The violence in Gaza and the current Israeli ground offensive have absolutely no direct connection to the politics of religion. Depending on your point of view, the key is either Israel's legitimate war on terror or the fundamental human rights of Palestinians.
However, if you have been following the news reports of protests and statements by world leaders, the conflict has actually been drawn on lines of religion. Unfortunately, the demonstrations against Israel's bombing campaign have been characterized by headlines such as "Muslims Protest Continued Israeli Campaign in Gaza." This particular AP article runs through major Muslim-majority countries to describe how protests were being carried out after Friday prayers. The article's reasoning for separating out all the protests in Muslim countries is unclear.
A second element in how the conflict has been drawn on religious lines is the political statements of world leaders and politicians. For example, the German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a statement on Saturday before the Organization of the Islamic Conference that "Muslim nations should use their influence to help secure an end Hamas militants' rocket attacks on Israel." The argument that only influence from the Muslim nations can stop the rocket fire from Hamas is astounding. This implies that Israel has no role to play whatsoever in peacefully stopping the conflict.
Either way, the world leaders are aiming to stop the bloodshed by calling on religious and ethnic affiliations while not looking at the effects of separating Muslim countries and Muslim supporters from European and U.S. support for Israel. For example, news reports have repeated continuously that it was the "Arab nations" that were demanding the U.N. Security Council call for an immediate cease-fire. These divisions will only lead to greater calls to radicalism and violence by anti-Israeli extremists , as well as greater support for Hamas in the long term.
