Root Cause of Israel/Palestine Conflict: Islamic Chauvinism & Irredentism

Everything has its chauvinist side.

Including many Christians who are chauvinistic. Including chauvinistic men. And sometimes, rarely but sometimes, chauvinistic women.

Also including Islam. There are chauvinistic Muslims.

And it is Islamic chauvinism that is the fundamental cause of the conflict between Israelis and some (unfortunately most) Palestinians, causing Palestinian irredentism killing to try to retake all the land from the river to the sea so they can treat non-Muslims as second-class citizens.

The Oxford Reference Dictionary has the best definition of chauvinism:

“Exaggerated or aggressive patriotism; excessive or prejudiced support or loyalty for one’s own cause, group, or sex.”

The key part of that definition is the word “aggressive”. In other words, violence and coercion. Apart from war and killing, the primary manifestation of chauvinism is the chauvinistic group making out-groups viewed as inferior to be second-class citizens with fewer rights.

The core cause of the conflict between Israel and extremist Palestinians is that traditional Islamic law treats non-Muslims as second-class citizens, which under traditional Islamic law is called “dhimmi” status.

In Islamic empires, non-Muslims were not allowed to own land.