Murders in Jerusalem: Keep God out of it THE sight of Jews lying dead in a Jerusalem synagogue, their prayer-shawls and holy books drenched in pools of blood, might be drawn from the age of pogroms in Europe. Sadly, it is an appallingly modern episode, the latest in the interminable tragedy of Jew and Arab in the promised land. The slaughter at the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue - four worshippers and a policeman were killed by two Palestinian men wielding knives and guns, who were in turn shot dead - is hardly the deadliest event in the annals of Israeli-Palestinian violence. And it pales in comparison to the mass slaughter taking place across the border in Syria and in other parts of the Middle East. Yet the synagogue murders matter, for several reasons. First, to judge from the scenes of some Gazans handing out celebratory sweets and cartoons on social media glorifying the bloodletting, the lust for butchery that impels jihadists elsewhere is gripping Palestinians. Second, Palestinian Jerusalemites who largely stood aside in past battles have taken up the fight. Third, the deaths in a house of prayer come at a time when Jerusalem is already astir over the status of holy sites. The conflict is thus being pushed further from a dispute over rival nationalism and closer to one about religions and Jerusalem. That makes everything even more intractable. It is still just about possible to imagine a peace settlement to resolve the nationalist strife through some kind of partition of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river. But the more religion infuses the dispute, the more impossible it is to find a deal. That is why the status of Jerusalem has always been one of the hardest issues to crack. Jews, after all, pray for the restoration of the temple every day; for Palestinians, the al-Aqsa mosque, built atop the ruins of the Jewish temple, is the third-holiest site in Islam. Religion should make Jerusalem a place of sublime spirituality. All too often, though, it is exploited for political ends. Religious conflict would spread trouble beyond the holy land and would bring a world of horrors. It was glimpsed in 1994, when a Jew killed dozens of Palestinians at prayer in Hebron; it was glimpsed again this week in Jerusalem. Summoning God sanctifies violence and intransigence; an equitable peace becomes impossible when compromise is blasphemy. A dry crust and peace For Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, this week's murders were the result of incitement by the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who urged Palestinians to defend al-Aqsa. For Mr Abbas the real problem is provocation by Jews seeking the right to pray at the al-Aqsa compound (some want to rebuild the temple there), in a growing campaign abetted by members of Mr Netanyahu's government and his Likud party. At such a moment it seems pointless to advocate a return to peace talks. Yet the need for a settlement, including a means for Israelis and Palestinians to share Jerusalem, is more apparent than ever. For now both leaders should at least avoid demonising each other because that only makes it harder to talk tomorrow. They must also speak to their own people. Mr Abbas must tell Palestinians that, no matter the injustices under occupation, targeting innocent civilians is always unacceptable. Mr Netanyahu must yet again make clear that the religious status quo on the Temple Mount will not change; that Jewish attacks will be punished just as severely as Arab ones; and that there is a dignified place for Palestinians in a shared Jerusalem. At times of sorrow and anger the wisdom of leaders is tested. They must abjure inflammatory language, resist overreaction and collective punishments - and stand up to radicals in their midst.