JERUSALEM: Yet there remains another wall. This wall constitutes a psychological barrier between us, a barrier of suspicion.of rejection.of fear.of deception…a barrier of distorted and eroded interpretation of every event and statement. Today, through my visit to you, I ask why don’t we stretch out our hands with faith and sincerity so that together we might destroy this barrier? (from the speech made by Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat to the Israeli Knesset, Jerusalem, 29 November 1977)
Sadat’s famous words to the Israeli Parliament in 1977, which were part of his historical appeal for Israeli-Arab peace, still resonate today. As he so eloquently put it, the barriers to Israeli-Arab peace are to a large extent psychological-cognitive.
An important characteristic of intergroup conflict is the absence of rational thinking on both sides. The extreme tension that is associated with conflict diminishes intellectual resources for dealing with information and leads to perceptual distortions. Such distortions and biases can, in turn, perpetuate and escalate the conflict.
Representations and images that paint the opponents as having evil intentions, low morality, and inferior traits, constitute a fundamental cognitive bias common in situations of conflict. Israelis and Palestinians tend to develop simplistic black and white perceptions of “us versus them in which one’s own side is construed as good and just and the other side is delegitimized and dehumanized. These images and perceptions are further reinforced and disseminated through the educational system and the mass media.
Negative perceptions of the other side in conflict inform yet another important psychological-cognitive barrier to conflict resolution. It leads each side to devalue proposals made by the opponent in what is termed “reactive devaluation . The result is that a compromise or peace plan, when proposed by the opponent, has less value in the eyes of the receiver.
In a series of studies that my colleagues and I conducted about this phenomenon, we showed Israeli-Jews real compromise proposals that had been exchanged between the two sides during the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In some of the cases, the proposals were presented as offered by the official Palestinian delegation to the negotiations. In other cases, the same peace plans were presented as offered by the official Israeli delegation to the negotiations.
Interestingly, Israeli-Jews evaluated compromise proposals as less fair, less effective, and less beneficial to Israel when presented as Palestinian proposals compared to when the same proposals were presented as coming from Israeli negotiators. Clearly, this bias constitutes a serious barrier to the ability of Israelis and Palestinians to agree on proposals aimed at resolving the conflict.
How can the parties cognitions and perceptions of each other be modified to counteract negative images and evaluations? What can be done to bring about a shift towards understanding, agreement and peaceful relations?
Clearly, cultivating compassion towards the other is a most important step in overcoming the psychological barriers to conflict resolution and fostering reconciliation in disputes between religious, national and ethnic groups.
Thus, organized dialogue workshops in which both sides meet and discuss their experiences and opinions of the conflict can transform the negative images and perceptions that Palestinians and Israelis have of each other and encourage a more positive attitude towards the other and towards the possibility of resolving the conflict.
However, the question remaining is will this positive perceptual transformation last long? How can the effect of organized meetings between the sides be preserved after Israelis and Palestinians return to the harsh reality of the conflict?
Evidently, overcoming cognitive-psychological barriers to peace requires – both on the Israeli and the Palestinian side – a deeper and more extensive transformation in the messages communicated by the educational system and the media about the other side and about the importance of reaching peace and reconciliation. Such messages should focus on re-humanizing and getting to know the other side better, and encourage each side to learn about the narratives and suffering of the other.
Professor Ifat Ma’oz from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem researches the psychology of the media in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as mechanisms for resolving this conflict and has published many articles on the subject. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
