place names being in Arabic. This has led to some calling Israel’s policies since 1947 a form of settler colonialism (Salamanca et al., 2012.) This is due to many factors, one being the Hebraisation of Palestinian place names, a notable and deliberate undermining of the dominant language of Arabic. Some also argue that Israeli settlements, particularly settlements in the West Bank and Gaza after Israel’s annexation of both territories in 1967 are another example of settler colonialism, which stoke the fires of resentment in Palestinians and in others abroad.
An Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Some Palestinians and Israelis have criticised this style of architecture for being non-vernacular i.e., out of step with the surrounding environment.
However, there is a tendency to focus on settlements as the main cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Chomsky and Rabbani, 1995.) Such analyses can over-simplify the many factors that fuel the conflict, many of these factors going deeper and reaching further back in time than post-1967 settlements. Jews were present in Mandatory Palestine before the UN partitioned it in 1947. Jews were also present in Palestine before Zionism was a consolidated movement in the 1800s; these Palestinian Jews are sometimes dubbed ‘ha-yishan yishuv’ which means ‘the old settlers.’ As noted before, some Jewish ‘old settlers’ have been present for over 3400 years. Tensions waxed and waned between Palestinian Jews and other Palestinians for millennia, climaxing in the ‘Great Revolt’ of 1936 – 39, when Palestinian Arabs revolted against British rule of Palestine in protest of how many Jewish settlers the British authorities were allowing to immigrate, as well as other reasons (Hughes, 2019.) Considering Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs are ethnically similar groups and have been for a long time, it undermines the notion that ethnicity is a strong motivator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Criticism of Israel is not usually levelled at Israel’s Jewish, semitic population or its demography; rather, criticism of Israel tends to be aimed at Israel’s national policies, particularly relating to its military actions and settlement policies. The factors that motivate Israeli decisions, as well as hostile reactions to these decisions from many Palestinians, are motivated by religious and cultural factors on both sides, more so than simple ethnic factors, especially since many Israelis and Arab-Palestinians are ethnically alike - over ¼ Israelis have Palestinian and/or Arab ethnicity, and ~50% of Israelis are non-white (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2019.)
This notion of religion and culture motivating hostilities is backed up by the historical record of Arab-Jewish relations in Palestine. As mentioned above, before Israel or Palestine existed there were hostilities between Muslims and Jews that go back over a thousand years (Ehrlich, 2022.) When Israel was eventually founded in 1947, most of the Arab world rejected the UN’s partition plan, a plan which gave much more land to the Arabs than the State of Palestine claims today. The Jews of Palestine accepted the partition plan and the Arabs of Palestine rejected it. This rushed partition led to al-Nakba (Arabic for the catastrophe.) In response, much of the Arab world including the Arab League, Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia declared war on young Israel, causing untold destruction in the Holy Land to Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, Arabs and others (Morris, 2008.) This was before any settlements in the West Bank or Gaza and 40 years before the modern State of Palestine was even declared a nation, which further debunks the argument that settlements are the biggest cause of hostilities today. Settlements are certainly a factor which exacerbate the conflict; Israelis settling in the West Bank when Palestinians do not have the right to return to Israeli territory is unfair and a cause of resentment (Lapidoth, 2002) - it is something that must be addressed in an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. However, settlements are a tiny factor of a much deeper, longer, broader picture. Even if there were no Israeli settlements in the State of Palestine whatsoever, nor any killings of Israelis and Palestinians whatsoever, there would still be many difficult obstacles for Israel and Palestine to address. Some issues include the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinians to return to Israeli territory, Palestinian port access to the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli acknowledgement of the Nakba, and many more issues.
A useful infographic showing the events between 1947 - 1948.
What can be done to mediate and finalise peace between Israel and Palestine is the golden question. If peace was simple to make, it would have been made long ago. However, Khoury (2020) offers one unique suggestion – both nations could focus on acknowledging each other’s most infamous causal tragedies, these being the Holocaust for Israel and al-Nakba for Palestine. After all, Israeli politicians and lawyers have attempted to suppress information or discourse on al-Nakba, which is probably a poor long-term strategy and likely will hinder any future peace negotiations (Golani & Mannā, 2011.) Khoury dubs his approach to peace a ‘joint deliberation’ of each other’s pasts and theorises that this challenges the ‘us and them’ mentality that nationalism and religion can foster. Acknowledging one another’s past tragedies does not deny any national, religious or ethnic sentiments: it could be a useful way of overcoming emotional barriers in any peace negotiations.
One more suggestion comes from Turkish Muslim scholar Mustafa Akyol. In a book on the similarities between Jewish, Christian and Islamic theology, Akyol (2017) points out how all three religions share what he calls the ‘Abrahamic tradition.’ In a nutshell, these are the shared beliefs that God ‘chose’ Abraham, that God cares about morality and wants people to behave kindly to one another, and that there is one God and no other gods, a belief set sometimes called ethical monotheism. Akyol suggests that by focusing on the shared beliefs many Israeli-Jews and Palestinian-Muslims hold, this could be a way to facilitate a future Israeli-Palestinian peace process. By pointing out the fundamental similarities both sides have, it could help overcome some of the religious, cultural and territorial differences the two sides have. There is even precedence for this happening; the aptly named Abraham Accords normalised diplomatic relations between Israel and some of its Arab-Muslim neighbours, including Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. The Abraham Accords Declaration declares that peace in the Middle East depends upon “promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity.” Any future peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine could take on board both Akyol’s and Khoury’s suggestions.
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