A SINGLE STATE SOLUTION
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish fundamentalism from fascism, but the former is best thought of as a subset of the latter. It is generally conceived of as a characteristic of various theistic religions, but that is an insufficient notion. Marxist fundamentalism was just as virulent and widespread as any Abrahamic variant. And Maoism is still with us, laying waste to much of Nepal, among other places.
Fundamentalism depends on a dualistic bias, and the granddaddy of them all is Zoroastrianism, which posited two powers, light and dark, good and evil. Few understand how thoroughly Zoroastrianism permeated the ancient world, and, spreading from Persia, provided the basis for the much of the current Western world view, primarily as the result of Alexander's sojourn east.
Any "ism" has a tendency to propagate a fundamentalist variant. The "true believers" will make their home here. It is the house of ignorance and fear, which propagates attitudes of insularity, intolerance, self-righteousness and arrogance. An "us" and "them" duality is solidified, and "God" or "history" is appointed the titular leader, interpreted by the High Priesthood, whether it be the clergy, the vanguard of the proletariat, or whatever.
All such belief systems are founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of reality, as all the wisdom traditions teach. This misunderstanding comes from a belief in ego, or self-nature. It is the illusion of a separation between self and other, subject and object. This hallucination of a "self" becomes reified [solidified], and historically, has led to the gradual crystallization of various useful mythologies into theistic religions or secular ideologies.
The only difference between the two is that the latter doesn't posit a god or gods to serve as the mirror reflection of the solidified self. That position gets occupied by "dialectical materialism," settler Zionism, "manifest destiny," "the white man's burden," or some other reified notion that elevates the believer to a position of superiority over others, as one of "God's Chosen People.".
Every fundamentalist faith has its scriptures, which are never seen as merely the work of ordinary human beings. These scriptures, be they the Old Testament, the Quran, the Christian Bible, Das Kapital, the Ramayana, or whatever, acquire the patina of "revelation," and the "revealer" takes on the persona of a semi-divinity who speaks directly with God, or History, or, for that matter, Science. It's all the same.
These scriptures then become "holy" or "sacred," pre-empting the perfectly natural human sense of sacredness as applying to all that is, the earth, the waters, the sky, and that which lies between, especially all life.
Once these fatal, false distinctions have been made, the fundamentalist wields his or her sacred texts as the primary weapon against what might be called transcendental common sense. These texts are then declared "literally" true, whether it's the Torah, the US Constitution, or whatever, Unlike the wisdom teachings of whatever tradition, every word and phrase in the scriptures becomes sanctified, no matter how flawed the translation, or twisted in meaning by the preacher. These great mythic traditions, always expressed and transmitted as a sort of sacred poetry, become transmuted into prose, and all the trouble ensues.
These texts cease to be living, mutating expressions of the wisdom of a people - they become sacred icons, beyond the full understanding of ordinary mortals. Only those who have appointed themselves as guardians of the truth, the reverends, rabbis, mullahs, "strict constructionists," social "scientists," and so forth, can possibly plumb the depths of such verities and guide us fumbling, wayward, humble folks on the path of virtue and righteousness.
And, of course, with God or the Truth or Manifest Destiny on our side, we must make war on the infidels, the heretics, the unbelievers, the agents of Shaitan, those who are not among the Elect; in other words, the "others." They must be "brought to book," converted, or eliminated, most particularly if they happen to have something we want, like money or real estate, or desirable women.
Which brings us to "the Middle East," which is usually code for Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Here we have warring fundamentalisms of just about every variety - a witches' brew, if ever there was one. Outsourced to the Israelis and Palestinians, but concocted originally in New York, and now owned and managed from Washington, DC.
Zionism, as now generally understood (quite different from its original manifestation as articulated by Theodor Herzl and the jewish agrarian socialists who actually emigrated to Palestine), has given rise to Islamism. Any reified belief always gives rise to its reified other. Just as there were no such people as "Israelis" before 1948, there were no such people as "Palestinians." Well, now there are. And that was only 56 years ago, as we write this.
But there's no law that says anything is permanent. On the contrary. The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys finally played itself out. The Capulets and Montagues eventually intermarried. And that's the way it goes, no matter how virulent or solid the animosity between the parties may be at any given time.
The fundamentalists on all sides will never compromise. They can't - they're true believers, but the vast majority of people on all sides are just ordinary people, insecure, confused, fearful and exhausted by the violence and chaos. They just want it to stop.
- Benjamin Franklin