For more than fourteen centuries, Jews and Muslims have had moments of tension, rivalry, and occasional warfare. Yet the modern “Jewish versus Muslim” conflict — the one dominating today’s headlines — is largely a creation of the last hundred years. It is not the ancient, unbroken blood feud some claim it to be, but rather the result of political movements, territorial ambitions, and identity crises hardened by generations of mistrust.
And you don’t undo that with a signature on a treaty. You don’t erase long-standing enmity — especially when it is ingrained in cultural, religious, and educational institutions — with a simple agreement that amounts to little more than a temporary truce, even if it lasts five years or ten.
According to MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute)…
Hamas senior official Fawzi Barhoum, in an address on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) on October 7, 2025, marking the second anniversary of the “eternal Al-Aqsa Flood Battle,” quoted the Quranic verse: “Fight them, Allah will torment them by your hands, disgrace them, give you victory over them, and heal the hearts of the believers.”
He described the October 7 attack as a “major turning point” that exposed and isolated the Zionist occupation, adding: “It began the real countdown to the end of its existence on earth.”
“We emphasize once again that the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 was a historic response to the conspiracies to annihilate the Palestinian cause. It was not just a battle that exposed the fragility of the occupation’s illusion of security, but rather, a major turning point that led to the beginning of a process to expose, criminalize, and isolate the Zionist occupation, in the region and the world. It began the real countdown to the end of its existence on earth.” [Source]
Conference Of Islamic Clerics In Istanbul Sponsored By Qatar And Turkey Expresses Resolute Support For Hamas, Opposition To Disarming It; Calls To Mobilize All Muslims For JihadIn August 22- 29, 2025, a high-level Islamic conference was held in Istanbul under the title “Gaza: An Islamic and Humanitarian Responsibility.” Sponsored by Turkey and Qatar and attended by 150 senior Muslim clerics from 50 countries, the conference was aimed at expressing unequivocal support for the Hamas terrorist organization and opposition to its disarmament, and at mobilizing the Islamic nation to wage jihad against Israel, in all its forms.
The conference was sponsored by a Turkish government body, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, and initiated by the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS). The latter organization is funded and backed by Qatar and Turkey and functions as their arm for the dissemination of extremist Islamist ideology that incites jihad and terrorism against Israel and the West. At the close of the conference, Turkish President Recep Erdogan met with a delegation of conference participants and expressed his support for the event and for its decisions.
In addition to expressing firm support for Hamas and its struggle against Israel, and opposition to disarming it, the closing statement of the conference set out a military, political, economic and legal roadmap for support for Hamas and the struggle against Israel, while blatantly challenging the foreign and domestic policy of several Arab countries. It called to mobilize the Islamic nation for jihad and to breach the sea, air, and land blockade on the Gaza Strip “by every means,” albeit without specifying what these means might be. It also urged to open the border crossings with Gaza in order to enable access to it, echoing statements by Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’s leader in Qatar, who urged the people of Jordan and Egypt to storm the border with Israel in order to reach Gaza and help it.
In addition, the closing statement urged mass protests and implored all countries to permit them. More than this, it exhorted all countries to sever their relations with Israel and “its allies,” alluding to the U.S. and other Western countries, and to close their waterways to Israeli ships. It recommended to establish a waqf foundation and recruit funds for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip once the war ends, with Hamas remaining part of the government, and for supporting “the steadfastness of Palestinian society.”
In the statement, the conference organizers attributed immense importance to the event, describing it as a turning point and “the beginning of the end of the Zionist occupation project.” This echoes the official Qatari-Turkish stance that endorses the position of Hamas, which persists in its jihad against Israel and refuses to surrender its weapons. The closing statement also ratifies the charter issued by a conference of Muslim clerics held in Istanbul in late June, which granted religious sanction to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and to its right to bear arms. These two clerics’ conferences, held in Istanbul within several weeks of each other, both of them intended to enlist Muslim support for Hamas and its right to hold weapons, reflect the support this movement receives from Turkey and Qatar. They also reflect the concern felt by Hamas’s supporters and patrons, that measures being taken today may ultimately lead to its collapse or at least to its disarmament.
It should be noted that Qatar and Turkey attempt to position themselves as mediators of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Furthermore, they endorsed the New York Declaration, issued by the Conference on the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, held in New York in late July 2025 at the initiative of Saudi Arabia and France, which condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist attack and called on it to disarm and cede control of the Gaza Strip. The closing statement of the August conference contradicts the positions presented in the New York Declaration.[Source]
Bottom Line
For any peace to endure, it cannot rest on paper promises or diplomatic ceremony. History shows that conflicts this deep rarely dissolve through polite negotiation. They end only when there is a decisive shift — when one side’s will to fight collapses, or when a powerful external force compels both to accept a new reality. You don’t win a centuries-old battle for hearts and minds through dialogue alone; it takes unmistakable victory, the kind that resets the balance for generations.
Already, there are those quietly preparing to sabotage any new peace initiative — some of them even among those who publicly endorse it. Their assent is merely tactical, a pause to reload rather than a pledge to coexist. And so, as history warns, without resolve, without clarity, and without a firm conclusion, the next round of conflict is not a question of if, but when.
.We are so screwed.
— Steve
