Conflict management approaches in Palestinian Baptist intra-church conflict in Israel between 1990 and 2016, in dialogue with Miroslav Volf’s theology of reconciliation: an analysis and critical evaluation

In the early 1990s, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, changed its global philosophy of ministry and withdrew from direct involvement in the Baptist churches it planted, including in Israel. Around the same time, local churches started to split. This research project seeks to contribute towards a solution to this problem by asking and answering both a sociological and a theological question: Sociologically, what are the nature and causes of the splits and how do Palestinian Baptist churches manage such intra-church conflict? Theologically, what are the desirable conflict management practices and how should they be adapted to local cultural traditions? The primary purpose of this research is to generate a local theory regarding a Palestinian theology of reconciliation which is both theologically and culturally relevant. This thesis argues that the primary factor for church splits is the clash between the pastors’ legacy of a ‘hierarchical-patriarchal’ approach and the younger generation's ‘Congregationalist-democratic’ approach, both grounded in, but each offering a different interpretation of Christian theology and Arab culture. It identifies four conflict management practices that are implemented by Palestinian Baptists in Israeli and holds that the main reason that the conflicts have not been resolved effectively is the clash between contenders' interpretations of theology and culture. The pastors’ cultural-theological approach is a combination of traditional sulha and hierarchical theology that was customary in traditional Palestinian churches. By contrast, the younger generation’s cultural-theological approach is a combination of alternative-legalist and Western-Baptist. The thesis examines the relevance of Miroslav Volf’s theology of reconciliation for the cases at hand. It argues that the model is indeed pertinent to Palestinian Baptists in Israel, who are in the process of investing new meanings into their theology of reconciliation. Yet, in order to be applicable to this context it requires cultural translation in eight elements: formality, dignity, venting, community, church practices, the not necessarily linear nature of the reconciliation process, to view divine justice as compatible with divine love and thus not separate them during conflict, and since conditional and unconditional forgiveness have much in common and differ in the way reconciliation is realized the focus should be on achieving reconciliation

Ends and Means: How Outcomes of Political Violence Affect Social and National Identities- The Case of Israel

