A Review of Geographical Studies of Religion and Politics in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Abstract

This paper examines previous works on geography of religion and political geography with a special focus on how this research has discussed the relations between religion and politics, such as the territorial and ethnic conflicts motivated by state-formation and nationalism. It then proposes a new direction for geographical studies of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which requires studies on the relations between religion and politics. In particular, this paper explores previous research on Jewish settlement in the occupied territories and national-religious Jews, in both of which topics the interaction between politics and religion plays a significant role. This paper then argues that geographical research on the following two aspects requires more attention and investigation: the narrative and representation of death and the dead, which frame the actors’ identities and their relations with others; and the connections between the bordering function of religion and politics, and the formation and transformation of the order and norms. Based on this analysis, this paper summarizes and introduces this author’s previous research. In conclusion, it is argued that more research is needed to relate Israeli colonization after the 1967 war to the history of Zionist colonization in Palestine, especially to locate the link between Gush Emunim and Religious Kibbutz Movement within the context of the history of Zionist colonization and historical Palestine.