Religion plays a large part in Israel's claims to the land it lies on and Palestinian hopes for statehood.
 
The King's Torah is the title of a book written by Yitzhak Shapira, an Israeli Rabbi living in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and it is complicating an already seemingly intractable political conflict.

The book offers a theological backing to Jews killing those perceived to be violating Jewish commandments or threatening the Jewish nation.

Are such calls harmless or do they drive official policy and manipulate the masses?

And what about Palestinian extremist rhetoric, what harm does it cause? 

We discuss religious extremism among the occupier and the occupied, and the damage done to peace prospects.

Inside Story discusses with guests Lamis Andoni, a Middle East analyst, Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, from Rabbis for human rights, and Gerald Steinberg, a chair of political studies and director of the conflict resolution program at Bar Ilan University.

This episode of Inside Story aired on Wednesday, November 11, 2009.