Religious Rhetoric in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Study in Comparative Ethics

Abstract

The rhetoric of Palestinian and Israeli groups demonstrates a reliance upon religious language to define the resort to and conduct of war. This thesis examines classical Islamic and Jewish ethical traditions of war and discusses how they manifest themselves in the contemporary Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The conflict is analyzed in terms of how well Palestinians and Israelis understand and apply their respective religio-ethical traditions. I believe it to be the deviations from these ethical models which stand in the way of a viable solution to the conflict.