[Mb-civic] The Common Enemy in Gaza: Religious Zealotry - Mona Eltahawy - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

The Common Enemy in Gaza: Religious Zealotry

By Mona Eltahawy
Saturday, August 27, 2005; Page A17

Watching Israeli soldiers dragging Jewish settlers from Gaza was a 
reminder of just how much Palestinians and Israelis need each other. 
Without the "enemy," Israelis and Palestinians would divide along the 
fault lines that are barely concealed beneath the face of unity they put 
up to confront each other. And there is no bigger fault line than the 
secular/religious crack that exists in both Israeli and Palestinian 
societies.

When I lived in Jerusalem in 1998, many of my Israeli friends were clear 
in their contempt for the settlers. They could not understand them, 
least of all their religious zeal. "Many in Israel hope now that we are 
beginning a process of being normal," one of them said to me last week. 
"I mean that until now, the settlers imposed on us their agenda, and 
there were two types of laws and rules: for the people and for them. We 
hope that the priorities will change."

The religious/secular confrontation in Israeli society does not always 
take such dramatic turns as the scenes we saw from Gaza, but it's there. 
Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood is often the scene 
of confrontations between Sabbath-observing residents and secular Jews 
whose cars they pelt with stones for driving on a Saturday. Mea Shearim 
residents will also often berate women whom they consider immodestly 
dressed.

Religious fundamentalists are much the same everywhere. In the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fundamentalist Jews and fundamentalist 
Muslims are often each others' mirror images.

Which takes me to the question that everyone in Palestinian society 
should be asking now that Israel has completed its withdrawal from Gaza: 
When push comes to shove will the Palestinian Authority confront its 
fundamentalists in the same way that Israel confronted the religious 
zealots in the settlements? When the greater good of Palestinians is at 
stake, is the Palestinian Authority willing to curb the activities of 
Hamas, the militant Islamic organization?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/26/AR2005082601478.html
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