Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

There are many problems in the world with global effects. In particular, over the last century, the two world wars, the violence that occurred during the struggles for independence between colonial powers and local populations, and the question of Palestine have had devastating consequences. Today, this cycle of violence continues. For the past two years, the Gaza Strip has been under intense attack by the State of Israel.
The question of Palestine has long been a humanitarian situation on our agenda. The analysis of the situation and the proposed solutions vary greatly. This problem is addressed within a religious, political, philosophical and sociological framework. All of this shows us that the issue is being addressed on a broad scale. The fact that the question of Palestine has many different dimensions has led intellectuals around the world to develop positions on the matter. We witness intellectuals taking different positions on an issue involving many variables. The political, economic and cultural aspects of the issue have prevented intellectuals from taking a completely humanitarian stance. Therefore, we do not see the same stance among all intellectuals.
The aim of this research is to attempt to classify the stances of intellectuals who reflect on the question of Palestine. The classifications are not strict but flexible. The research question of the article is: under which categories can intellectual attitudes towards the Palestinian question be grouped, and what are the fundamental factors determining these attitudes?
Within this framework, a three-way categorisation emerges regarding the question of Palestine. These are: a) Intellectuals who address the events from a human dimension. Those in this category are divided into two subcategories: those who assess the situation and those who seek solutions to the problem. Bertrand Russell, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Hannah Arendt, and Slavoj Zizek into this category. b) Intellectuals who consider the political balance; Jean Paul Sartre, Etienne Balibar, and Jacques Derrida can be evaluated under this heading. c) Under the heading of conditional or silent intellectuals stemming from the Holocaust, we can include Pierre Bourdieu, Jürgen Habermas, and Zygmunt Bauman.
The descriptive analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, is used in the research. The newspaper articles and statements of the intellectuals mentioned above, as well as documents interpreting their attitudes towards this question by other authors, constitute our research source. Appropriate themes were created based on these documents and attempts were made to interpret them.
The intellectuals in the first category try to approach this issue from a fundamental human perspective while also being aware of the current reality. Those in the second category approach the issue from a political angle. They prefer not to take too much initiative. Those in the third category, on the other hand, tend to remain silent or adopt an attitude of turning a blind eye to the attacks by the State of Israel, often due to the Holocaust experienced by the Jews.
The last two years of the issue have been marked by the State of Israel's military operations against the Palestinians. These attacks have been condemned by a large part of the world public; large crowds have taken to the streets to stage powerful protests. The emergence of social awareness has led to a common stance by world public opinion against the tragedy inflicted on Palestinians and has given Palestinians a moral superiority in their struggle for independence.
These attacks have been condemned by the majority of the global public; large crowds have taken to the streets to stage powerful protests. The emergence of social awareness has brought about a common stance among the global public against the tragedy inflicted upon the Palestinians and has provided the Palestinians with a moral superiority in their struggle for independence.
This research demonstrates that understanding intellectual attitudes is important both for academic analysis and public awareness. In short, the main findings of the study can be summarised as follows.
• Intellectual approaches to the issue of Palestine are not homogenous; there are categories based on different ethical and political stances.
• The humanitarian perspective is the category that presents the strongest and clearest stance. Solution-oriented intellectuals contribute intellectually to the peace process by producing high-value normative frameworks.
• The political centrist stance is a safe but ineffective position.
• The memory of the Holocaust can generate conditionality and silence among intellectuals, but recent attacks have partially broken this silence.
• This categorisation provides a model for future research.