Dessel Ali Mishkin Jewish Barriers

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace
Psychology
Learning About Palestinian Narratives: What Are the
Barriers for Jewish College Students?
Adrienne Dessel, Noor Ali, and Alice Mishkin
Online First Publication, September 22, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000057
CITATION
Dessel, A., Ali, N., & Mishkin, A. (2014, September 22). Learning About Palestinian
Narratives: What Are the Barriers for Jewish College Students?. Peace and Conflict: Journal of
Peace Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000057
Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

2014, Vol. 20, No. 4, 000
2014 American Psychological Association

1078-1919/14/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000057
Learning About Palestinian Narratives:

What Are the Barriers for Jewish College Students?
Adrienne Dessel
Noor Ali
University of Michigan
Northwestern University
Alice Mishkin
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
University of Michigan
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains unresolved, and these tensions inflame relations on
American college campuses. This study analyzed quantitative and qualitative data for
Jewish college students to examine barriers that may exist for these students in learning
about Palestinian narratives and history. Results of an online campus survey indicated
gender, family Holocaust history, religiosity, concerns about anti-Semitism and attachment
to Israel were not significant barriers, whereas having been to the West Bank or knowing Whether someone has
been to the West
or working with someone Palestinian, predicted more positive student attitudes about
Palestinians. Interactions between students political views about Israel and family and Bank or met/worked
with a Palestinian
parents beliefs predicted student attitudes about Palestinians. Qualitative analysis with
students in a course about the conflict confirmed these findings, and identified additional strongest indicator of
positive attitudes
barriers of media and personal communication skills. Recommendations are made for
future research and intergroup education to improve relationships between Jewish and Arab
college students.
Keywords: Arab, Jewish, college students, attitudes, conflict
Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000057.supp
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains unresolved, and these tensions inflame relations on
American college campuses as well (Shibley,
2014). The United States plays a role in this
conflict through its support for Israel, limited
support for Palestinians, and thus far, failed
peace negotiations (Khalidi, 2013; Mearsheimer
& Walt, 2007; White, 2013). American Jews in
particular play a political role in this conflict in

terms of funding, advocacy, and public opinion
(Ben Hagai, Zurbriggen, Hammack, & Ziman,
2013). Groups that lobby the U.S. government
on behalf of political support for Israel strongly
inform American policy in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and these groups are greatly
influenced by Jewish Americans perceptions
lol, US kind of sucks at helping

resolve this conflict
social justice and the Arab-Jewish conflict, and social

justice training within higher education settings.
ALICE MISHKIN received her masters at the University of
Michigan. She is currently the program manger for the
Community Action and Social Change undergraduate minor, and a lecturer in the School of Social Work at the
University of Michigan. Her primary areas of research
interest are identity construction and storytelling within the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, diasporic Arab and Jewish literature, and student identity development within social
justice settings.
CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be
addressed to Adrienne B. Dessel, The Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan, 1214 South
University Avenue, 2nd Floor, Suite B, Ann Arbor, MI
48104-2592. E-mail: adessel@umich.edu
ADRIENNE DESSEL earned her PhD from the University of

Tennessee, Knoxville, and she is a co-associate director of the
Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan.
Her primary areas of research interest are prejudice reduction,
intergroup relations and conflict, intercultural communication,
and social justice education. Her research focuses on intergroup
dialogue processes and outcomes, related to topics of Arab/
Jewish conflict, religion and sexual orientation, gender, and intergroup dialogue facilitator learning.
NOOR ALI earned her masters at the University of Michigan. She is currently the assistant director for Multicultural Student Affairs at Northwestern University. Her primary areas of research are intergroup dialogue processes
and outcomes specifically between Arab and Jewish college students, student activism on college campuses around
1
DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN
and understandings of the conflict (Judis,

