Is it true that some Muslims believe that killing Jews is a holy religious obligation? There is a Hadith tradition which reads: "Muhammad said in his Hadith: "The Hour [Day of Resurrection] will not arrive until you fight the Jews, [until a Jew will hide behind a rock or tree] and the rock and the tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!'" Some Muslims believe that this imposes a current and ongoing obligation onto Muslims.
One of those making such an argument is Hassan Khader, founder of the Al Quds Encyclopedia who recently expounded upon this during an talk on Palestinian Authority television. According to Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch:
"Palestinian religious and academic leaders publicly teach that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is part of Islam's irreconcilable religious war against the Jews. To justify this view, Palestinians repeatedly cite Islamic sources to demand as religious doctrine, that Jews be hated, even demanding the killing of Jews as the will of Allah."
It is certainly not the case that all Palestinians feel this way - but it only takes a few prominently-placed individuals who can influence a few more committed fanatics and any hopes of peace are placed in serious trouble. Moreover, even a mild influence upon the wider Palestinian culture will pose great problems for their future ability to coexist peacefully with Jewish Israelis.
