An important article in Haaretz describes a research study by the leading political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal into the biased collective memory of conflicts. Bar-Tal's research study had some very interesting implications for the chances for peace in the Israel Palestinian Conflict.
Is an Israeli Jewish sense of victimization perpetuating the conflict with Palestinians?
A pioneering research study dealing with Israeli Jews' memory of the conflict with the Arabs, from its inception to the present, came into the world together with the war in Gaza. The sweeping support for Operation Cast Lead confirmed the main diagnosis that arises from the study, conducted by Daniel Bar-Tal, one of the world's leading political psychologists, and Rafi Nets-Zehngut, a doctoral student: Israeli Jews' consciousness is characterized by a sense of victimization, a siege mentality, blind patriotism, belligerence, self-righteousness, dehumanization of the Palestinians and insensitivity to their suffering.
We see that insensitivity to suffering, as Gazans continue to go without clean water or adequate food.
"Most of the nation retains a simplistic collective memory of the conflict, a black-and-white memory that portrays us in a very positive light and the Arabs in a very negative one," says the professor from Tel Aviv University. This memory, along with the ethos of the conflict and collective emotions such as fear, hatred and anger, turns into a psycho-social infrastructure of the kind experienced by nations that have been involved in a long-term violent conflict.
Long term conflict creates dangerous distortions in how a society views itself and the rest of the world.
Bar-Tal became enthusiastic about the idea and, with funding from the International Peace Research Association Foundation, he conducted a survey in the summer of 2008 among a representative sample of 500 Jewish Israeli adults. The study demonstrated that widespread support for the official memory testifies to a lower level of critical thinking, as well as belief in traditional values, high identification with Jewish identity, a tendency to delegitimize the Arabs, and support for taking aggressive steps against the Palestinians.
The recent Israeli attack on Gaza produced an outpouring of expressions of this kind of belligerent siege mentality and efforts to delegitimize the Arabs of Gaza.
The atmosphere in the street and in the media during the weeks of the Gaza war seems to have confirmed the central finding of the study: "The ethos of the conflict is deeply implanted in Jewish society in Israel. It is a strongly rooted ideology that justifies the goals of the Jews, adopts their version, presents them in a very positive light and rejects the legitimacy of the Arabs, and primarily of the Palestinians," notes Bar-Tal
For Israelis even very basic historical context of their own country's creation gets lost in this strongly rooted ideology that overpowers the history.
Among the same Jewish public, 40 percent are unaware that at the end of the 19th century, the Arabs were an absolute majority among the inhabitants of the Land of Israel. Over half of respondents replied that in the United Nations partition plan, which was rejected by the Arabs, the Arabs received an equal or larger part of the territory of the Land of Israel, relative to their numbers; 26.6 percent did not know that the plan offered the 1.3 million Arabs a smaller part of the territory (44 percent) than was offered to 600,000 Jews (55 percent).
A significant segment of Israelis do not recognize the legitimacy of their Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank and Gaza. Until that changes progress toward peace will remain politically unpalatable option for Israeli Politicians. Israel's oppression of the Palestinians grows out of of Israelis' sense of victimhood. I've often wondered why Israelis are often so quick to resort to military violence, and why most Israelis show so little concern for the massive suffering by innocent civilians caused by Israel's prolific use of collective punishment against the Palestinians. This research study provided some answers.
I urge you to read the entire Haaretz article.