While Islamism can be understood as an extremist political and ideological facet of Islam, Palestinianism comprises a narrow ideological expression of such Islamism. In particular, Palestinianism can be regarded as a subset of the broader jihadist Islamist agenda; one of its "action-arms" so to speak.
On the world stage and promoted by the legacy media, the Palestinian issue is relentlessly and often callously exploited by ruthless jihadist Islamists and their sympathizers, despite the immense suffering of many innocent civilians from both parties to the conflict. It is the gross misuse of the Palestinian people's predicament for tactical purposes that has led to the fabricated ideology of Palestinianism. Admittedly, the Islamist propaganda "machine" has been partially successful in persuading the West as to the justice, however fabricated, of the Palestinian cause.
Islamist land claims pertaining to Palestine (by which they infer all of Eretz Yisrael - the land of Israel) are, unfortunately, based on false allegations of illegitimate colonialist actions by the Jewish people of the area. The Jews have, it is claimed, usurped the rights of Muslim Palestinians to their historical land. These allegations, however, are merely a façade for covering the true motives of jihadist Islamists who control the public narrative.
The less-than-elevating background to the "Palestinian movement" was exposed by leading Harvard Law School Professor Alan M. Dershowitz in his June 2024 article on the notion of Palestinianism. He explained that the dispute over land has escalated in recent times from "a resolvable conflict over land to an irresolvable conflict over religion." The true nature of the conflict is thus one of religion.
The late senior PLO official Zuheir Mohsen even openly admitted in the Dutch daily Trouw in 1977 that the Palestinian cause is actually, well, fake:
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."
— Zuheir Mohsen to James Dorsey, "Wij zijn alleen Palestijn om politieke reden", Trouw, March 31, 1977.
Palestinianism has nevertheless accelerated on the world stage through an intersection of Western ideologies based on the neo-Marxist premise that if someone succeeds, it can only have happened because they have oppressed someone else. A situation of win-win capitalism -- with unions protecting workers, and profit-sharing plans and investments that share the opportunity so that if an enterprise is successful, all the investors win (and if it is not, they all share the risk and lose) -- does not occur to them. For the Marxists, there must always be an oppressor and an oppressed.
Recent ideologies have related, for instance, to critical race and sex-gender constructs; allegations of settler-colonialist conflicts -- one in particular referred to as Zionism, whereby the purportedly rightful landowners (Muslims) are displaced by Jews, even though Jews have also lived on the land continuously for nearly 4,000 years. Human rights violations are supposedly committed only by Israel, whether in war or peace.
Some leaders of Western nations are complicit, whether by commission or omission, in encouraging or tolerating Palestinianism, notwithstanding countless violent crimes committed in the name of the "Palestinian cause" by jihadists and their supporters. Nations that blame only Israel include Ireland, Norway, Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada and UK.
Eli Wiesel, during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, reminded the world that, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
Most Western leaders fail to counter jihadist attacks, jihadist sexual grooming and mass rape of children, violence against women, stabbings, vehicular ramming and other sociopathic behavior. They apparently want every vote.
The true motive of Islamists -- in exploiting the Palestinian issue -- might well be to take control and ownership of the holy city of Jerusalem and the rest of the land to which, since the Ottoman Empire, they appear to believe they are entitled. Jordan, however, actually was in possession of much of Jerusalem, if illegally, between 1948 and the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan nevertheless, the first day of the war, insisted on joining the other Arab countries in attacking Israel, even though General Moshe Dayan had warned Jordan's King Hussein at the time to stay out of it;
"Moshe Dayan, as Israel's Defense Minister, did attempt to keep Jordan out of the Six-Day War in 1967. On the eve of the conflict, Dayan cautioned army commanders in Jerusalem to avoid provoking Jordanian forces. Additionally, on the morning of June 5, 1967, as Israel launched its preemptive strike against Egypt, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol sent a message to Jordan's King Hussein, stating that if Jordan made no hostile move, neither would Israel. Despite these efforts, Jordan ultimately joined the war on June 5, 1967, after receiving false reports of Egyptian success against Israel. This decision led to intense fighting between Israeli and Jordanian forces, particularly in Jerusalem and the West Bank."
All other declared reasons apart from conquering Israel are simply a mask to distract from the real strategy for capturing all of Jerusalem and all of the land that now constitutes Israel. In this effort, they are happily aided by willing, often ignorant, Jew-hating sympathizers in the West, and jihadists in various Islamic states.
For this reason, a two-state solution has been continually rejected by Islamists since even before the days of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, despite the 1993-95 Oslo Accords promoting the sharing of Israel's land. Islamists want all of it, not just portions. Israel and the Jewish people of the world can never allow that, nor should they.
