Nothing sends people to their instinctual and reflexive tribal bunkers like fighting between Israel and Hamas. Sometimes things are complicated and sometimes they are black and white, but it’s difficult to tell what’s what during times like this. When rockets rain down on Israelis forced to flee in the middle of the night to shelters and stairwells in their pajamas, and when entire blocks of Gaza City are reduced to rubble, the market for looking at the wider context is almost non-existent. Nevertheless, let’s give it a shot.

There are two sets of events–tensions over Jerusalem, and fighting between Israel and Hamas–that are barreling out of control, and while they are linked in a few important ways, they should be considered separately. While many would argue that the series of events that unfolded in Jerusalem over the past weeks is complex and the Israel-Hamas contretemps is straightforward, it’s actually the…