All Comments (39)

i like big eggs okayyyy?

p.s i got big nips.

Dear Stephen,

"But to harbor such naivete (sic.) is to remain in the dark. On all sides of the various conflicts in the Middle East—and they are legion—lie religious fears, religious beliefs, and religious aspirations. We in the United States ignore these factors at our peril."

Good points, but the only thing you missed is that Secularism is a religion too. The one thing that I have learned on these blogs is that the Secularists and Atheists here are at least often fundamentalists as the religious extremists. They are committed to their positions regardless of facts, reason from facts, or the refutation of their arguments and premises.

History records that the twentieth century Atheist regimes were as extreme, or more extreme, than any religious misadventures in history. The butcher bill was higher for the Atheist wars than all the religious wars in history. What do the Atheist extremists here say? Oh, those guys weren't true Atheists! Total denial. They love the Dawkins Delusion that if we can only get rid of the religions, then everything will be sweetness and light. Your use of the term "naivete" rings true, and on all sides. Some more sophisticated thinking is needed all around.

Fundamentalism is for simpletons. That includes the Dawkins Delusion and the anti evolution crowds equally.

CCNL, I hope you have contributed the the research. https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/
Very educational.

I’m not entirely sure where I stand religiously, but a lot of people are very, very sure about where they stand. To ignore, or minimize their beliefs is foolish at best. You make the finest argument for respecting the (religious) beliefs of other that I have read in a long time.

George Albert: Under Hansen's definition of anti-semitism, a Palestinian who resisted efforts by the Irgun to kill his family and steal his land is anti-semitic.

Sorry, but this blood libel won't stick. This is a shameless attempt to smear anyone who doesn't kowtow to Israel. Hansen is one of the neocon idiots who predicted sunny days in Vietraq and still won't admit he was dead wrong. Of course, only US troops are dead because of him and his kind, but they don't count in Hansen's calculus.

Israel Uber Alles? Not by me. I'm an American and I don't intend to be inconvenienced by the same nation that attacked the USS Liberty, had their Zio-fascist traitor Jonathan Pollard steal our atomic secrets, and sold top-secret US military technology to Communist China.

Save you pathetic blood libel for others.

This is a 'straw-man' piece.
I don't think people are unaware of the great significance of religion in political life, especially when since 9/11 there has been a U.S. effort to contend with international terrorism- a terrorism largely propelled by radical Islamic ideology.
The problem is not that we do not understand the importance of religion- but rather that at the moment one specific world religion with over one billion adherents has become engaged in a civilizational confrontation with those standing for certain human and democratic values which that religion has difficulty living with.

Concerned The Christian Now Liberated: wrote

As per National Geographic, Palestine was originally settled by hominids from Africa followed by Canaanites and Philistines. We should give it back to the chimps who created said original hominids.

I read somewhere that there's a new theory, says hominids evolved at least 30 time in as many places. That accounts for minor differences in the races. Could the differences not be minor?

As per National Geographic, Palestine was originally settled by hominids from Africa followed by Canaanites and Philistines. We should give it back to the chimps who created said original hominids.

For $99.99, anyone living today can find out what chimp base they came from.
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/

Hi-
I'm glad that a jihadi has finally come forward to try to frame the mess we have in the Mideast as being a religious one.
You are right of course. Since Ur and Eridu when a people was victorious their God was recognized as the Big Kahuna. The tangling of social mores and religion is over who has control. Be it the Old World invaders in Israel (the new Crusaders only Jewish this time), the New World invaders who have made a secular Iraq into a religious sectarian one, or the Arab invaders of Kurdistan, everyone has a God on their side, a situation made all the more confusing because each of these three invaders thought they had the same God on their side. So much for the victor's God driving the loser's God out of the temple.
Since the conflicts are intractable, there is only one solution, Armageddon. If that seems a little harsh (God will sort it out you know), how about accommodation. Shi'a and Sunnis, Jews and Muslims and Gentiles did live together in the 19th Century. Only the invasions of the 20th Century have stirred up the passions long extinct. Can't we all simply have contempt for each other other and get along, like in the old days.

Hi-
I'm glad that a jihadi has finally come forward to try to frame the mess we have in the Mideast as being a religious one.
You are right of course. Since Ur and Eridu when a people was victorious their God was recognized as the Big Kahuna. The tangling of social mores and religion is over who has control. Be it the Old World invaders in Israel (the new Crusaders only Jewish this time), the New World invaders who have made a secular Iraq into a religious sectarian one, or the Arab invaders of Kurdistan, everyone has a God on their side, a situation made all the more confusing because each of these three invaders thought they had the same God on their side. So much for the victor's God driving the loser's God out of the temple.
Since the conflicts are intractable, there is only one solution, Armageddon. If that seems a little harsh (God will sort it out you know), how about accommodation. Shi'a and Sunnis, Jews and Muslims and Gentiles did live together in the 19th Century. Only the invasions of the 20th Century have stirred up the passions long extinct. Can't we all simply have contempt for each other other and get along, like in the old days.

