Yes, it is a religious war

By YISRAEL MEDAD
A large percentage of my posts at this blog are devoted to the issue of the Temple Mount and specifically the rights of Jews, and for that matter, other non-Muslims, to the site.  As I have pointed out, I am not demanding anything Muslims do not demand for themselves in this regard as, for example, their behavior at Spain's Cordoba Cathedral.
This is not an attitude of "I want what is mine and to hell with you".
I am not asking for the Temple to be built tomorrow.  That Muslim structures be destroyed.  That the infamous status quo be turned back so that Muslims cannot sit and learn as has developed over the past 2-3 years or that the two new mosques built underground (and perhaps a third) be reversed.
I do think that a willingness to compromise on this issue will lead to coexistence and a lessening of tensions.  In Hebron where Jews could not ascend past the 7th step outside the Cave of the Patriarchs there is a more than tolerable and fair situation.  It works.
In addition, a start in this direction onn the Temple Mount could potentially assist the general 'peace process'.
But what do we now read?
Thanks to MEMRI, we learn that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas At Fatah Conference has announced
 We Are All Ready To Sacrifice Ourselves For Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem
The Fatah Advisory Council, chaired by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud 'Abbas, convened in Ramallah for a "Session [dedicated to] the Martyrs of the Homeland, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.", Abbas spoke of

every Palestinians' willingness to sacrifice for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, adding that defending Al-Aqsa is a moral, national and religious right. He accused Israel of backing all those responsible for aggression against Al-Aqsa, and congratulated his people for defending Jerusalem...In an announcement published at the close of the conference, the Advisory Council praised the heroic awakening of Jerusalem's Palestinian residents, warned against the attempts to defile Al-Aqsa, recommended to allocate special funds to martyrs' families, and voiced its determination to continue the struggle.
All this was reported in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and on the Palestinian website Amad.ps.

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Moreover,

Members of Fatah's Central Committee, Revolutionary Council and Advisory Council stressed the need "to reinforce national cohesion in Jerusalem in order to defend Al-Aqsa and the Muslim and Christian holy places; step up the popular resistance in all areas threatened by settlement, and defend village mosques and [villagers'] fields against arson and against the theft of the olive harvest by settlers." Fatah members also congratulated the wounded and the "heroic prisoners," pledging to continue the struggle until their release.

They are using a fabricated unreality to propagandize and on that basis they seek not peace but hostility, violence and terror.
Their announcement, titled "Jerusalem Is a Red Line," says

"[In the conference,] the Advisory Council congratulated the [Palestinian] public for its courage and bravery in challenging, bare-chested, the settlement[-strategy] attack on holy Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Our youth, our men and our women in Jerusalem prove that they are the defenders of the gates of Al-Aqsa [and will continue to be so] until Judgment Day. Our people stands with Jerusalem and with the defenders of the holy places. The Advisory Council stressed that peace, security and stability begin in Jerusalem, and warned against the danger of harming the holy places and transforming the conflict into a religious one."

They have made this a totality of a confrontation based on religion.
If that is the case, I hope our leadership and that of our allies will realize the error of their ways until now.
And act.
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