Conflict management in Israel

Citation

Posthuma, R. (2013), "Conflict management in Israel", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 24 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcma.2013.34424caa.001

Conflict management in Israel

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Conflict Management, Volume 24, Issue 3

Introduction

Israel has been at the crux of many major conflicts and therefore it is not surprising that some of the best and most interesting and insightful conflict management research originates in Israel (e.g. Ellis and Moaz, 2003; Koslowsky et al., 2011; Pely, 2011). To help scholars to gain a better appreciation for and understanding of conflict management in this politically and strategically important country, this special issue of the International Journal of Conflict Management is dedicated to research that focuses on conflict management in Israel. This issue includes five excellent studies that are based on theoretical foundations that build on prior conflict management research. Each of the studies in this special issue is summarized below.

Overview of studies

People often remember and reflect upon events that occurred long ago. Those memories and reflections can continue to exacerbate contemporary conflicts. This special issue includes three studies that examine collective narratives that reflect differing perspectives on events that continue to shape the current state of affairs in Israel.

The study by Nets-Zehngut illustrates how recollections about historical events relate to an important contemporary conflict in Israel, namely the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Drawing from the literature on collective memories and narratives about conflicts, the author analyzes historical accounts that reported the large number of Palestinians who left the Lydda and Ramla cities after the 1948 war. The author argues that earlier historical narratives were dominated by a Zionist narrative that reported the Palestinians leaving this area voluntarily. However, beginning in 1970, other narratives adopted a critical revisionist approach that claimed the Palestinians were expelled from this region. The author uses this case study to illustrate various characterizations of the manifestation of major events (e.g. frequency, scope, leakage to media, public controversy, and context). He also uses this case to illustrate how the influence of narratives of major events can be characterized by the direction of impact (i.e. positive or negative), the extent of their impact (major or minor), and other theoretical conceptualizations.

The study by Srour, Sagy, Mana, and Mjally-Knani examines collective narratives and their potential for affecting intergroup relations. The study sample consisted of 1,121 Muslim Palestinians and 756 Christian Palestinians in Israel. Participants were both men and women from various locations throughout Israel. Muslims are a minority within Israel and Christians are a minority both among the Palestinians and within Israel. This study focused on collective memories of eight different historical, social, and political events. These events included matters such as the Christian crusades of the eleventh century, Muslim groups’ desire to build a mosque near a Christian church in Nazareth, and the tendency of Christians to emigrate from Palestinian areas. Survey measures included perceptions of in-group and other groups on dimensions such as legitimacy, empathy, and anger. The data indicated that Christians perceived Muslims’ narratives as less legitimate and reported less empathy and more anger toward Muslims. Christians reported their in-group narratives as more legitimate. The authors suggest that these data may be based on Palestinian Christians’ perception of pressure to be assimilated into the dominant Islamic culture within the Palestinian community, and that Palestinian Christians are attempting to maintain their unique social identity. Muslims were less willing to accept Christian narratives pertaining to Islamic religious and other matters. The authors suggested that this might be the result of the importance of Muslim religious identification being more significant than national unity. There have been many contradictory representations of historical events based on social identities and belief systems.

The study by Mitrani examines changes in historical narratives that pertain to Israel’s societal beliefs in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Adopting a social cognitive perspective and using discourse analysis, the study traces the changes in speeches given by prime ministers in Israel’s Knesset. In this article, the author provides a useful overview of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author argues that both peace and warfare require political leadership to enlist public support and that this can occur, in part, through the reasons and legitimizations provided by public discourse. This discourse can frame and represent intractable conflict, but can also be reframed to legitimize conflict resolution. This is examined within the framework of a psycho-social infrastructure that includes collective memory, conflict ethos, and collective emotional orientations pertaining to communal societal beliefs. In addition to several examples of actual statements made during these speeches, an empirical analysis reports the frequency with which the words “peace” and “security” were used during these speeches. The data show that the word “peace” was more commonly used during the era of the Madrid peace conference in 2001 and the word “security” was more common during the era of the Cairo conference in 1994 and the second Oslo conference in 1995. These data help to illustrate empirically how the dominant societal beliefs are manifested in political discourse that is intended to mobilize political support.

In addition to the three studies that focus on collective discourse, there is a commentary by Ghnaem and Mustafa that portrays the current Israeli negotiation strategy pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an attempt to obtain a settlement without reconciliation. The authors analyze the Israeli political discourse over the period 2009-2012. The authors’ analysis suggests that Israel has attempted to integrate the concepts of offering a limited political and territorial settlement to the Palestinians in return for obtaining reconciliation from the Palestinians.

