Conflicting Narratives Of The Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Conflicting narratives in the Israeli Palestinian conflict Any reference to conflict turns history into a reservoir of blame. In the presence of conflict, narratives differ and multiply to delegitimize the opponent and to justify one’s own action. Narratives shape social knowledge. The Israeli Palestinian conflict, both Jews and Muslims, view the importance of holding the territories through religious, ideological, and security lenses, based on belief that Palestine was given by divine providence and that the land belongs to either the Israelis or Palestinian’s ancestral home. Understanding these perspectives is required for understanding Palestinians’ and especially Israel’s strategy and role in entering the Oslo peace process. Despite†¦show more content†¦To show examples how conflicting narratives affected the Oslo peace process, conflicting narratives stemming from collective memories will be applied to issues regarding security, history, and social identity. Security narrative A narrative based on collective memory is difficult to deconstruct and functions as a barrier to negotiations. Given that narratives play an important role in determining the flow of the negotiations and that every new generation on both sides is raised with this narrative of insecurity in mind, the gap of conflict is widened through a hardening of attitudes amplified by the delay of resolving the stalemate. Connecting the gap to security arguments, the gap is further widened when collective memory functions as the key in altering the status quo especially in asymmetrical conflict where the weaker group fears the total domination of the other and contests the imbalance by resorting to violence. A clash in security narratives is seen: Palestinians justify their violent actions by trying to balance out with Israel claiming that they feel powerless and fear the loss of dignity, while Israelis justify their actions citing issues of threat and security. As seen in the eruption of the s econd intifada, Palestinian riots occurred after events that affected their sense of security. First, Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount reminded the Palestinians of their claim over East Jerusalem and saw Sharon’s visitShow MoreRelatedThe Israeli Palestinian Conflict : A Long And Storied History1241 Words   |  5 Pages The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long and storied history. Israel was created in response to European anti-Semitism, with the ethno-nationalist vision of a Jewish territory of their own. By 1948, approximately 522,000 Jews had migrated to Palestine, most arriving during Hitler’s reign of terror that against Jews. Largely, Palestinians resented being expelled from their lands and bearing the burden of the persecution of European Jews. Consequently, the 1947 UN partition sparked aggression betweenRead MoreThe British s Involvement During The 1947-1948 War Of Independence Essay1471 Words   |  6 Pagesduring the 1947-1948 War of Independence. The British s involvement in the conflict during the 1910 s-1940 s is responsible for those deaths through a narrative of events in the upcoming years to the war. The British fuelled the Arab-Israeli conflict by antagonising the Palestinian Arabs, by sentencing the Jewish people to death and by beginning the 1947-1948 Mandatory Pales tine war of independence. The Arab-Israeli conflict roughly began with minor disagreements and altercations since the lateRead MoreA closer Look at Benny Morris One State, Two States880 Words   |  4 Pagesin his narrative. With a primary focus on the perspective of his own nation, Morris draws on a large number of source material and quotes, but appears to have left strong Arab Palestinian ones out of the picture. This basic element to Morris’s precariously tainted views displayed in his book, should raise red flags to any critical reader, and ought to lead many to ask whether or not the unbalanced picture he has created, can be portrayed as an accurate account of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Read MoreU.S In the Middle East1243 Words   |  5 Pagesrelationship with Israel. Since 1948, the United States’ active position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen very little change or progress towards achieving settlement between these two nationalistic states. In the last 65 years, the majority of U.S. presidents repeated mistakes made by their predecessors in office, and this in turn has had little effect in bringing about resolution in the Middle East. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been an ongoing problem for more thanRead MorePalestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmaker2441 Words   |  10 PagesPalestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmaker Name Institution Palestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmaker The Palestinian movie industry has significantly grown in the resent past despite the challenge they face with majority of the movies coming from different sources of film production. There lack adequate equipments that are used to produce the movies, and this poses a great challenge to the industry. Lack of funds to financeRead MorePalestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmakers2472 Words   |  10 Pages Palestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmaker Name Institution Palestinian-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of Palestinian Filmmaker The Palestinian movie industry has significantly grown in the resent past despite the challenge they face with majority of the movies coming from different sources of film production. There lack adequate equipments that are used to produce the movies, and this poses a great challenge to the industry. Lack of funds to finance theRead MoreEssay on Iron Cage2038 Words   |  9 Pagesbook, by examining the conflicting evidence of the Palestinians’ plight. In order to do so, the narrative begins in 1948, following the eviction of more than half of the Arab Palestinian population as a result of the Arab – Israel conflict of that year. Khalidi goes on to enumerate a few of the respective differing Arab and Israel accounts of how it was that a people that once constituted the majority of the population of a land, became the minority. Revisionist Israeli historians have attemptedRead MoreThe Prospect Of A Two State Nation Solution For Israel Palestine2970 Words   |  12 P agesThe Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most long-term, pressing, and largely confounding social, political, and national quandaries of our age. Since we have been moving with surprising velocity into the vast horizons of globalization, the conflict has built up tremendous momentum and has called into question the adequacy of our current attempts at coming to a peaceful resolution that can simultaneously and successfully address both sides of the struggle. The purpose of this paper has been toRead MoreWith The Election Of Donald J. Trump, The United States1825 Words   |  8 Pagesthe previous administration, in the pursuit of defeating ISIS, the hardline approach which Trump and his Defense Secretary General Mattis approach terrorist cells and states which support them, or the methods at which the US handles the Israeli-Palestine conflict, President Trump has clearly shown an intent to change what he perceives as a weak and fearful United States. Trump’s foreign pol icy differs from Obama’s in a few ways, and yet, these very differences seem to reach the same conclusion ofRead MoreThe Islamic Revolution Of Iran3396 Words   |  14 Pageshelp Iran take its rightful place as a regional hegemon. In 1979, the US was embroiled in the Cold War and in the minds of the American public, the Middle East was little more than a Cold War sideshow. For those who paid attention, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the dominant issue in the region. The overthrow of Mohammed Reza Shah, and the events that followed, forced Iran into the US national consciousness. A little known Shi’a cleric from Iran had ignited a firestorm that influences American