Israeli Adolescents Making Meaning of Conflict: Development of Political Understanding amidst an Intractable Conflict

1. Israeli Adolescents Making Meaning of Conflict: Development of Political Understandingamidst an Intractable Conflict Shai FuxmanCMEI Student Seminar Harvard Graduate School of Education September 10th, 2009

2. This research study attempts to delve further into the connection between Israel’s collective narrative, ethos of conflict, and adolescents’ political understandings Peace Education • For decades peace education efforts have attempted to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians; research to support these efforts has lagged behind • In recent years, research has focused on the need to address collective narratives/ethos of conflict (Nevo & Brem, 2002; Salomon, 2004; Salomon, 2006, Bar-Tal, 2008)

3. Intractable Conflicts • Main Characteristics: Protracted, Violent, Perceived as irreconcilable • Categories of beliefs present in intractable conflict include justness of goals, own victimization, positive self image, and delegitimizing the opponent • Beliefs form the ethos of conflict; used as coping mechanism, but also perpetuate conflict • Ending conflict requires transforming ethos of conflictto ethos of peace

4. Collective Narratives • Combine collective memories and historical accounts to form a narrative that explains the past, interprets the present, and informs the future • Disseminated through formal education, media, political speeches, the arts, etc. • Integral part of any nation’s identity, but more prominent when a nation is perceived to be threatened (e.g., intractable conflicts)

5. Development of Political Understanding • Individuals actively engage with societal messages to form their own understanding of social/political context • Three models inform this process: • Cognitive-development: Active construction of meaning, fluidly changing as child develops new cognitive skills • Social perspective taking: Development of ability to coordinate one own’s perspective with those of others to understand social environment • Ecological model: Interaction between different ecological levels of influence, from microsystem to macrosystem (Flanagan & Sherrod, 1998;Haste & Torney-Purta, 1992; Selman , 2003, Bronfenbrenner, 1979)

6. Research Question How do Israeli adolescents weave personal experiences with Israel’s collective narrative—transmitted to them through socializing agents such as family, schooling and the media—to form their political understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

7. Quantitative Study: Methods and Sample • Survey administered to 473 10th grade students from 6 schools in different geographic regions • Conducted between Sept. 2008-Dec. 2008, period of relative calm • Survey addresses: • Sources of information about conflict (family, peers, school, media) • Personal and Family experiences with conflict • Adherence to Israeli ethos/collective narrative • Willingness to compromise for peace

8. Qualitative Study: Methods and Sample • Semi-structured interviews conducted with 40 students from 11 schools across the country (20 male/20 female; different world regions of origin) • Interviews addressed: • Family immigration and conflict-related experiences • Personal conflict-related experiences • Interviewee’s understanding of conflict’s past and present (including peace efforts) • Communication with family, peers, textbooks, teachers, media • Identity

9. Acco Karmiel Ra’anana Tel-Aviv Jerusalem Kiryat Malachi Survey only Interviews only Survey and Interviews Beer-Sheva

11. Quantitative Study: Initial Results

12. Quantitative Study: Initial Results Predicting Willingness to Compromise • Positive Association: ethos of peace, meeting an Arab/Palestinian, positive emotions towards Palestinians, self-reported political position, trusting international media • Negative Association: ethos of conflict, fear of major attack, negative emotions towards Palestinians, self-reported political position • No significant association: Attention to media, trusted sources, interest in conflict, political activism, pride in country

13. Quantitative Study: Initial Results Predicting Ethos of Conflict • Positive Association: Trusting Israeli military, negative emotions towards Palestinians, pride in country, fear of attack, self-reported political positions • Negative Association: Trusting Arab and international media, Holocaust-related experience, positive emotions towards Palestinians, self-reported political positions • No Association: Attention to media, trusted sources, interest in conflict, and meeting Arab/Palestinian

14. Qualitative Study: Initial Results • Many were able to take Palestinian/Arab perspective when discussing history, but not current events • Most were able to compromise on victimhood • Most trusted source of information about history came from family members who experienced it • Parents and friends cited as most influential • Teachers and textbooks least influential

15. Qualitative Study: Initial Results • Strong connection to the Holocaust, even more so than to historic Israeli battles • Military service, need to contribute to the country’s well-being very important • Several had encounters with Arabs/Palestinians, but encounters did not change views

16. Implications (so far) • Premise: Peace education can transform ethos of conflict to ethos of peace • Need to address both cognitive as well as emotional connections to the conflict • Peace education interventions need to provide critical thinking skills to be applied not just in formal education, but in processing messages from other socializing agents