Peace in the Eyes of Israeli and Palestinian Youths: Effects of Collective Narratives and Peace Education Program
| Author | Gavriel Salomon,Yifat Biton |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343306061888 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
167
Introduction
Human societies usually have, as one of their
important common denominators, a collec-
tive narrative. That collective narrative
embodies their shared historical memories,
their sense of shared identity (Devine-
Wright, 2003; Bruner, 1990), and sets of
beliefs about themselves and, in case of
conflict, about the conflict and about their
adversary (e.g. Bar-Tal, 2000; Salomon,
2004a). During conflict, societies also share
the experiences of the conflict-events, the
meanings of which are determined, not just
by the events themselves, but also, to an
important extent, by the group’s collective
narratives. This would appear to be the case
also with conflict-related concepts such as
‘war’, ‘aggression’, ‘reconciliation’, and ‘re-
sponsibility’. Of particular interest is the way
in which societies in conflict differentially
© 2006 Journal of Peace Research,
vol. 43, no. 2, 2006, pp. 167–180
Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA
and New Delhi) http://jpr.sagepub.com
DOI 10.1177/0022343306061888
Peace in the Eyes of Israeli and Palestinian Youths:
Effects of Collective Narratives and Peace
Education Program*
YIFAT BITON
Department of Education, Tel-Hai College
GAVRIEL SALOMON
Center for Research on Peace Education, University of Haifa
The authors studied the extent to which the collective narrative of a group in conflict and participation
in a peace education program affects youngsters’ perceptions of peace. Participants in the study were
565 Jewish Israeli and Palestinian adolescents, about half of whom participated in a year-long school-
based program; the other half served as a control group. Pre- and post-program questionnaires measured
youngsters’ free associations to the concept of peace, their explanations of it, and its perceived utility,
and suggested strategies to attain it. Initially, Israeli students stressed the negative aspects of peace
(absence of violence) and Palestinians stressed its structural aspects (independence, equality). Unlike
the controls, both Israeli and Palestinian program participants came to stress more the positive aspects
of peace (cooperation, harmony) following participation in the program. Also, whereas the controls
came to increasingly suggest war as a means to attain peace, possibly as a function of the ongoing mutual
hostilities (intifada), no such change took place among program participants. Palestinian controls also
manifested greater hatred towards Jews, but no change took place among program participants. That
is, peace education can serve as a barrier against the deterioration of perceptions and feelings. It became
evident that individuals’ perceptions of peace are differentially colored by their group’s collective
narratives and more immediate experiences of current events, but are significantly altered by partici-
pation in a peace education program.
* The data used in this article are available at http://www.
prio.no/jpr/datasets. Correspondence: gsalomon@research.
haifa.ac.il.
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