These three studies and commentary illustrate the usefulness of examining historical discourse and narratives to gain a better understanding of the complex nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several theoretical insights offer a much deeper and more sophisticated understanding of the complexities inherent in this seemingly intractable conflict. These insights can serve as a foundation toward building effective methods to manage this conflict and also to generalize to the management of conflicts in other regions around the world.

While these studies focused on collective narratives at the group and country levels, two other studies examined conflict management in Israel at other levels. One study examined conflict at the level of couples, involving men and women in romantic relationships. Another study also studies differences between men and women but transitions from personal relationships within couples to workplace relationships.

The study by Aloni and Desivilya focuses on conflicts involving heterosexual couples currently involved in a relationship. The participants were all based in Israel. They were primed to think about gender stereotypes in order to evaluate the differences between men and woman. They were also rated on the degree to which they reported their relationship was egalitarian or more dominated by the woman or the man. The couples were presented with three hypothetical negotiation scenarios (hiring a childcare caretaker, a renovation contractor, or a caterer) to manipulate asymmetrical contextual ambiguity as feminine, masculine, or neutral, and then asked whom they would choose to negotiate on behalf of both of them, either the man or the woman. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on the couple as the unit of analysis. Traditional couples selected the man as their negotiator. However, as predicted, in situations in which the negotiation involved hiring a childcare caretaker, the couples were more likely to choose the woman to negotiate on their behalf. Other important findings include the influence of a prior negotiator’s experience, and stereotypical masculine and feminine traits.

The study by Schwarzwald, Koslowsky, and Bernstein transitions from the findings of Aloni and Desivilya by examining gender stereotypes about the use of power tactics home compared to the workplace. These authors conducted two studies using male and female university students in Israel. These studies showed that there appears to be a convergence of the use of conflict tactics by men and women over time. Men are becoming more like women in that they are less likely to use harsh tactics (e.g. personal and impersonal coercion and legitimacy of position). However, the authors suggest that gender stereotypes and other factors can make it difficult for women to increase the frequency of using harsh tactics to match the frequency that these tactics have been used by men. The study discusses these findings in the context of the changing roles for women in the workplace.

Analysis and conclusion

The studies that focused on the conflict involving the Israeli-Palestinian situation can serve as an important historical foundation that can enhance our understanding of the current situation in Israel. It is important to remember that these studies are not the only perspectives that can be applied to this conflict. Other perspectives are welcome. Other scholars are encouraged to use theory-based analysis to offer alternative points-of-view and to build upon this foundation. For example, Yoav Peled and colleagues at Tel Aviv University have recently worked collaboratively with both Israeli and Palestinian scholars who live in the disputed area between the Mediterranean and Jordan River to discuss and analyze the potential for a one state solution. Ideally, open dialogue and objective and thoughtful research by conflict scholars can help to facilitate the identification of successful methods to manage and resolve this conflict (Hoffmann, 2005).

For example, prior research has recognized that collective discourse are not just a way of mobilizing political support but also serve as an important coping mechanism for societies such as Israel that are involved in seemingly intractable conflicts (Bar-Tal, 1998). For this reason societal beliefs can tend to perpetuate conflict and make it more difficult to resolve.

Nevertheless, prior research has shown how the seemingly intractable conflict in Northern Ireland has evolved to a more stable situation through physical separation (Byrne et al., 2012). This suggests that physical separation can have a positive effect. Yet, opposing ethnic groups often confront each other in close proximity or neighborhoods. When this occurs, the negative stereotypes about the other group can exacerbate negative emotions and destructive behaviors (Ufkes et al., 2012). This suggests that dispelling inaccurate stereotypes could have an ameliorating effect on ethnic conflicts. This is consistent with prior research in Israel that has shown how generating empathy for people in other ethnic groups and identifying commonalities between disparate groups can help to moderate ethnic conflict (Mollov et al., 2004). Other research on the seemingly intractable ethnic conflict in Cyprus illustrates how adversarial ethnic groups are more likely to be seek out even handed solutions when each ethnic group has it is own shared and salient social identity and are not fragmented (Sirin, 2012). This suggests that enhancing social identity of ethnic groups could have a positive effect on conflict resolution.

In sum, there continues to be a growing body of theory-based peer-reviewed research that brings together scholarly analysis and deep insights that can help to manage and resolve seemingly intractable conflicts in Israel and elsewhere. More research is needed, however, and the academic community can play and important role in helping countries, ethnic groups, employers, and individuals to manage and resolve their most difficult conflicts.

Richard Posthuma

About the Editor

Richard A. Posthuma is the Ellis and Susan Mayfield Professor of Management at the College of Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso. He received his J.D., Cum Laude from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1992 and his PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management in 1999 from the Purdue University Graduate School of Business. His research interests focus on conflict management and human resource management. Richard Posthuma can be contacted at: rposthuma@utep.edu