Construction of the Israeli‐Jewish Conflict‐Supportive Narrative and the Struggle Over Its Dominance

Abstract

Societies involved in intractable conflicts form a conflict‐supporting master narrative that provides justification and explanation of the conflict as a whole as well as narratives about its specific events and relevant persons. Both types of narratives fulfill important functions in satisfying the basic sociopsychological needs of the individuals and the collectives involved, as well as in maintaining a positive image of the society in the international community. In order to fill these needs, the narratives tend to be selective, biased, and simplistic. Moreover, because these narratives are so functional, societies go to extraordinary lengths to maintain their dominance among their own people and internationally. The present article analyzes the specific case of the Israeli‐Jewish narrative of the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict with regard to the methods that are used in the narrative's construction and the ways through which formal authorities strive to preserve its dominance in Israel and in the international community.

Successfully Contesting the Policy Sphere: Examining Through the Press a Case of Local Protests Changing New Ecological Laws

“…Third, in conflict, people organize their positions by taking into account meta‐representations, that is, views of what “relevant others know, think, or value” (Elcheroth et al, , p. 729). Importantly, these meta‐representations concern not only content (of the representations and arguments the Other may use; Billig, ) but also value (in a culture, or in an interactional context; Bertoldo, Castro, & Barbará, ; Vala, Garcia‐Marques, Gouveia‐Pereira, & Lopes, ; see a similar point about narratives in Oren et al, ).…”

“…In social and political psychology, different traditions seek explanations for this resistance by privileging different levels of analysis, from individual to societal. Some traditions, however, contend that for understanding resistance to new laws and comprehending how their legitimacy is both affirmed and challenged, it is necessary to combine several levels of analysis (Castro, ; Di Masso, Dixon, & Pol, ; Elcheroth, Doise, & Reicher, ; Kadianaki & Andreouli, ; Kelman, ; Oren, Nets‐Zehngut, & Bar‐Tal, ; Sarasin et al, ).…”

Past-present discontinuity in ecological change and marine governance: An integrated narrative approach to artisanal fishing

“…Narratives are cultural tools used for sense making [14,19]. They constitute forms of telling and remembering the past that carry and integrate values, beliefs, attitudes, norms and knowledge, and are key for defining identities and for legitimizing past, present and future actions and roles of Self and Others [10,15,16]. In the telling of personal or group stories, some authors consider that a sense of continuity is essential for sustaining a positive identity [25].…”

“…There are, however, social-psychological approaches that developed a theorization of how meaning-making is jointly elaborated and transformed through integrated meaningsystems, and of the temporal dimension this entails. One example is the narrative approach [14], which assumes that narratives bring meaning and order to individual and collective experiences and events [10,15,16] by selecting and placing them in certain -culturally learned -typified sequences over time [17], and by ascribing also typified roles and responsibilities to Self and Others [18,19]. The narrative approach has thus the potential to offer a richer understanding of the relations between people, their environments [9] and their governing institutions [20], by namely helping explore how local narratives make sense of new fishing policies [e.g.21].…”

InDeFENCEof theIn‐Group Historical Narrative in an Intractable Intergroup Conflict: An Individual‐Difference Perspective

“…This need is even more pronounced when the group is immersed in intergroup conflict and war. The group historical narrative, which legitimizes and glorifies the group, is essential for maintaining solidarity, cohesion, and a fighting spirit within the group, garnering support and sympathy from international third parties, and (presumably) eroding the spirit and determination of the opposing parties (see also Oren, Nets‐Zehngut, & Bar‐Tal, in press). It is commonplace for groups in intergroup conflict to harbor incompatible and even contradictory narratives: Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland (Barry, ), Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats in the former Yugoslavia (Campbell, ), Basques and Spaniards in Spain (Molina, ) and Koreans and Chinese (Chung, ) are only a few examples of contradictory narratives and textbooks wars.…”