Against the backdrop of repeated political violence between Israel and different belligerents in the first and second decades of the 21st century (2003-2017) and by employing a social-psychological theoretical framework, this dissertation explores the effects of political violence on Israelis ’ social and national identities. The findings support the discussion of the social consequences of political violence in Israel, be them increased cohesiveness among different social groups (ethnic minority and majority) or social fragmentation and increased polarization between other groups (rich vs. poor or political right vs. left). Whereas Social Identity Theory constitutes the theoretical base for the explored hypotheses, Israeli social place-making practices are also discussed. Topic Whereas a vast amount of literature has been dedicated to the effects of exposure to violence on individuals and groups for over a century, it mainly focuses on type, duration or location of such violence. Since the relevant literature seems to consider the occurrence of political violence a unitary phenomenon, it consistently fails to attend to a most important factor- the aftermath of such violence. By overlooking the discrepancy in violence’ aftermath and by neglecting any analysis derived from it, I argue that the comprehensive literature examining the social effects of political violence and post-conflict societies is missing a vital piece of the puzzle. Accordingly, the contribution of this dissertation to the conflict literature is twofold: first, it disaggregates the aftermaths of two common forms of political violence, wars and military operations and explores their effects on individuals, groups and the Israeli society as a whole. Second, it closely examines some of the central assumptions of Social Identity Theory, one of the most comprehensive theories of group relations in the context of concrete political violence. It does so while paying special attention to highly fascinating identity components and basic social building blocks: national identification, social trust and social rifts in Israel. Methods The dissertation employs various methodologies: First, a macro-level, statistical examination of the relationship between different war outcomes and socio-national identities was conducted using two web-based experiments. Second, a qualitative analysis of Zionism in Europe and in Israel’s early years complemented a discussion of Israeli narratives of belonging, memory politics, ingredients of national pride and contemporary social challenges. Third, a quantitative micro-level analysis of the effect of successful and unsuccessful military operation on the Israeli society was conducted. The latter utilized a unique, self-compiled database, following an extensive manual content analysis , alongside data originating in annual social surveys conducted in Israel by the Guttmann institute. Knowledge gained The first empirical chapter (chapter four) was set to establish the underlying assumption upon which the dissertation is based; Namely, that different outcomes of political violence have distinctive effects on individual identities. In this chapter, predictions derived from Social Identity Theory were put into an initial macro-level analysis through two original web experiments. The latter explored the effect of different war outcomes (distinguishing between victory, defeat, stalemate and a negotiated agreement) on social and national identities . Whereas the research supported the underlying hypothesis according to which distinctive war outcomes are associated with distinctive effects when national identification is concerned, no significant differences between war outcomes were found in relation to individuals’ social identities. These results are consistent with Social Identity Theory and the self-esteem protection/enhancement strategies derived from it (BIRGing and CORFing ); the significant differences between war outcomes (mainly between victories and defeats) are explained by individuals’ tendencies to share in the glory of a successful other (to BIRG) following a positively evaluated war outcome, and to distance themselves from an unsuccessful group (to CORF), following a negatively valued war outcome. The non-significant results concerning social identities are consistent with Simmel’s conflict hypothesis suggesting that conflicting interactions strengthen the internal cohesion of pre-existing groups. In this regard, it appears as though individuals react to the conflict itself whereas its aftermath did not play any significant role. The overall outcomes obtained thus laid the foundations for an extensive micro-level analysis of the effect of outcomes of political violence on socio-national identities among Israelis. Chapter five refocused the attention on the state of Israel and the Israeli society. It provided a historical analysis of Jewish-Israeli nationalism, rooted in the Zionistic movement in Europe in the late 19th century, which preceded the establishment of the state of Israel. The analysis centered on nation-building processes which took place in Israel’s first years, namely, the constructing of a new Jewish-Israeli identity by means of institutionalizing the Hebrew language as an official language, integration of new immigrants and the role of the Israeli defense force as a melting pot. The study of the origins of Israeli national pride, both in the country’s first years and in contemporary times, complemented the discussion as it is entwined with both Jewish and Israeli identities. The analysis suggests that while Israel was established as a democracy, it was never a space of ethnic diversity. As the national home for world jury based on a Zionist narrative and highly influenced by the Holocaust, no plurality of ethnic discourses existed in Israel in over 50 years. The research describes the way state-sponsored dominant Jewish and Zionist narratives morphed into a uni-dimensional Israeli identity. This, in turn, prevented Arab-Israelis, the largest ethnic minority in Israel, from being incorporated into the Israeli society. Recurrent political violence as part of the on-going Israeli Palestinian conflict further contributed both to the exclusion of Arab-Israelis from the original Israeli narrative and to the bonding of Jewish Israelis. It was only in the last decades and against the backdrop of significant changes endured by the Israeli society that place-making processes were put on the political and social agenda. Whereas nation and community-building processes are still prominent in contemporary Israel, they now exist side by side a vibrant and vocal discourse of post-Zionism, Jewish secularism and “Israelism” which is not based on Judaism but on an Israeli cultural narrative. Persistent political violence that contributed to social fragmentation in Israel’s first decades alongside cultural commonalities between Jewish and Arab Israelis now begin to serve as a common denominator in contemporary Israeli society. If those continue to resonate among Israelis, it is thus not implausible that they would eventually substitute Judaism and Zionism as social unifiers in the process of creating a “same boat” society. Under such circumstances and with diminishing boundaries between Arab and Jewish Israelis, the former will no longer be construed as an “out-group” by the Jewish majority in Israel. Nonetheless, drifting away from the original Jewish integrator and common factor of more than 75% of the country’s population may threaten the Jewish communities of Israel with social fragmentation. Consequently, the study of the effect of political violence on both Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Israel set forth in the upcoming chapters is of great importance for the future of Israel. Chapter six set out to examine the relationship between Israelis and their nation-state following different outcomes of Israeli military operations. Special attention was paid to changes in levels of national pride among Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis and new immigrants across a tempestuous ten-year period (2003-2013) and in conjunction with successful and unsuccessful conclusions of Israeli warfare, as perceived by the Israeli public. Using a regressing analysis of data originating in social surveys, the research tested the validity of predictions derived from Social Identity Theory in both the individual and the social levels. Results indicate that the effect of recurrent warfare on national identification among Israelis is highly mitigated by the perceived outcome of such warfare as well as by sub-group membership (ethnic/social majority vs. minority). Consistent with Social Identity Theory, an Israeli military success was highly associated with increased national identification for the general Israeli population. However, contrary to conventional wisdom and to the “minority hypothesis ”, the same effect was also registered among Israeli Arabs. While Israeli Arabs, the largest ethnic minority in Israel, might share neither the country’s collective Jewish narrative nor its Zionist ethos they are Israeli citizens who nonetheless feel a sense of belonging to the state of Israel . As such, they are a part of a larger in-group which shares personal and economic interests. Those are equally and existentially threatened when Israel is experiencing unsuccessful military operations. This positivistic evidence suggests that Israeli Arabs’ identification with the state of Israel lies in the area of “Israeliness that is beyond Jewishness”. The analysis also affirmed the existence of an “embedded identity effect” concerning national identification among Jewish Israelis; Israeli Jews, the majority ethnic group in Israel, maintained high national-identification levels regardless of the way the warfare was concluded. This finding is unsurprising considering Israel’s Jewish character and the circumstances of its creation. Whilst societies subjected to external threat may unite in the face of a common enemy, chapter seven sought to examine whether this is true in the Israeli context and if so, whether the outcomes of political violence mitigate the effect. Whereas a large scholarship examined the effect of violence on social cohesion and political tolerance in Israel, it mostly focused on Arab-Israelis and immigrant. The research presented in chapter seven studied the effect of discrepant outcomes of Israeli warfare on social cohesion, social tensions and trust between the various communities of Israel (both Jewish and non-Jewish). The research focused on the general level of social trust in society alongside six specific social rifts, prevalent in present-day Israel: the intercommunal rift (between the Israeli Jewish community and the Israeli-Arab community), the Jewish intercommunal rift (between Jews of Ashkenazi and Sephardic/Mizrachi