The root of Israel's current conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran therefore seems to focus first on Jerusalem – as does Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Jerusalem is the religious center of Israel and the heart of claims by the world's three great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- despite Islam, among the three, having only the slightest legitimate entitlement to the city:
The primary Islamic claim to Jerusalem, as noted by journalist Roy Hirsch and Dr. Tanveer Zamani, founder of the People's Party of Pakistan, is based on:
"The Quranic chapter Ibrahim 14:37 recounts that God instructed Abraham to leave Hagar and Ishmael in the barren valley of Mecca, while Isaac stayed in Canaan. This deliberate landmark separation not only highlights the distinct identities of these religious civilizations but also provides insights into resolving contemporary disputes over land claims.
"The Islamic connection to Jerusalem is linked to Prophet Muhammad's brief, one-time stop at the farthest Temple Mount during his nocturnal journey to Heaven in 620 CE, as mentioned in Quran, Al-Isra -17:1.
["Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things)." Al-Isra -17:1]
"This passage describes a fleeting visit that should not be misused as a lasting religious claim. The stop at the Temple Mount was an initial stage of Prophet Muhammad's nocturnal journey to Heaven, involving the witnessing of heavenly signs on Earth before his ascension. These Holy sites, associated with earlier prophets such as Abraham, and Isaac, lineage; Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, and Zakariya, served as a prelude to his ultimate ascent to Heaven. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, established by Caliph Umar in 638 CE, was not even present during the Prophet's time."
The Al-Aqsa Mosque would therefore have been constructed six years after Muhamad's death: c. 570 - June 8, 632 CE
The two holiest sites for Muslims, and exclusive to them, do not include either the Al-Aqsa Mosque or Jerusalem, but are the Sacred Mosque in Mecca (in the direction of which Muslims pray daily) and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina – neither of which is anywhere near Jerusalem. Hence, declarations by Islamists claiming Jerusalem are not founded on history, reality nor legitimacy, notwithstanding the Palestinian Authority in 2000, "passing a law declaring Jerusalem to be their capital."
In the result, the propagated basis for the invasions of Israel during times of intifada and particularly on October 7, 2023, ostensibly to prevent a Jewish take-over of the Al-Aqsa mosque, are simply false -- part of Palestinianism propaganda claims first proposed as a pretext by Hitler's ally, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al Husseini.
The October 7 jihadist operation, named "Al-Aqsa flood" supposedly to "liberate" that part of Jerusalem's Temple Mount where the mosque is located, was therefore founded on a gross deception. The jihadist utilization of Palestinianism was, however, successful in gathering a mass of terrorists in a common cause to execute the Islamist agenda of conquering Israel, "liberating" Jerusalem, and killing all occupants. Hence the slogan, "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Again, the jihadist strategy was doomed to failure -- as are all attempts to annihilate Israel and its people.
In 2010, Eli Wiesel explained the exclusive sacred nature of Jerusalem to Jews:
"For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture -- and not a single time in the Koran. Its presence in Jewish history is overwhelming. There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, it is Jewish history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that remains hard to explain. When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming."
Historically, Jerusalem indisputably belongs to the Jewish people. Ever since King David declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the nation, some 3,000 years ago, the Jews have occupied and controlled the city -- apart from only two occasions in history: once during the period of Roman rule and the other in more contemporary times when Jordan refused access to the Jews before the 1967 Six-Day War.
The enduring importance of Jerusalem is not only its historical connotations but the belief, by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, that the city and its surrounds is to be the redemptive center of world events leading up to the culmination of human history (see here and here).
As regards Islam's attitude to Jerusalem:
"Islamic eschatology, as described in various Hadith and teachings, features Jerusalem in relation to the events of the end times. The emergence of the Mahdi, a significant figure in Islamic eschatology, is believed to occur in Jerusalem. Additionally, Islamic belief holds that Dajjal, a false messiah, will make an appearance, further emphasizing Jerusalem's place in eschatological narratives."
Religious Islamists, undoubtedly aware of these beliefs, would like to control Jerusalem, in addition to Mecca and Medina, for their own purposes. Their intent, however, can never become a reality. As Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forcefully declared in his July 2024 address to the America's joint Congress,
"For nearly 4,000 years, the land of Israel has been the homeland of the Jewish people. It's always been our home; it will always be our home."
Israel, with its capital of Jerusalem, is the ancestral land of the Jewish people; they have nowhere else to call their own.
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A Lawyer by profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the National Association of Scholars, a faculty member at Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. Dr. Haug holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical Theology and is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent – Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus, Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Jewish Journal, James Wilson Institute (Anchoring Truths), Document Danmark, and others.
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