Religious Intolerance Profile
Event: Middle East Conflicts
Time Period: Present
Type of Intolerance: Inter-Faith

           It is well known today that most of the Muslim Middle East does not like Israel's presence. What isn't known by most however is why. Here, I will try to explain this to you:

           It all started back in the times of the Roman Empire (around 61 b.c. for this event). Before this date Israel had consistently changed in terms of ownership and was invaded and lost repeatedly. It was in this year that Israel became part of the Roman Empire, a fact that would remain true for hundreds of years. The invading Romans allowed the practice of Judaism to continue, even going as far as to exile all Jews to the land (Isseroff).

           Around the year 600 a.d. however, Muslim-Arab armies came north and invaded much of the Middle-East, including Palestine and Jerusalem. While the invaders were Muslim, their leaders granted safety to all of the land's Christian and Jewish inhabitants (although most of them eventually converted to Islam). Once again, there was a long period of time with no real change in majority religion; the Muslims had a strong foothold. All that changed with the onset of World War I however, as the conclusion of the war and an Allied victory put the land of Palestine/Israel in British control. Britain then declared that the Palestinian portion of the land won was to be made into a sort of Jewish homeland; a decision that is still sore on the minds of native Palestinians and surrounding Muslims. To make them even more upset, the atrocities of WWII served to give the Jewish community more benifit in the land.

           That brings us up to the modern day. Muslims and Jews in the Middle East and with the USA fighting it's war on terror (mostly in Muslim countries) and supporting Israelis (a.k.a. the Jewish community) moreso than the Islamic extremist groups, the two-sided argument has become three dimensional.

           I wish Britain would've given me Palestine.

           Besides that however, the whole ongoing conflict was basically sparked by territory in the region. Sure, there were other contributing factors, but the land of Palestine is probably the main one.