origins), the religious rift (between orthodox and non-orthodox Jewish communities), the ideological/political rift , the socio-economic rift and the nativist tension (between native Israelis and new immigrants). Results revealed a highly significant effect of Israeli military success concerning all six social rifts and a very mild effect concerning social trust. For all but one rift (the Jewish inter-communal rift), successful termination of Israeli warfare was associated with an increased social tension between the different communities in Israel (though in different levels of significance). This unfortunate finding which points to increased fractionalization among the different communities in Israel following Israeli military successes is in line with several other studies examining the effects of political violence on political exclusionism in Israel. Whereas the literature supports the notion that in time of crisis social cohesion increases, it is not surprising to find increased tensions following military successes rather than failures. An exception to the observed rise in social tensions in Israel is the increased cohesion between Ashkenzi and Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews (the Jewish intercommunal rift). The results support the conclusion that the Jewish population, the majority ethnic group in Israel, is united behind the idea that Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people (and possibly a necessary refuge from rising anti-Semitism around the globe). A decrease in Jewish intercommunal tension following Israeli victories supports the cohesive potential of in-group pride and is consistent with the Jewish foundation and Zionistic narrative of Jewish Israelis and with the existence of an embedded Jewish-Israeli identity . As for the national level, a “rally around the flag” effect is a term used to describe the uniting power of common threats. An underlying motive for this surge in national unity is linked to patriotism, as individuals respond to threats by identifying with their in-group . However, when the crisis is over, politics and society quickly revert to normal and existing social rifts resurface. Whereas an unsuccessful termination of an Israeli military operation is likely to induce a “rally around the flag” effect, a military success demonstrates the opposite effect. Consequently, the seemingly rising tensions between various communities in Israel observed following an Israeli military success is consistent with a reverse “rally around the flag” effect and reflects the fractionalized nature of the Israeli society. Another explanation to the observed trend of increased social tensions following a successful warfare may be directly linked to the experience of in-group guilt or shame despite a successful outcome. Such gilt might lead to rising tension between those who are more/less supportive of the outcome, or perhaps feel that more should have been done to achieve a more solid outcome. Finally, the increased tensions may speak to the theorized dynamic at the heart of the present and similar works that reflects the more destructive side of pride and in-group glorification. According to that scholarship, out-group hate can even extend to people perceived to be “hostile minorities ”. Whilst the increase in intercommunal tension is expected and in line with the results of similar studies examining the effect of violence or stress on the relationships between Jewish and Arab Israelis, the increase in religious tensions, socio-economic tension and ideological tensions could be reflective of a second circle of out-group hate; Supporters of the political left alongside less observant and wealthier elements of the Israeli society , may experience in-group guilt and possibly shame despite the perceived successful outcome, thus distancing themselves from those experiencing pride at the outcome. The effect of education, in particular higher education, in reducing social tensions and increasing social trust emerges as another important finding of this research. Whether education provides a sense of optimism and control over one’s life that allows people to trust, or whether it provides opportunities for contact and networks’ creation with others, the study confirms the potential role of education in reducing social tension even in a highly diverse and conflict-torn Israeli society. Moreover, since social divisions may be exploited by political entrepreneurs, and since increasing social tensions might result in the erosion of social capital, raising the alarm would be the first step in directly addressing such important issues (for example, by policy making). Lastly, any serious peace negotiation with a Palestinian leadership would require difficult concessions to be made by both parties. As such, the way towards a peaceful conclusion of the Israeli Palestinian conflict would inevitably depend, among others, on the social strength and cohesion of the Israeli civil society.:Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Background and Motivation ................................................................................. 7 1.1.1 National Identification ............................................................................ 10 1.1.2 Social Trust ............................................................................................. 14 1.1.3 Focusing on Israel ................................................................................... 16 1.2 Prologue ............................................................................................................. 17 1.3 Contribution Scope ............................................................................................. 18 1.4 Overview of Aims and Chapters ........................................................................ 20 2. Theoretical Framework: Conflict Research, National Identification and Social Trust Part I: Conflict Research 2.1 Conflict Research ................................................................................................. 24 2.1.1 General Theory and Practices ................................................................ 25 2.1.2 Contemporary Trends and Challenges ................................................... 26 2.1.3 Looking Forward ................................................................................... 27 Part II: Belonging, Identity and the Nation 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Identity Formation ................................................................................................ 28 Social Belonging and Group Identification ......................................................... 29 The Sense of Belonging, Nationhood and Statehood .......................................... 30 2.4.1 What is a Nation? ................................................................................... 30 2.4.2 National Identification ........................................................................... 32 2.4.3 Hierarchies of National Belonging ........................................................ 33 2.4.4 The Nation State .................................................................................... 34 2.4.5 Nationhood and Statehood ..................................................................... 35 Conflict Patriotic Affinity: Conceptual Outlines ............................................................. 38 2.6.1 Between Patriotism and Nationalism ..................................................... 41 Coping With Threatened Social Identity ........................................................... 42 and Group Identification ........................................................................ 36 2 3 2.7.1 Social Identity Theory ......................................................................... 42 2.7.2 Basking In Reflected Glory ................................................................. 45 2.7.3 Cutting Off Reflected Failure .............................................................. 46 2.7.4 Self-Embedded Social Identity ............................................................ 48 2.7.5 National Identity of Ethnic Minorities ................................................ 50 Part III: Social Trust and Cohesiveness 2.8 Social Capital and Cohesion .............................................................................. 52 2.9 Unraveling the Riddle of Social Trust ............................................................... 54 2.9.1 Threats to Social Trust and Social Cohesion ....................................... 56 3. Methodology 3.1 Macro-level Analysis ......................................................................................... 60 3.1.1 Appropriateness ..................................................................................... 60 3.1.2 A Short History of Web Experiments .................................................... 61 3.1.3 Web Experiments: Advantages and Challenges .................................... 63 3.2. Micro-level analysis ........................................................................................... 69 3.2.1 Focusing on The state of Israel and Israeli Society ............................... 69 Contemporary Israeli Media .................................................................. 72 Military Censorship ............................................................................... 75 3.2.2 Episodes of High Intensity Political Violence ....................................... 75 3.2.3 Perceived Outcomes of Political Violence ............................................ 77 3.2.4 Relevant Issues Concerning the Use of Survey Data ............................ 78 Vague Concepts .................................................................................... 78 Categorizing Identities .......................................................................... 80 3.2.5 The Israeli Democracy Index ................................................................ 82 3.2.6 Control Variables ................................................................................... 83 3.3 Framing in Communication and Their Effect on Public Opinion ...................... 84 3.3.1 The Use of Emphasis and Equivalence Framing in Shaping Public Opinion .................................................................................................. 85 3.3.2 The Effect of Frames in Shaping Individual Perceptions ...................... 87 3.3.3 Assessing a Frame’s Strength in Political Settings ................................ 88 4. The Ending matters: National and Social Identification Following Discrepant War Outcomes 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 90 4.2 Experimental Study I ........................................................................................... 93 4.2.1 Procedure and Experimental Desi

