The Dialogue between the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’

A Process Analysis of Palestinian-Jewish Encounters in Israel

Bibliographic Data

ID9889286
AuthorsIfat Maoz (0000-0002-8524-1297, Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Shoshana Steinberg (Kaye College of Education in Beer-Sheva, Israel), Dan Bar-On (Post-Holocaust Psychological Studies and Department of Behavioral Sciences at Ben-Gurion University), Dan Bar‐on, Mueen Fakhereldeen
Year2002
Volume55
Issue8
Pages931-962
Publication date2002-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0018726702055008178
OpenAlexW2113024750
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited30

This study assumes that the collective identities of both Jews and Palestinians in Israel have long been constructed around the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, a major focus of social and historical reality in the Middle East region. Monolithic in their early stages, these constructions of identity underwent a process of deconstruction and reconstruction, primarily due to changes in the political reality (the peace process), globalization, and the surfacing of conflicts that were hidden within the monolithic construction. The deconstruction process, though painful and problematic, creates new opportunities for a dialogue that engages elements of identity, which no longer ‘fit’ the contenders. Such a dialogue took place in ‘laboratory’ form at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev from October 1996 and June 1997 between two leading participants in an ongoing workshop for Jewish and Palestinian Israeli students. Most conflict group encounters are measured by outcomes, not by process. We identified problems when the method common for these groups was used at Jewish-Palestinian encounters and this led us to try another way. This study employs a qualitative methodology to analyse the process of groups in conflict. It looks into how the process of questioning one’s own self and the other’s perception takes place in this context. In describing the dialogue that evolved between a Jew, Avner and a Palestinian, Nasser (both pseudonyms), the tension between the individual and collective identity levels, between the internal group process and the asymmetric social and political reality, is revealed. We suggest that the confrontation and friendship between Avner and Nasser created a new quality of dialogue, enabling a more complex identity construction to emerge on both the Jewish and the Palestinian sides

Aesthetics · Collective identity · Context (archaeology · Deconstruction (building · Focus group · Friendship · Identity (music · Judaism · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Engineering · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Middle East Politics and Society · Psychology · Social Psychology

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