2014a; Mearsheimer & Walt, 2007). Peter Beinart (2013), a noted Jewish American author and
political commentator, expresses concern that
American Jews do not know or understand the
Palestinian historical narrative related to Israel.
Within the American Jewish community, there
are differences with regard to knowledge and attitudes about Israel, and about Palestinians (see
Contemporary Jewry special issue, 2010; Pew Research Center, 2013). American Jewish college
students are a specific demographic that can significantly contribute to future productive American engagement around this conflict. However,
these students, like American Jews at large, are
generally isolated from Palestinians and Arab
Americans, leading to a lack of information about
them, absence of empathy for their life experiences, and potential promotion of fear (Beinart,
2013). Family history and Jewish communal narratives related to the Holocaust may contribute to
these negative attitudes (Kelner, 2010; Wohl &
Branscombe, 2008). The role religion plays in
determining Jewish views about Palestinians is
complex and is as yet unclear (Ruttenberg, Zea, &
Sigelman, 1996).
Accessing Palestinian narratives can be difficult
for American Jewish students on campus (Judis,
2014b; Sales & Saxe, 2006). Structural factors
such as institutional systems of power can
strongly influence the formation of attitudes and
beliefs (Maoz & McCauley, 2011; Raven, 1999).
Attitudes are a critical factor in resolving intergroup tensions. Jewish narratives defending the
need to live in peace and security may interfere
with learning about Palestinian narratives of dispossession and humiliation (Ben Hagai, Hammack, Pilecki, & Aresta, 2013). A monolithic
rather than complex view of the conflict, and a
dehumanizing of the other predicts opposition
to peace work (Ben Hagai, Zurbriggen, Hammack, & Ziman, 2013). Increased contact between
these two groups may lead to improved intergroup
relations (Gaunt, 2011; Maoz, 2011).
This research addresses a gap in the literature
with regard to understanding Jewish college students barriers to learning about Palestinian narratives. These barriers for Jewish Israelis include an
intractable combination of cognitive, emotional,
and motivational processes (Bar-Tal, Halperin, &
Oren, 2010; Maoz, 2011). However, little attention has been paid to the psychological barriers to
resolving this particular conflict for diaspora Jews.
diaspora Jews =
Jews living outside
of Israel
Need to identify/understand barriers to

create opportunities for Jews to learn/
understand Palestinian experiences
Information about barriers is critical because it

highlights opportunities to create new pathways
for Jewish students to learn about Palestinian experiences, which can enhance dialogue work between Arab and Jewish students (Khuri, 2004).
This information can further our knowledge about
what concerns and issues these students face even
as they engage with those with whom they are in
conflict, as well as offer insights into international
peace work (Ben Hagai, Zurbriggen, Hammack,
& Ziman, 2013).
We analyzed data from a quantitative campus
survey of Jewish college students, and data
from qualitative interviews and final course papers from Jewish college students who participated in an Arab-Jewish intergroup dialogue
course, to answer the research question of what
barriers may exist for Jewish college students to
learning about Palestinian narratives and history. We report on variables related to barriers
to student learning about and affirming Palestinian narratives, and related qualitative themes,
and make recommendations for research and
pedagogy. Research Q: What are the barriers for Jews to
learning about Palestinian experiences
Family Holocaust History and

Parent Influence
The role of familial and communal narratives of
the Holocaust is important in understanding contemporary Jewish college students experiences of
Israel. Much of students experiences of Israel are
shaped in some part through learning about the
Holocaust, which can lead to competitive victimhood and advocating for a strong military state in
Israel (Klar, Schori-Eyal, & Klar, 2013; Vollhardt,
2013). For many students, this learning comes in
the form of postmemory, a term first coined by
Marianne Hirsch, who defined it as, describing
the relationship that the generation after bears to
the personal, collective, and cultural trauma of
those who came before to experiences they remember only by means of the stories, images,
and behaviors among which they grew up
(Hirsch, 2014, para. 2). These stories, images, and
behaviors are transmitted through familial and
communal activities. Further, parent attitudes can
influence students political views (Jost, Ledgerwood, & Hardin, 2008; Swank & Raiz, 2010) and
need to be taken into account as well.
Birthright trips can also connect the Holocaust
and the State of Israel, taking students from a
morning in Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust
LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES
Museum, to an afternoon at Har Herzl, the Israeli