If the Shia and the Sunni were suddenly unhypnotized
and saw the truth with dazzling clarity...the truth that God is make believe,and that Paradise is just a pipe dream,they would probably find something else to fight about,but at least they'd stop blowing themselves up to get into Paradise.
The way to long term peace,however,demands that religious superstition end. Its the one area of our lives where we are encouraged to be irrational,even praised for it. Religion has all the veracity of astrology,and if it wasn't drummed into our heads when we were young we'd see it for the nonsense it really is.
Religion will bring us more 9/11's,and probably even worse horrors in the future,unless we can find a way to get rid of it.
Fat chance.But we could at least start,by speaking out against it whenever we can. Its the least we can do.

Dear Kim -

I hope for your son's safety.

I do have a question for you. You say that if something happens to your son, "Our Father will take him home and he"ll be safe with him." When do you think this happens? As I understand it, the Bible says that the dead remain in their graves until the final judgement when they are resurrected and judged, yet many Xians seem to believe that believers' souls are transported to heaven to be with god instantly after their deaths.

Do different sects have different takes on this? I'd be interested to know what your denomination teaches, as well as what other sects believe.

Thanks.

candide: - If Jews convert to Islam they'll have to give up their Mogen David wine. Not a chance!

Good idea otherwise. Maybe Islam could do the converting, get their heads out of their A's?

Peace could come to the Middle East if Jews would convert to Islam -- they would lose nothing thereby except their dubiously useful chosenness; they would gain peace with millions and have no obligation to regard Jesus as divine or God as three-in-one. This is a solution. The only problem: Sunni or Shia Islam?

I suspect Hasidic Jews would become Shiite and the others Sunni.

Anti-Semitism Is Resurfacing In New Strains
By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON | Posted Friday, September 14, 2007 4:30 PM PT

Who recently said: "These Jews started 19 Crusades. The 19th was World War (1). Why? Only to build Israel." Some holdover Nazi?

Hardly. It was former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey, a NATO ally. He went on to claim that the Jews — whom he refers to as "bacteria" — controlled China, India and Japan, and ran the United States.

Who alleged:

"The Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperated with the Zionists, actually. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs."

A conspiracy nut?

Actually, it was former Democratic U.S. Sen. James Abourezk of South Dakota. He denounced Israel on a Hezbollah-owned television station, adding: "I marveled at the Hezbollah resistance to Israel. . . . It was a marvel of organization, of courage and bravery."

And finally, who claimed at a United Nations-sponsored conference that democratic Israel was "much worse" than the former apartheid South Africa, and that it "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming"? A radical environmentalist wacko?

Again, no. It was Clare Short, a member of the British parliament. She was a secretary for international development under Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A new virulent strain of the old anti-Semitism is spreading worldwide. This hate — of a magnitude not seen in over 70 years — is not just espoused by Iran's loony president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or radical jihadists.

The latest anti-Semitism is also now mouthed by world leaders and sophisticated politicians and academics. Their loathing often masquerades as "anti-Zionism" or "legitimate" criticism of Israel. But the venom exclusively reserved for the Jewish state betrays their existential hatred.

Israel is always lambasted for entering homes in the West Bank to look for Hamas terrorists and using too much force. But last week the world snoozed when the Lebanese army bombarded and then crushed the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, which harbored Islamic terrorists.

The world has long objected to Jewish settlers buying up land in the West Bank. Yet Hezbollah, flush with Iranian money, is now purchasing large tracts in southern Lebanon for military purposes and purging them of non-Shiites.

Here at home, "neoconservative" has become synonymous with a supposed Jewish cabal of Washington insiders who hijacked U.S. policy to take us to war for Israel's interest. That our state department is at the mercy of a Jewish lobby is the theme of a recent high-profile book by professors at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.

Yet when the United States bombed European and Christian Serbia to help Balkan Muslims, few critics alleged that American Muslims had unduly swayed President Clinton. And such charges of improper ethnic influence are rarely leveled to explain the billions in American aid given to nondemocratic Egypt, Jordan or the Palestinians — or the Saudi oil money that pours into American universities.

