Abstract
What role does religion play (or not play) in transnational activism in the context of prolonged violence? The narrow strip of land known as Palestine and Israel has special significance to three of the world’s largest faith traditions – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The motivations of 21 South African and Jewish Israeli activists in support of the Palestinian struggle offer an inductive, contextual perspective on the interplay between differences in religiosity and shared aims and values in this context. These respondents to a case study in empirical ethics hold tensions of difference and yet navigate between religious and other existential orientations in their praxis of solidarity with the marginalised. The article discusses how and why the activists, despite their different convictions, share similar views of the positive and negative roles played by religion in the Palestinian struggle.
Highlights
The geographical site known as Israel and Palestine has special significance to three of the world’s largest religious traditions – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
Marthie Momberg Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch, South Africa momberg@sun.ac.za Abstract What role does religion play in transnational activism in the context of prolonged violence? The narrow strip of land known as Palestine and Israel has special significance to three of the world’s largest faith traditions – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
Zionism is a product of Europe’s persecution of Jews that supports the transformation of the transnational and extraterritorial Jewish identity into a national identity to establish military, socio-economic and geopolitical control over all of Palestine as it existed before the unilateral declaration of the Israeli state in 1948.7 Yet a critical analysis of the history of occupation and of biblical land promises by Spangenberg and Van der Westhuizen shows that Israelites, Jews and Israelis occupied the current Israel and Palestine for almost 500 years, while Christian and Muslim groups occupied it for over 1 400 years
Summary
The geographical site known as Israel and Palestine has special significance to three of the world’s largest religious traditions – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Zionism is a product of Europe’s persecution of Jews that supports the transformation of the transnational and extraterritorial Jewish identity into a national identity to establish military, socio-economic and geopolitical control over all of Palestine as it existed before the unilateral declaration of the Israeli state in 1948.7 Yet a critical analysis of the history of occupation and of biblical land promises by Spangenberg and Van der Westhuizen shows that Israelites, Jews and Israelis occupied the current Israel and Palestine for almost 500 years, while Christian and Muslim groups occupied it for over 1 400 years These authors conclude that Zionist land claims for religious and historical reasons are ungrounded and mask Israel’s neo-colonial advancement of “Western white geopolitical control over the Middle East”.8.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