Low-leverage states in international mediation: a comparative case study of Norway and Qatar

Although there has been considerable research on various aspects of inter-national mediation, few studies have specifically addressed the issue of low-leverage states and their potential as mediators. Low-leverage states do not fit neatly into the traditional categories of “pure” or “power” mediators be-cause of their unique status as states who often have an interest in the conflict and yet lack the same level of leverage possessed by powerful states to use in their mediation. Through their engagement in the international arena, low-leverage-states adopt different approaches to international mediation. This thesis contributes to the existing knowledge and the understanding of the scholarly literature by presenting two different approaches for low-leverage states in international mediation: norm-driven mediation and interest-driven mediation. Those two approaches to mediation are represented by Qatar and Norway. While Nor-way represents norm-based mediation, Qatar represents interest-based mediation. To find out the reasons behind the different types of engagement by low-leverage states in international mediation, this thesis answered the following main research question: Why do low-leverage states engage differently in international mediation? In addition, the following sub-questions were asked: What are the motivations and the capabilities of interest-based low-leverage mediators? What are the motivations and the capabilities of norm-based low-leverage mediators? Those questions were answered through a qualitative comparative case study of Qatar and Norway. This thesis makes a significant contribution to our knowledge by drawing on more than 30 semi-structured interviews with elite representatives, including diplomats, political leaders and politicians from different countries such as Norway, Israel, Qatar, Sudan, South Sudan, Darfur, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas

Construction of Binary Oppositions in War Reportage: A Case Study of the Media Coverage of the 2014 Gaza War

One of the typical characteristics of war/violence-oriented journalism is to represent warring parties in binary oppositions. The purpose is to justify violence, which turns every act of the Self into a defense mechanism, while that of the Enemy into intimidation, a violation, a threat. This approach is common in mainstream reportage of wars and conflicts, in which an excessive amount of attention is paid to the duel between the assumed two sides of the war, indicating a news value bias towards negativity and violence. On the other hand, stories about the background, the context leading to the war, conflict transformation, peace resolutions, the invisible and visible effects that the war can impose on the lives of civilians receive relatively less exposure. These debates are central to the theory of peace journalism. Premised on Johan Galtung’s concept of peace journalism, this study aims to question the role of the media in the Israel–Gaza war 2014. The data are twelve articles retrieved from the online archives of two news outlets, Haaretz and CNN. The study focuses on their representations of conflict actors and events that took place during the war, specifically in terms of four topics: the onset of the war, the battle of Shuja’iyya, the rhetoric of terrorist stronghold, and lastly, Hamas. The study employs Teun van Dijk’s framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, with an emphasis on the macrosemantic structure and dimensions of discourse semantics including perspectives, lexical choices and propositional structures. The study also takes into consideration the uses of multimodal texts such as images and videos, as well as their compositional patterns within the articles. The analyses reveal that there is an imbalance in reporting, especially in terms of perspectives, as Israeli official narratives of the war are predominant in the news discourses. Hamas, one of the main conflict actors, by contrast, often appears in a trove of antagonistic representations that are based on preconception and bias towards the organization. The two news outlets also display a difference in their approaches to the news. While a large portion of CNN’s content is devoted to the confrontation and exchange of fires between Hamas and Israel, Haaretz proves to be more creative in terms of perspectives. Additionally, by including a number of articles that propose solutions and alternatives to the conflict, the latter implies an effort to find peace and put an end to the war. The practice of Haaretz demonstrates that violence-oriented reportage is avoidable.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Why has the Arab League failed as a regional security organisation? An analysis of the Arab League¿s conditions of emergence, characteristics and the internal and external challenges that defined and redefined its regional security role.

This study presents a detailed examination of the Arab League¿s history, development, structure and roles in an effort to understand the cause of its failure as a regional security organisation. The research¿s point of departure is a questioning of the nature and scope of this failure in terms of the interplay between the conditions under which it was formed and the many actors and dynamics that had a long term-impact on the prospects for the League. To this end, the study looks at the League¿s conditions of emergence and Arab-Arab relations with the focus on Arab national security as the main concept determining its security role. The research synthesises methods of analysis from the existing literature and schools of thought so as to identify where and why failure and success occurred in relation to international relations theories, the security and international organisations literature, and comparable international models. The development and conditions affecting the League as discussed in the research demonstrate that none of the existing broad theories or approaches can fully explain the League¿s failure; however, the constructivist approach, although never before applied in this context, is shown to offer the most relevant approach for explaining this organisation and its unique parameters. The research also examines the role played by the Arab League in regional peacekeeping and conflict prevention in the context of Arab national security, with Palestine as a case study

Perceptions of the Israel – Palestine conflict:: frames among the public, political stakeholders and media in Palestine and Israel

This study is an attempt to comprehend how Palestinians and Israelis perceive the conflict and the peace process. It identifies the channels and dynamics related to the shaping of their perceptions on the individual, community, and political levels. The main objectives of this study are to probe the degree of homogeneity between these levels for both Palestinians and Israelis as well as the degree of discord between them on the same levels and to pinpoint intervening factors that contribute to carving out the ultimate perceptions that individuals hold. Unlike previous work, this study employs a multi-method approach to measure and benchmark of the topic at hand. To bridge further gaps, a developed matrix extends the analyses on temporalspatial dimensions of individuals’ cognitions, affections, and behaviors pertaining to the conflict. This study falls within the descriptive research that seeks probing the effect of macro-level factors (the media, and political parties/leaders) on microlevel ones (the audience cognitive processing), and is involved in describing and identifying its elements and components through the collection and analysis of data. Interpretation of data is based on a combination of content analysis for eight major newspapers, two public opinion surveys and a document analysis affiliated to the main four political parties. The analysis of the Palestinians and Israelis’ perspective of the conflict and the peace process revealed that the actual conflict has three main dimensions: First, the struggle between individuals, which is full of self-contradictions, as each party describes a conflict in a way different than the other. It is a conflict, in which the past and present of the two sides of the conflict are different - the bitter past itself with different narratives, yet the motives are the same but conducive to different results. Whereas each party is blaming the other on these three levels, the conflict is rooted in different forms, but intertwined with one another. Both nations differ entirely in prioritizing the core issues of the conflict. For example, the study reveals that for Palestinians the issue of Jerusalem ranks first, followed by the issue of releasing of prisoners. The issue of the refugees ranks third, and paradoxically recognizing Israel as a Jewish state ranks last according to Palestinians. As for the Israelis, the issue of security and safety ranks first, the recognition of the Jewishness of their state ranks second, followed by the issue of Jerusalem that comes in the third place, whereas and at loggerheads with the Palestinians’ aspirations, the establishing of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders ranks last on their part. The same applies to the proposed solutions of the conflict. The future is fuzzy, and everyone sees the most appropriate solutions that fit their own interest, as a part of the zero-sum game. Both peoples yearn for peace, and both peoples are tired and bored of the conflict, but the majority in both sides, however, are not willing to make concessions towards this end and consequently are not optimistic in reaching peace in the near future. Furthermore, each party does not view the political leadership of the other party as a partner for peace. Secondly, a media conflict, where the analysis illustrates a similarity in the issues raised in the Palestinian and Israeli newspapers, but there were distinct statistical differences in the extent of coverage and in the display of those issues and their interpretation between the Israeli and Palestinian media, the matter which is clearly reflects on the individuals’ view on the causes of the conflict, its consequences and solutions. Regarding the third level of the conflict i.e. the conflict between political leaders and parties, a strong statistical relationship has been established between political affiliation to a particular party and the perspective of both, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, on the most significant issues of the conflict. This is reflected in the homogeneity degree of the priorities of the parties and political leaders in the analysis of documents and media, in the analysis of the content with the order of priorities in the Palestinian and Israeli mindset. The statistical results have particularly shown a strong reciprocal correlation between the angles of this triangle. The relationship boosts wrong inherited notions and beliefs, which necessitates their eradication and adoption of new strategies on the part of political stakeholders. In that case, the media will publish them in a positive way that serves the peace process and bring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to an end. Finally, on the basis of the results and conclusions of this dissertation a model was developed that illustrated how these interactions frame realities into new realities that let the peace process sink even more day by day

Moving from Fear towards Unity among Intergroup Dialogue Participants in Israel-Palestine: Findings from a Qualitative Meta-Data-Analysis