The world likewise displays such a double standard. It seems to care little about the principle of so-called occupied land — whether in Cyprus or Tibet — unless Israel is the accused. Mass murdering in Cambodia, the Congo, Rwanda and Darfur has earned far fewer United Nations' resolutions of condemnation than supposed atrocities committed by Israel. A number of British academics are sponsoring a boycott of Israeli scholars but leave alone those from autocratic Iran, China and Cuba.

There are various explanations for the new anti-Semitism. For many abroad, attacking Jews and Israel is an indirect way of damning its main ally, the U.S. — by implying that Americans are not entirely evil, just hoodwinked by those sneaky and far more evil Jews.

At home, there are obvious pragmatic considerations. Some Americans may find it makes more sense to damn a few million Israelis without oil than it does to offend Israel's adversaries in the Middle East, who number in the hundreds of millions and control nearly half the world's petroleum reserves.

Cowardice explains a lot. Libeling Israel won't earn someone a fatwa or a death sentence in the manner comparable criticism of Islam might. There are no Jewish suicide bombers in London, Madrid or Bali.

This new face of anti-Semitism is so insidious because it is so well disguised, advanced by self-proclaimed diplomats and academics — and now embraced by the supposedly sophisticated left on university campuses.

When national, collective or personal aspirations are not met, it is far easier to blame someone or something rather than to look within for the source of the failure and frustration. More recently, someone must be blamed for getting terrorists (with oil and its profits behind them) mad at us.

That someone is — no surprise — once again Jews.

IslamWatch is a Zio-Fascist disinformation front. On the same level as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The ME conflict is not religous:it is about land stolen by the anomolous creation of a racist jewish theocracy on top of already existing nation/community of Palestininans;as soon as the imported jews leave and relinquish the land they stole,the sooner the attainment of regional peace which the jewish state has deprived the whole ME of.
Religion came in after the land was stolen to justify wars.

Kim:

That paragraph was filled with so much self-delusion I almost laughed so hard I squirted soda out of my nose. Yikes. Open your eyes sweetheart. God isn't protecting anybody.

Add this to the equation.

Americans like going to war and killing and maimimg and destroying societies. And they do it in the name of God. If this war in Iraq had ended quickly America would look for another war.

Soon, America will bomb Iran in the name of goodness and God. Just ask George Bush.

Add this to the equation.

Americans like going to war and killing and maimimg and destroying societies. And they do it in the name of God. If this war in Iraq had ended quickly America would look for another war.

Soon, America will bomb Iran in the name of goodness and God. Just ask George Bush.

Non sens, politics make use of religion, jews and Muslims have alwyas lived together relativley in peace

A person's worldview, his actions, and his politics tend to be a reflection of his image of of God. So yes, religion matters because religion attempts to describe God and therefore this will impact politics. Religion matters because God matters. The closer to the Truth about God a religion comes the better the politics of those people who practice that religion. The more falsehood about God in a particular religion the more violence, repression, intolerance and hate you will find in that person's politics. God the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord is the true God and has the power to change one life at a time. Ultimately, this will bring peace. Peace will not come from politics or religion but through Christ.

Dear Professor Prothero

I tend to agree with Norrie Hoyt, at least as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. The conflict in Sri Lanka, I can say with some certainty has nothing to do with Hinduism vs Buddhism. It is about ethnic Tamils concentrated in one part of Sri Lanka (most of whom happen to be Hindus) wanting political independence from the rest of the country where ethnic Singalese (many of whom happen to be Buddhists)happen to be in the majority. As far as I'm aware Hindus are not persecuted for their religious belief in Sri Lanka (not all Singalese are Buddhists in the first place) and at no time did the Tamil Tigers name religion as the reason for wanting a separate Tamil state.

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia

Our Father in heaven says there will be wars and rumors of wars. We are not to worry ourselves. He has it all handled. My son is in the Army. And if anything happens to him while he is over there. Our Father will take him home and he"ll be safe with him. It is not our job to worry about politics. Our Father has a plan. It is written. Have faith!

Our Father in heaven says there will be wars and rumors of wars. We are not to worry ourselves. He has it all handled. My son is in the Army. And if anything happens to him while he is over there. Our Father will take him home and he"ll be safe with him. It is not our job to worry about politics. Our Father has a plan. It is written. Have faith!

Our Father in heaven says there will be wars and rumors of wars. We are not to worry ourselves. He has it all handled. My son is in the Army. And if anything happens to him while he is over there. Our Father will take him home and he"ll be safe with him. It is not our job to worry about politics. Our Father has a plan. It is written. Have faith!

Prof Prothero - On a more benign note, I do want to add that I very much support your idea to teach ABOUT religion in the schools and wish you well in this process.

American Forign Policy decision makers should become Familiar with the "Five Major religiopns" for now. not forever!

