Western mediation in the Middle East is hindered by a profound miscalculation: the application of a secular, rational-actor framework to a conflict driven by absolute theological radicalism. While historical regimes often obscured their plans for annihilation, organizations like the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas openly avow their intentions in both word and deed. Yet, well-meaning international diplomats routinely approach negotiations as if dealing with conventional political actors eager for a compromise. By prioritizing a diplomatic breakthrough at any cost, these mediators overlook a critical, defining reality-this is fundamentally a religious war.
The Theological Framework of the Conflict
The shift from a conventional nationalist struggle to an uncompromising spiritual battle is central to understanding the current impasse. According to Itamar Marcus, founder of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the PA has aligned with the Hamas position that the conflict is inherently religious. Under this framework, the entire land of Israel and Jerusalem are defined as Ribat-holy Islamic land-meaning its "liberation" and defense are mandatory religious duties.
Marcus emphasizes that Arabs living in Israel identify as religious Muslims far more than they identify as Palestinian Arabs, ensuring that territorial disputes are viewed through the absolute lens of Islamic law and Jihad, rather than negotiable state borders. This ideological posture manifests in operational rivalry; PMW noted that Fatah boasted of launching 7,200 terror attacks against Israel in 2022 while openly criticizing Hamas for its lack of action.
Institutional Indoctrination: The PA Curriculum and the Reversal of International Law
This religious framework is methodically instilled through education. PA schoolbooks teach that fighting Israel is not merely a territorial, nationalistic conflict, but a religious battle for Islam. The youth are taught that their specific fight against Israel-Ribat for "Palestine"-is "one of the greatest of the Ribat, and they [Palestinian Arabs] are worthy of a great reward from Allah."
Beyond teaching that Islam glorifies their continuous Ribat, the books teach that international law determines that fighting "colonial rule, foreign rule and racist regimes ... is a legitimate struggle." These three categories to be fought-"colonial, foreign, and racist"-are all terms used in the schoolbooks to define Israel. Consequently, the curriculum argues that any attempt to halt the Palestinian Arab campaign against Israel is itself a violation of international law.
By citing conventions that declare "any attempt to suppress the struggle against colonial and foreign rule and racist regimes" as contrary to UN principles, the schoolbooks flip the legal paradigm. Under this rationale, any nation or entity attempting to combat Palestinian Arab terrorism is framed as the actual violator of international law.
Calls for Genocide and Institutional Media
This theological framing has normalized extreme rhetoric within mainstream Palestinian Arab society. PMW documentation reveals that official PA TV routinely broadcasts prayers for the extermination of Jews by a PA religious leader that is becoming a mantra on the network: "Count them, and kill them one by one, and do not leave even one." Calls for genocide should be beyond the pale at any religious ceremony, yet in mosques in the Palestinian Authority, these calls against Israelis and Jews are routine and amplified to all Palestinians on official PA TV.
This phenomenon is especially dangerous, as Palestinian Media Watch has shown, because over 90 percent of Palestinian Arabs consider themselves religious. Since Allah's word cannot be questioned, the act of murdering Jews is regularly said to be a form of Islamic worship-according to the PA. In the last two years alone, PA TV has aired sermons praying for the extermination of Jews at least eight times by PA religious officials-most recently in a broadcast delivered by PA Shari'ah Judge Abdallah Harb: "O Allah… grant us victory over the infidel people… Do not leave an oppressor without crushing him. O Allah, strike Your enemies and the enemies of Your religion... O Allah, count them, and kill them one by one, and do not leave even one."
Structural Barriers to Peace
The foundational documents of both dominant Palestinian Arab factions codify this refusal to compromise, creating insurmountable structural barriers to peace:
The Hamas Covenant (1988): Article 15 explicitly states that the destruction of Israel is non-negotiable. It mandates that when Muslim land is usurped, Jihad becomes an individual duty for every Muslim, requiring the problem to be treated strictly as a permanent religious imperative:
“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. It is necessary to instill in the minds of the Moslem generations that the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis."
The PLO National Charter (PA): Similarly, Articles 15 and 19 justify the refusal to recognize Israel. Article 15 states: “The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine."
Article 19 declares: “The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations; particularly the right to self-determination."
The Illusion of "Linkage"
One should not be surprised at the failure of Americans to grasp the issues in the Middle East, although there is no excuse. The failure of Western observers to grasp these absolute religious dynamics is reinforced by decades of flawed diplomatic strategy. As veteran diplomats Dennis Ross and David Makovsky observe, Middle East policy had long been paralyzed by the myth of "linkage"-the persistent idea that solving the Palestinian Arab conflict is the prerequisite to melting away all other conflicts in the region.
In their words: "Of all the policy myths that have kept us from making real progress in the Middle East, one stands out for its impact and longevity: the idea that if only the Palestinian conflict were solved, all the other Middle East conflicts would melt away." This doctrine falsely assumed that resolving a single, localized dispute will naturally cure the deep-seated maladies of the Middle East, treating a theological struggle as a mere real estate dispute that can be solved with economic incentives or border adjustments.
A Final Note
True diplomatic progress in the Middle East cannot be achieved through the projection of Western secular ideals onto a religious war.
The institutional charters, schoolbook curriculums, official media broadcasts, and theological doctrines of both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority demonstrate that their core objective is not coexistence, but total elimination. Until international mediators acknowledge the raw, theological nature of the radicalism they are up against, peace initiatives will remain entirely detached from the realities on the ground.
Dr. Alex Grobman is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI