Cultural Identity and the peacemaking process. The case of Christians in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

This research constitutes an in fieri project which aims at analyzing and problematizing the presence and role of the Arab Palestinian Christian population in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our focus is on understanding if and how the peace process could undergo revitalization and gain new momentum from the grassroots. We would like to ascertain if religious fervor and motivation have an active role in mending the relationships between the groups involved in the conflict and eventually influence state policies. In the present study, we provide firstly a brief description of the Christian milieu in Israel and the PT in order to arouse awareness on the multidimensionality inherent to the Christian population. Secondly, we will present the nature and characteristics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which will help shedding light onto the dynamics that need to be addressed by any peace making effort. Thirdly, we will analyze the directions taken by Elias Chacour to approach the conflict. We have hypothesized that the agency of Chacour as well as of other Arab Christian communities, or single members of the communities, can be read both as religious peacemaking grafted into the vision of Track Two diplomacy, as well as acts of resilience.