WHENCE THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM?
THE POLITICS OF SACRED SPACE
and THE PURSUIT OF PEACE

 March 13-14, 2006

Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem

Sponsored by

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

University of Notre Dame

 

The conference will explore the religious and political contestation over holy sites in Palestine and Israel from a variety of perspectives. Muslim, Jewish, and Christian individuals and movements, as well as the state of Israel and the Palestinian political leadership, are the actors we hope to represent and consider. In addition to inhabitants of the contested lands, conference participants include scholars and peace practitioners from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

 

 

 

Conference Schedule

Monday, March 13

8:50 am Welcome
Scott Appleby and David Burrell, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame

9:00 am Session One
Myth, History and Identity: Competing Narratives of Sacred Space
Chair: Martha Merritt, Kroc Institute

"Between Rupture and Rapture: The Disputes over Sacred Sites Among Christians in Jerusalem"
Patrick Gaffney, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame

"Religious Zionism and the Temple Mount Dilemma"
Motti Inbari, Jezreel Valley College, Israel

"Islamic Perspectives on Jerusalem and the Holy Sites"
Mustafa Abu-Sway, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem

"A Tale of Two Jerusalems: Latter-day Saints, Sacred Spaces, and Holy Lands"
Patrick Mason, University of Notre Dame

 

11:30 am Session Two

Jerusalem: The Politics of Myth
Gershom Gorenberg, author, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount

12:30 p.m. Working Groups (meet over lunch break)

 

2:00 p.m. Session Three

Blood, Soil, Soul:
Place and the Personal
Chair: Joyce Dalsheim, Kroc Institute

"Making the Landscape Sacred"
Joyce Dalsheim

"The Jewish Spiritual Relationship to the Land"
Hadassah Froman

"Between the Sacred and Bare Life: Palestinian Women's Relationship to the Land"
Amal Khreisheh

"Separation from Gush Katif: The Experience of Loss"
Hadar Bashan

"The View from Abu Dis, East Jerusalem"
Terry Boullata

"The View from Shatila: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon"
Diana Allan, Harvard University

 

4:30 pm Session Four

Peace and Religion as Interpretive Strategies

"Religion and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Reappraisal"
Asher Kaufman, University of Notre Dame

"Toward a History of Peace in the Holy Land"
Paul M. Cobb, University of Notre Dame

6:00 pm Working groups

 

Tuesday, March 14

9:00 am Session Five

The Promise of Faith-Based Diplomacy

"The Parallels Have Met: Religious-track Diplomacy
and the Future of States in the Holy Land"
Marc Gopin, George Mason University

 

11:00 am Session Six

The State and the Sacred
Chair: Zoughbi Zoughbi, Wi'am

"State Offenses against the Holy"
Ziad Abu Amr, Birzeit University

"The Logic of the Religious Irredentists"
Emmanuel Sivan, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

"Assessing the Sacred: Israeli Public Opinion on the City of Jerusalem"
Alan Dowty, University of Notre Dame

"Palestinian Christians in Religious Alliance"
Bernard Sabella, Bethlehem University

1:00 pm Working groups (meet over lunch break)

2:30 pm Session Seven

Religious Peacebuilding and Faith-Based Mediation
Chair: Rashied Omar, Kroc Institute

Panelists:
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, American University, Washington, D.C.

Patrice Brodeur, University of Montreal

Ben Mollov, Bar-Ilan University

Rev. David Neuhaus, Beit Jala Catholic Seminary and Bethlehem University

3:45 pm Session Eight

The Role of a Peacebuilding Network

Chair: Anne Hayner, Kroc Institute

Kroc alumni panel:

Noah Salameh, Director, Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, Gethlehem

Josh Vander Velde, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

Zoughbi Zoughbi, Director, Wi'am (Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center), Bethlehem

Frieda Khayat, Deputy Principal, Friends Girls School, Ramallah

Jihad Hamad, Professor of Sociology, Al Azhar University, Gaza

Yousef Al-Herimi, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem University

5:00 pm Working groups

6:00 pm Plenary Session: Reports of working groups

Conference adjourns at 7:00 pm

For more information, contact Rashied Omar at omar.1@nd.edu, phone 574-631-7740.

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