The Deadly Israeli-Palestinian Struggle for Significance: Can Psychology Help?

Kruglanski and Joel Singer SYNOPSIS The ongoing Gaza war between Israel and Hamas is but the latest round in the tragic, and increasingly horrific struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that has been ongoing at least since the birth of the Jewish state in 1948, and actually from the earliest waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine (1881-1903) onward. [...] The Aggression In the early years of Jewish immigration to Palestine, relations between the newcomers, and Palestinian Arabs who populated the area for hundreds of years was peaceful if not cordial. [...] The conflict was “put on hold” during the Second World War, only to resume in full force with the formal establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. [...] The Peace Process Alongside violence, however, there also have been attempts at reaching a negotiated solution to the conflict, the most significant of which were the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians represented by the PLO. [...] Peace and Significance The psychological dynamic of affirmation and substitution offers a ray of hope even at this moment in time when the Gaza war is raging and the prospects of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict may seem at their dimmest.