An Oasis of Peace in the midst of conflict - Gandhi's Satyagraha in the Israeli/Palestinian context

Abstract

I researched a unique peace initiative in Israel, namely that of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, a community - a village - where Jews and Palestinians live together peacefully and equally. During my research I mainly focused on the role of religion in the village and in conflict resolution. I found that the ideas or philosophy of the village -to a certain yet significant extent- correspond with Gandhi’s movement of Satyagraha i.e. his philosophy of non-violent action, and his view on religion and interreligious dialogue. Hence this thesis tries to analyze the role of religion in the work of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam as well as Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha and his ideas about religion and religious conflict.