This qualitative meta-data-analysis was designed to identify themes of experience of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Arab intergroup dialogue participants. A review of the literature indicated a scarcity of research that describes the ‘meaning-making’ processes that these participants undergo while engaged in structured intergroup dialogue, and this study was designed to address that shortage. The analyst conducted a targeted search of academic journal articles and Ph.D. dissertations published after 1999. The result of this search was a set of 17 primary reports, and the findings of this study are based on the verbatim quotations of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Arab intergroup dialogue participants as cited within the set of primary reports. The analyst performed a thematic analysis of said quotations and, guided by contact theory, social identity theory, and intersubjectivity theory, concluded that Israeli Jews, Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, and Palestinian Arabs in the Occupied Territories all enter dialogue carrying varying levels of fear and anger; and if they remain dedicated to dialogue processes, they eventually—to varying degrees—seek truth, pursue justice, and realize unity. This study’s primary contribution is its explication of the specific areas intergroup dialogue facilitators and researchers need to focus in Israel-Palestine. The findings indicate that more research needs to be conducted on inter-religious, narrative, and activist models. Furthermore, the data evidences the presence of geotheological influences on participant perspectives. Overall, the findings of this dissertation are consistent with previous research that affirms the power of dominant group narratives to sustain intractable conflict and the necessity of intergroup dialogue to foster cross-group friendships that can overcome intractable conflict

Re-Mediating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Use of Films to Facilitate Dialogue

With the objective of outlining a decision-making process for the selection, evaluation, and application of films for invigorating Palestinian-Israeli dialogue encounters, this project researches, collates, and weaves together the historico-political narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the artistic worldviews of the Israeli and Palestinian national cinemas, and the procedural designs of successful Track II dialogue interventions. Using a tailored version of Lucien Goldmann’s method of homologic textual analysis, three Palestinian and three Israeli popular film texts are analyzed along the dimensions of Historico-Political Contextuality, Socio-Cultural Intertextuality, and Ethno-National Textuality. Then, applying the six “best practices” criteria gleaned from thriving dialogue programs, coupled with the six “cautionary tales” criteria gleaned from flawed dialogue models, three bi-national peacebuilding film texts are homologically analyzed and contrasted with the six popular film texts. This exercise is designed to implement a method for identifying “which, why, how, and when” filmic communication is best paired with dialogic communication to buttress the effects of Israeli-Palestinian Track II peacebuilding mediations. It is proposed that a synergized approach of film plus dialogue will contribute to the re-mediation of ethnonational imaginaries and the re-imagining of the violent parameters of the conflict

Translation and peace:Arabic, English and Hebrew language versions of Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives

The present thesis examines Palestinian-Israeli peace initiatives as politically negotiated texts and their different Arabic, English and Hebrew language versions. Its aim is to make a contribution to a deeper understanding of the role of translation and recontextualization of politically negotiated texts in situations of ongoing contemporary conflict. In modern Translation Studies, although research exists on the translation of political texts following functional (e.g. Schäffner 2002) or systemic-linguistic (e.g. Calzada-Pérez 2001) approaches or applying narrative theory (Baker 2006), peace initiatives and politically negotiated texts are still a largely under-researched genre of political texts. The thesis – which takes 31 Arabic, English and Hebrew language versions of 5 different Palestinian-Israeli peace initiatives as its corpus – operates within the framework of product-oriented Descriptive Translation Studies (Lambert and Van Gorp 1985) and Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1992). For all of the peace initiatives analysed, there exist several language versions which were made available in different contexts by different institutions and for different readerships and purposes. The thesis pursues a top-down approach. It begins with presenting the socio-cultural and political contexts of the production of the original versions of the respective peace initiatives (the source texts) and their different language versions (target texts), focusing on their underlying functions and principles of audience design. It then moves to examine how the textual profiles of the language versions of peace initiatives reflect aspects of ideology, political affiliation and power relations at both the macro- and micro-structural levels. The final step is to account for these aspects in terms of socio-political and institutional conditions of the production of the translations. The overall textual analysis demonstrates that when translated, peace initiatives can be interpreted differently by different institutions in their attempt to promote their respective political interests and narratives. Also, it is very frequently that translations produced in one specific institutional context are recontextualised for use in another one. Such recontextualisation goes hand in hand with further textual amendments. To summarize, the thesis demonstrates how these translations – as products – are (re)framed and (re)contextualized in different institutional settings in order to serve different purposes. These texts, thus, play different roles in situations of ongoing contemporary conflict depending on the institutional context in which they are presented and the purposes they set to serve. These main findings make an original contribution to the discipline of Translation Studies in respect of emphasizing the need to study translations in their socio-political, historical and institutional contexts