Jewish-Arab Interreligious Dialogue: Empirical Perspectives Part I

Abstract

This Chapter presents Part I of extensive documentation including qualitative and quantitative evaluation data concerning a wide variety of Jewish-Arab Interreligious efforts which were co-organized and/or evaluated by this author along with co-researcher Chaim Lavie. This includes foundational work undertaken during the 1990's following the Oslo Accords involving Palestinian students from the Hebron area and Jewish students from Bar-Ilan University. Vital quantitative data was collected from both the Israeli and Palestinian participants in a major Interreligious gathering held in Khan Unis, Gaza. Further tracking and data collection was acquired from encounters between Israeli Jews and Arabs either from Bar-Ilan University, affiliated colleges and/or the Interfaith Encounter Association. In all cases data pointed to the efficacy of interreligious encounters between Jews and Arabs including the manner in which such encounters ought to be implemented.