“And these are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred years and thirty years and seven years… In the presence of all of his brothers he fell.” Thus closes parashat Chayei Sara and thus begins the history of the Ishmaelites who some 2,500 years later took up the religion of Islam, which leads us all the way to today’s present conflict between the children of Israel and the children of Ishmael. The conflict is not about land or liberty. Its roots are in religion, and only through religion can the conflict at last be put to rest.