But Israel has only reluctantly bent to the wishes of its bene- factor. It fears a viable Palestinian state would be an effective competitor for the resources of the area. While recognizing the inevitability of an independent Palestine, in the negotiations to establish it Israel seeks to constrain it territorially and to maintain the Palestinians economic dependence on Israel. For their part, naturally, the Palestinians are seeking the opposite result from the negotiations. Both sides claim it is the status of Jerusalem, with its important religious shrines for both Jews and Muslims, that is the sticking point in reaching an agreement.
People do fight fiercely over religious and national symbols.
But it s because those symbols unite them in their struggle for a collective identity and existence, an existence which requires the economic resources to maintain, that they re seen as so important. Take away the threat to their economic existence and well-being and the intensity of the meaning of the symbols dissipates. For example, the history of the often violent conflict between Catholics and Protestants in past centuries reflected the clash between two social-economic systems seeking dominance in Europe. Catholicism represented the old feudal, aristocratic, monarchial system based on agriculture, while the new Protestant faiths represented the aspirations of the new and rising commercial, monetary, capitalist system based on trade and industry. With this economic and social conflict resolved, the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants lost its fuel.