Rescuing Dialogue between Jews and Arabs in the Course of Escalating Conflict: What Students Can Tell Us About Living in Protracted Conflict Environment?

Abstract

The current article provides an account and analysis of a two year project designed to create a framework for Jewish and Arab students (citizens of Israel) on academic campus, aimed at rescuing dialogue in spite of an escalating course of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A learning community was established, addressing issues of joint concern for both groups of students, while confronting and introspecting the about the participants multiple social identity, mutual images and contextual influences, namely the growing polarization between Jews and Arabs due to the escalation in Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The projects were designed as experiential workshops co-facilitated by Jewish and Arab trained and experienced women in the domain of co-existence. Operational and conceptual lessons drawn from both projects are presented and some future directions are delineated.

Keywords: Conflict escalation, inter-group dialogue, social identity