LFU:online

A profound understanding of political-religious conflicts by taking the Israel-Palestine-Conflict as a case example

In this seminar, we shall investigate – on the basis of relevant literature -- the interplay of ideology, religion and nationalism, focussing on the decades-long and in the world-politics unrelenting Israel-Palestine conflict as case study. Our first subject-block will deal with the emergence and the historical development of Zionism, followed by an appraisal of its realization in the establishment of the State of Israel and the various reactions (of the Palestinians themselves and the Arabic region, the world community, and the Jewish Diaspora) to this historic, fateful event. In the third and final section, we shall closely examine the connection between Zionism and 1) its significance re: Judaism as religion; 2) the Jewish-Israeli rule over the Palestinians; 3) the views of its proponents in relation to Islam; and 4) the self-imposed restraint (“weakness”?) of the West regarding the ethical issues of the conflict. This will further lead us to a consideration of the claims of the emergence of a “new antisemitism”.

Discussion of relevant texts and papers

J. Butler: Am Scheideweg. Judentum und die Kritik am Zionismus. Frankfurt am Main 2013.

M. H. Ellis: Judaism Does Not Equal Israel. New York 2009.

C. Heilbronn/D. Rabinovici/N. Sznaider (Hg.): Neuer Antisemitismus? Fortsetzung einer globalen Debatte. Berlin 2019.

C. Selengut: Our Promised Land: Faith and Militant Zionism in Israeli Settlements. Lanham 2015.

R. Verleger: Hundert Jahre Heimatland? Judentum und Israel zwischen Nächstenliebe und Nationalismus. Frankfurt/Main 2017.

M. Zuckermann: "Antisemit!" : ein Vorwurf als Herrschaftsinstrument. Wien 2010.