PUBLIC LECTURES
2017: Peace, Trauma, and Religion in the Palestine-Israel Conflict
General Introduction
“I am not optimistic, but people of faith are never without hope!”
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This was the answer of a religious leader from Israel/Palestine when he was recently asked how he imagines the future of the people of the “Holy Land”, given the current political situation.
Israel/Palestine has witnessed an on-going conflict that seems almost impossible to be transformed into a peaceful situation of justice. How to imagine peace with justice in this context of human rights violations, terror attacks, occupation and discrimination?
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The complexity of the context involves historical trauma, land issues, economic interests, international law issues, even war, and many other aspects – last but not least religion! There is hardly any conflict in which it seems so obvious that religion and different peoples of faith play a significant role: Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
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For some, religion is the root-cause of the conflict itself. For others, religion is the only hope left.
What is the role of religion in this conflict?
It is this question that motivated the VU-students of the Master specialisation on Peace, Trauma, and Religion to visit the context itself (March 2017), hosted by the Tantur Ecumenical Institute – on a hill in the outskirts of Jerusalem near Bethlehem.
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In order to gain some deeper insight, we want to learn from people of different faiths in their contexts; experts from different disciplines about the role of religion – in the midst of trauma, violence and injustice.
In this series of Public Lectures 2017 we want to continue our analysis in the university-classroom. The lectures will address different aspects of the question at stake, addressed by scholars who have studied the context deeply for some time, some have even lived there. Their insights will help to:
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describe religious identities, and their interconnectedness,
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identify historical claims, memories and trauma of religious groups;
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gain clarity of the instrumentalisation of religion in the given context;
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gain insights about the potential role of religions in peacemaking;
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name concrete examples of building “just peace” from faith perspective.