Making and Changing Minds in Intractable Conflict: The Case of Israeli-Jewish Society

Intractable conflicts involve psychological investments of beliefs, attitudes and emotions that inhibit the peaceful resolution of these conflicts. This psychological repertoire evolves as an adaptation to the demanding and depriving conditions typical of intractable conflict. The present project proposes to investigate the psychological foundations of intractable conflict; first, by means of developing a new conceptual framework and then by carrying out a series of coherent, systematic and holistic studies, both qualitative and quantitative, that will illuminate the psyche of the people involved. This will enable us to unveil the contents of the psychological repertoire (the ethos, the collective memory, the contents and the strength of the national identity, and the held beliefs about concrete issues pertinent to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict); outline the factors affecting its formation (the influence of the family, school, army service, mass media and personal experience); describe the facilitators of change to this repertoire, and demonstrate how the psychological repertoire functions. Specifically, the project proposes to investigate Israeli Jewish society as a case study, from which it will be possible to learn about other societies involved in intractable conflict. This will be a pioneering project that will combine two types of studies. The first study uses in-depth interviews including autobiographical narratives together with closed questions, scales and test-tasks. About one hundred Israeli Jews  who identify themselves with the socio-political mainstream and whose adult experience includes the entire period since the 1967 war, have already been interviewed by trained interviewers. The collected data will be content analyzed. On the basis of the responses received in the first study, a questionnaire pertaining to the contents of individuals’ psychological repertoire, its agents of formation and facilitators of change will be constructed. This questionnaire will be administered to a national sample of adult Jewish Israelis. The collected data will serve as an illustration for a book about the psychological foundations of intractable conflict. The contribution will be crucially helpful to the understanding of the psychological basis of intractable conflict in Israel and the dynamics of its change. As such it will be an important component for any peace making process.

For both Israelis and Palestinians, the right of return touches on both the essence of their history since the beginning of their conflict, and on their visions for the future. The consensual national narratives of each side, which, as they stand, are mutually irreconcilable, center on their respective interpretations of the 1948 war. Each side maintains the fundamental belief that its national existence hinges on how the issue of the right of return is resolved.

However, underneath the national consensus in each society, a range of views seems to have evolved that has been underestimated by researchers and analysts. In order to reveal this range of views on each side, the project will distinguish between practical, political, moral, and psychological dimensions of the two narratives, with further differentiation within each of these dimensions. Since each of the two parties may value each one of these dimensions differently, treating each of them separately may enhance the chances of reaching an acceptable trade-off.

The aim in this project is both to understand the Israeli and Palestinian narratives on the issue of the right of return, and to formulate proposals that could possibly bridge between the two national narratives. Once these proposals are formulated, an attempt will be made to educate students, the general public, and decision makers on both sides about their potential.

The project will be conducted in two phases:

1. A systematic study of the various Israeli and Palestinian views on the right of return, its historical evolution, and the various explanations put forth for these views. Data will be collected from statements by political leaders and key negotiators, public opinion polls, publications in the daily press and opinion journals, and relevant academic and think-tank debates. These data will be analyzed using standard techniques of quantitative and discourse analysis. Each of the dimensions of the problem, as discussed above, will then be unpacked by means of fine-tuned sub-dimensions that will emerge from the discourse.

2. An empirical examination of the acceptability of various solutions, presented as political programs, to samples of the Israeli and Palestinian elites. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 60 opinion leaders from each side, who will be selected on criteria of their intellectual influence, political inclination, and, among the Palestinians, geographical distribution. The interviews will tap the interviewees’ views on the right of return and on the acceptability of various solutions that we will formulate on the basis of the current debate on past injustices.

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