Interreligious Dialogue in Haifa: Challenges and Prospects of Religious Leadership Engagement in the Shadow of War

The Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and the ensuing war profoundly destabilized Jewish–Arab relations within Israel, intensifying fear, mistrust, and intercommunal tensions. Focusing on the mixed city of Haifa, this article examines the potential and limitations of interreligious dialogue under conditions of acute conflict. It analyzes the Haifa Multi-Religious Initiative, convened by the University of Haifa shortly after the outbreak of war, which brought together Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze religious leaders in a series of facilitated encounters. Drawing on participant observation and qualitative analysis, the study proposes a three-dimensional model of dialogue—structural, relational, and transformative—to assess how religious leadership operates within institutional constraints, power asymmetries, and identity negotiations. The findings highlight both the capacity of religious leaders to foster trust and civic solidarity at the local level and the significant limits imposed by political pressures and communal accountability. The article argues that interreligious dialogue can contribute to urban peacebuilding, not by resolving conflict, but by sustaining shared civic life amid protracted violence.