Dialog i konfliktens skugga. Några aktuella perspektiv från Jerusalem

Abstract

More than 4,000 people have died in the last five years of escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The ongoing conflict not only determines the political, economical and social realities of the region; it dominates people’s hearts and minds, thus setting the agenda also for local interfaith activities. This article reports on Israeli- Palestinian interreligious (mainly Jewish-Christian) relations and dialogue in the shadow of the conflict. How is this local dialogue upheld and what current challenges does it strive to address? The visit of Pope John Paul II in March, 2000, and the outbreak of the second Intifada in September that same year, gave increasing impetus to two discernable trends: a widened and locally rooted interest in interfaith encounters in addition to a growing understanding of interreligious dialogue as a tool for peacemaking and reconciliation. In the article, several recent examples of interfaith initiatives in Israel/Palestine are listed and discussed, notably the Alexandria Declaration of the religious leaders of the Holy Land in 2002 and the Arab-Jewish joint visit in Auschwitz in 2003, as well as the newly founded Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. The article concludes by addressing the question of land and identity as a major stumbling block in the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and by emphasizing the profound need of both peoples to be affirmed by the other.