15
Interreligious Dialogue and
the Israeli-Palestinian ConflictAn Empirical View
Ben MollovAre there possibilities for religiously based intercultural dialogue be-
tween Israelis and Palestinians as a means to effect perception modera-
tion and conflict resolution? Citing both qualitative and quantitative sur-
vey data of Israelis and Palestinians, along with Jews and Arabs within
the state of Israel, who have been involved in dialogue, our study sug-
gests that, contrary to accepted assumptions, religion can, in fact, help to
moderate mutual perceptions and serve to potentially facilitate construc-
tive mutual accommodations.^1
Integrating macro-level political science approaches including feder-
alist thinking as articulated by Daniel J. Elazar, along with micro-level
social psychological analysis, I argue that religiously based intercultural
dialogue can help modify mutual Israeli-Palestinian perceptions as the
sides discover similarities between Islam and Judaism that can serve as
a basis for constructive intergroup encounters and relationship building.
Further, it has the potential to foster understanding on the macro level
aimed at clarifying deeper narratives that are fundamentally based on re-
ligious worldviews but that at the same time offer a perspective and pos-
sibility of “transcendent” contact as some narrative reformulation takes
place on both sides along with the possibility of developing elements of
a constructive vision for the “Holy Land.”