Judah, Christian, Islamic, Hindu & Buddha et al! Ya Ya!

Vote: Secular Government Rule & Never by ANY religion Rule or by ANY superstupidstitious Pre-Apocalyptic selfish rule! Always,

Vote: OUR-BOOK! a/k/a, O.ne U.niversal R.eligion-Book! And,

Never Vote, For their "Man Made" & Zero Allah/G-d/krishna Glorious unholy Quaran saying's as if from G-d ITSELF explained or revealed to humates , nor that the Old/New testament's saying's , nor the bhagavad Holy Geeta/Gita & Buddha Secret Tantra books/Bibles/Scripture saying's, etc.!

praise the lord/Eclat + "i"! < ?: +)' Um.

I don't know why you have to drag Christianity into this. The real fighting is an age-old ancestral land battle between the historically displaced (mostly Muslim) Arabs and the historically displaced (mostly Jewish) Israelis.

There are Christians stuck in on both sides of this conflict, just as there are atheists, Bahais, and Buddhists also being butchered by the land war going on around them. Their Christian/Bahai religion may sustain them during this turmoil, but it certainly isn't causing them to blowing themselves up on buses.

Agreed that religion sometimes plays a part in conflicts and should be understood by the US State department. Disagreed that it's all religion's fault.

Peace,
RT

98% ethnicity (not religion) and politics - 2%religion.

You wrote, "One of the grave failures of this generation of American foreign policy makers is their blindness to the power of religion."

I'm left to conclude that Mr Regan and Mr Bush had/have nothing to do with the making of foreign policy. You're either blind or you're just plain dumb. There's a third option of course, dishonest. Without a keen sense of religious con-man-ship neither would have been elected to make the "must not hurt their tender religious feelings" foreign policy.

Maybe a better policy would be honesty. To begin let's let the Muslims know they like Christians and Jews are the victims of a hoax, specifically Moses and the burning bush nonsense. The best thing that can happen and the only thing that will ever end terrorism and more events like 9-11 is the disintegration of world religions. I understand the RCC is in operation head start, self destructing right now, kinda like the Notre Dame football team.

Reference: http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul

Challenge: Name a terror greater than hell and explain why religions are not inherently terrorist organizations.

Charge: Threatening children with the fires of hell is child abuse and thus a criminal activity.

Professor Prothero -- First, correction of a simple error. I think your last sentence, which currently reads “We in the United States these factors at our peril” should read, “We in the United States IGNORE these factors at our peril.”

Now, comments on what seems to me to be a calculated insult. In your book, “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't” you mention, under your dictionary heading for “Bible” that Teddy Roosevelt “once blasted” Tom Paine as a “filthy little atheist.” (p. 163) You don’t mention there that Paine is a famous American revolutionary-war era patriot, diplomat and author of “The Age of Reason.” Plus, it's not clear to me why Paine and Roosevelt, who were not contemporaries, are linked at all in a short definition of the Bible meant to improve American's religious literacy.

I have difficulty imagining this as anything but a conscious or unconscious jibe about atheists. However, I would be delighted to hear a convincing explanation to the contrary.

Presently, when I read your commentary, I wonder what other prejudices are popping up, giving your readers a distorted perception of the people mentioned or the subject matter being discussed.

in order to understand world mass ignorance,in order to understand world mass extremism,in order to understand world mass conflict,in order to understand world mass humanbeings ,in order to understand world mass purpose of life,in order to understand world mass destination and world mass station.you certainly need to understand world mass monotheism.

world mass human conflict is as wide as this life!
what is the name of the conflict?what is the name of polarity?who is world mass enemy?what,s all this about?why?when?how come?and since when?.
welcom in life.

The question: "To what extent are problems in the Middle East about religion and to what extent are they about politics? Does it matter?

I would add "and to what extent are they about water supplies?

The answer: All Three with the religious problems and foundation flaws feeding the political and water problems.

How to fix???

Recognize the flaws in the foundations of said religions:

The flaws:

1. Abraham founder/father of three major religions was probably a mythical character. If he was real, he was at best a combination of at least three men. 1.5 million Conservative Jews and their rabbis have relegated Abraham to the myth pile along with most if not all the OT.

2. Jesus, the illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter possibly suffering from hallucinations, has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth. Analyses of his life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists)via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics.

3. Mohammed, the "holey not holy hallucinator, also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" aka "pwtfft"s and flying chariots to the Koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers.

