Intolerance of “Others” among Palestinian and Jewish Students in Israel

Abstract

This study analyzes intolerance against diverse sociopolitical groups and compares the social and political attitudes of two distinct and highly differentiated groups: Jewish and Palestinian high‐school students in Israel. It examines their perceptions of the political context that structurates their “reality,” and aims to find the factors that influence the extremity of their intolerance. The proposed model is more applicable to Jewish students than it is to Palestinians and shows that intolerance toward out‐groups is influenced by religiosity, the salience of national and civic identity, national security issues, and political ideology.

Strategies of Constructing Social Identities in conflict‐Ridden Areas: The Case of Young Jews, Arabs and Palestinians

“…Moreover, Moore and Kimmerling (1995) show that the most salient identity among Jews in Israel is an individualistic (family) rather than a collective identity, from which they conclude that Israeli society is moving away from the collective goals set out by the two opposing social orders (Moore 2000a). Though less often, other identities -like occupation, religiosity, ethnicity, and locality -are also chosen by Jews as their most salient identity.…”

“…These identities reflect membership in broad social categories (whether this membership is actual, desired or imagined), as well as support of the goals, orientations, attitudes and values of these categories (Eisenstadt 1974). Choosing a collective identity means making it part of the individual's hierarchy of identities and the embracing of the goals, orientations, attitudes and values embedded in them (Kimmerling and Moore 1997;Moore 1996;2000a). Social change is expressed and labelled by changes in collective identities, and internal struggles take place around the adoption of competing collective identities (Anderson 1991;Collins 1981).…”

Hatred of “Others” Among Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian Students in Israel

“…2 When an intense conflict exists between two groups, biases against the outgroup will lead to delegitimization of the outgroup (Unger & Safir, 1994), and interactions among members of those groups will be more strongly influenced by their group membership than when no conflict exists (Islam & Hewstone, 1993). Thus, individual members of these groups will find it difficult to deal with each other as individuals (Moore, 1996(Moore, , 2000Oakes & Turner, 1986).…”

‘How Can I Feel for Others When I Myself Am Beaten?’ The Impact of the Armed Conflict on Women in Israel

“…Studies of the impact of the armed conflict on the civilian Israeli population typically focus on the collective sense of safety and national strength (Arian 1995;Bar-Tal and Jacobson 1996;Elran 2005;Solomon and Dekel 2004;Somer and Bleich 2005), or on attitudes to democracy and peace negotiations (Arian et al 2006;Canetti-Nisim 2004;Herman and Yuchtman-Yaar 2002;Moor 2000). While gender has been quite marginal in much of this literature, recent studies do pay increasing attention to differences in the reactions of women and men to what is commonly dubbed 'national trauma.'…”