AFAIK, only Religious [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist|Zionists] argue that Israel is a gift from God. My understanding is that many of Israel's neighbors refuse to accept the 1947 partition by the UN that gave rise to the state of Israel - for various reasons (that don't include God). Religious arguments on the other side often have to do with "Moslem Lands", but since Islam converted areas by force, I don't think that side argues that the land of Israel is a gift from God. (I could be wrong though. And yes, important mosques, Jerusalem, etc., complicate this picture.)

The battle between Fatah and Hamas is over political and military power and is based, in part, on how it should deal with Israel. Since today [link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062700413_pf.html|Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government that implicitly recognizes Israel], there's at least the appearance of an effort to come to a common understanding of how to deal with her.

I'm quite pessimistic though. There are too many groups on both sides in Palestine that want to keep their military cadres and the associated power and influence. I doubt that they're going to be willing to give up their arms and aims easily. Since the PA is broke and since few donors seem willing to dump tens of billions into the PA to shore it up, there may not be enough carrots to encourage them to compromise. I think there will continue to be military conflicts, or the specter of them, in the Palestinian areas for a while to come.

IOW, I don't think God or holy books has much to do with the present conflict. The Palestinians usually claim the violence against Israel is "legitimate resistance to occupation" while Israel claims that its violence against Palestinians is "protecting itself from terrorists". God doesn't appear there, AFAICS.

My $0.02.

Cheers,
Scott.