This agenda continues as shown by the conduct of the seven Muslim doctors in the UK, the 9/11 terrorists, the 24/7 Sunni suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers , the 24/7 Shiite suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers , the Bali crazies, the Kenya crazies, the Pakistani koranics, the Palestine suicide bombers/rocketeers, the Lebanese nutcases and the Filipino koranics. And who funds these acts of terror? Islamic Iran, the Third Axis of Evil and also the "Wannabees" of Saudi Arabia.

4. Luther, Calvin, Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley et al, founders of Christian-based religions, also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of "pretty wingy talking flying fictional thingie" visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

How to fix? Rewrite the OT, NT and Koran in historical terms.

Next???

Turn control of Jerusalem and the water supplies in the area over to the UN.

Use the current oil/blood/terror profits of Iran, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, etc. to fund water desalination plant construction throughout the Mideast.

Sir, you are the one blind to the powers of religion...

Religion IS indeed a powerful force. But having "experts" on the worlds religions on one's staff-- is not going to make one whit of a difference when you have fundamentalist Christians running the US.

Do you really need this lesson? Fundamentalist Christians think THEIRS is the ONLY "true" religion around, so they have CLOSED MINDS on any information that differs from their pre-defined dogma.

The world has become a worse place duirng the term of Bush administration -- not because it has emphasized secularism -- but the very opposite: Because it has sought to impose its ideological religious views on the rest of the world, without a CARE what anyone else tbought Afterall, when you are deluded enought to think yourself God's agent, all those who disagree with you are regarded as evil.

Our constitution is a great PRECISELY because it is a secular document; In it, our founders sought to preserve religious freedoms without allowing religious ideologues to impose their views on others.

Your piece is topsy turvy to the reality.

Sir, you are the one blind to the powers of religion...

Religion IS indeed a powerful force. But having "experts" on the worlds religions on one's staff-- is not going to make one whit of a difference when you have fundamentalist Christians running the US.

Do you really need this lesson? Fundamentalist Christians think THEIRS is the ONLY "true" religion around, so they have CLOSED MINDS on any information that differs from their pre-defined dogma.

The world has become a worse place duirng the term of Bush administration -- not because it has emphasized secularism -- but the very opposite: Because it has sought to impose its ideological religious views on the rest of the world, without a CARE what anyone else tbought Afterall, when you are deluded enought to think yourself God's agent, all those who disagree with you are regarded as evil.

Our constitution is a great PRECISELY because it is a secular document; In it, our founders sought to preserve religious freedoms without allowing religious ideologues to impose their views on others.

Your piece is topsy turvy to the reality.

The question: "To what extent are problems in the Middle East about religion and to what extent are they about politics? Does it matter?

I would add "and to what extent are they about water supplies?

The answer: All Three with the religious problems and foundation flaws feeding the political and water problems.

How to fix???

Recognize the flaws in the foundations of said religions:

The flaws:

1. Abraham founder/father of three major religions was probably a mythical character. If he was real, he was at best a combination of at least three men. 1.5 million Conservative Jews and their rabbis have relegated Abraham to the myth pile along with most if not all the OT.

2. Jesus, the illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter possibly suffering from hallucinations, has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth. Analyses of his life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists)via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics.

3. Mohammed, the "holey not holy hallucinator, also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" aka "pwtfft"s and flying chariots to the Koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers.

This agenda continues as shown by the conduct of the seven Muslim doctors in the UK, the 9/11 terrorists, the 24/7 Sunni suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers , the 24/7 Shiite suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers , the Bali crazies, the Kenya crazies, the Pakistani koranics, the Palestine suicide bombers/rocketeers, the Lebanese nutcases and the Filipino koranics. And who funds these acts of terror? Islamic Iran, the Third Axis of Evil and also the "Wannabees" of Saudi Arabia.

4. Luther, Calvin, Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley et al, founders of Christian-based religions, also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of "pretty wingy talking flying fictional thingie" visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

How to fix? Rewrite the OT, NT and Koran in historical terms.

Next???

Turn control of Jerusalem and the water supplies in the area over to the UN.

Use the current oil/blood/terror profits of Iran, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, etc. to fund water desalination plant construction throughout the Mideast.

So, what's your point?

It seems you're more pointing out how provincial the Executive branch is, rather than making any points about the ME situation. Oh, except for intimating that Israel has expansionary interests or similar nefarious ideas parallelling the arabs of the territories. I don't, however, see Israeli officials calling for wiping the arabs of the territories off the map or "into the sea." Or even calling them 'sons/brothers of apes and pigs', as one Hamas offical said this past week.

The best reading on the Arab Israeli conflict will be found here. It's long but problem like this cannot be explaind it a few words:

http://www.islam-watch.org/Stunich/Roots-of-Arab-Israeli-Conflict.htm

Thanks