Can the Arab/Isreali conflict really be just down to religion?
No. It has very little to do with religion. It is about colonialism, displacement, and what used to be called “the Great Game” of empire. That said, it is very much in the interests of the Israeli government to depict the conflict as part of the ‘global war on terror’ or the conflict between Judeo-Christian West and Muslim East. But this is not true. Many Israelis are secular (and Israel was established by secular Jews as a secular state), and many Palestinians are Christian. What is true, however, is that the ongoing conflict incites sectarian hatred on both sides, and fuels religious hatred in the entire region. Also, as you see here, evangelical Christians who are convinced that Biblical prophecy is being played out before their very eyes (much more than most Jews do) fan the flames. They certainly have a lot of influence from the American perspective.