military cemetery. This draws a physical and emotional link to the two, referred to on some trip
itineraries as a day devoted to Memory and
Renewal (Kelner, 2010, p. 90). These experiences reinforce a sense of victimization among
Jewish students, adding to a sense of collective or
communal trauma and victimhood (Schori-Eyal,
Halperin, & Bar-Tal, 2014; Vollhardt, 2009). This
collective victimhood has been found to predict
Israeli Jews willingness to compromise, regardless of political attitudes, and is mediated by a
sense of victimhood related to the ongoing conflict
(Schori-Eyal et al., 2014). However, the relationship between the Holocaust and views about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unclear. While
Wohl and Branscombe (2008) found a relationship, Vollhardt (2009, 2013) argues victim beliefs
do not necessarily indicate endorsement for conflict and violence.
American Jews Attitudes and Beliefs
About Israel
American Jews, and by extension American
Jewish college students, have a complex relationship with the state of Israel, one that is under
debate (Horowitz, 2010; Margalit, 2005) and may
be related to attitudes about Palestinians. Contemporary Jewrys special issue (2010) on American
Jews attachment to Israel outlines two positions
with regard to this issue. Cohen and Kelmans
(2007, 2010) analysis indicated that non-Orthodox
Jews are increasingly less attached to Israel. A
number of different explanations have been put
forth for this, including less political involvement,
intermarriage, out-group friendships, general assimilation, time passing since the Holocaust, and
opposition to the treatment of Palestinians (Cohen
& Kelman, 2010; Sasson, 2010; Sasson, Kadushin, & Saxe, 2010; Waxman, 2010). Even the
Birthright program, with over 100,000 students
participating (Saxe & Chazan, 2008) does not
have conclusive sustained effects in terms of attachment to Israel (Waxman, 2010). The increase
in an Israel advocacy approach to Jewish day
school education may be an indicative response to
this distancing (Pomson, 2010).
Sasson et al. (2010), however, critique Cohens
work, and conclude there is no emotional distancing from Israel among Jews, including those who
identify as nonreligious and cultural Jews. These
authors support their viewpoint by the growing
number of secular Jews who are involved in new

and different ways with Israel, and the expanding
and increasingly varied focus on culture, history,
and politics of college courses that teach about
Israel (Koren & Einhorn, 2010). They argue that
the relationship between American Jews and Israel is shifting, from diasporic political and financial support from the American Jewish community for Israel, to a more direct engagement based
in activism, informed and critical thought, and
individual philanthropy. Jewish identity has, in the
past, been strongly tied to visiting Israel (Horowitz, 2000).
Rozin and Wolf (2008) examined attachment to
the land of Israel for American Jewish and Israeli
Jewish college students, asking questions about
willingness to trade land. Results indicated a
strong attachment to land for both groups, even to
Gaza and the West Bank. The majority of American Jewish students (86%) and Israeli Jewish
students (65%) would not trade any land for a
parcel of East Jerusalem; American Jews were a
full 20% higher. Interestingly, American students
also scored higher on religiosity than Israeli students, and reported Israel as more vulnerable than
Israeli students reported. This vulnerability had a
significantly higher correlation with land attachment (for Israelis this correlation was near zero).
Vulnerability, religiosity, and importance of Israel
were all much more strongly correlated for American students than for Israeli students (Rozin &
Wolf, 2008).
A recent Pew Research Center study of almost
3,500 American Jews, 22% of whom identify as
having no religion, found that 70% (61% of
18 29 year olds) feel very or somewhat attached
to Israel (a rate that the authors say has not
changed in 10 years), 40% (35% of 18 29 year
olds) believe Israel was land given by God to the
Jewish people, 44% (50% of 18 29 year olds)
think settlement construction hurts Israels security interests, and only 38% (26% of 18 29 year
olds) believe the Israeli government is sincere in
their peace efforts (Pew Research Center, 2013).
An interesting find was that 60% of Jews of no
religion (secular) believe that remembering the
Holocaust is central to being Jewish, whereas just
23% of them believe caring about Israel is central
(Pew Research Center, 2013). Across all Jewish
identity categories, 89% agreed that one can be
Jewish and be critical of Israel.
Finally, there is a generational difference in
the American Jewish relationship to Israel,
whereas 32% of younger Jews under age 30

believe caring about Israel is central to being
Jewish, while 53% of Jews older than 65 hold
this view (Pew Research Center, 2013). Horowitz (2010) points out the complexity of American Jews relationship with Israel, and the possibility of these generational factors at play.
Acknowledging that the current generation has
a different relationship to Israel than the previous one (Heilman, 2010; Judis, 2014b), one that
is increasingly insisting on pluralism of views
about Israel (Rofes & Zimmerman, 2013), offers a window of opportunity for new learning
about Palestinian narratives.
ian narratives through intergroup dialogue developed an increase moral concern for the suffering of Palestinians. Exposure to these
narratives disrupted the Israelis own socialization and historical narrative (Bekerman & Zembylas, 2011). Narrative models of storytelling
and reconciliation such as those found in intergroup dialogue work develop mutual trust and
empathy, address critical power imbalances,
and seek social justice (Albeck, Adwan, & BarOn, 2002; Maoz, 2011). Thus, it would seem
important to explore how to increase exposure
and openness to Palestinian narratives for
American Jews as well.
Importance of Narratives
Opportunities to Learn About Palestinian

Narratives and Intergroup Contact
The concept of narrative implies that there is

not just one historical reality, but rather multiple
truths (Scham, Salem, & Pogrund, 2006). In the
case of the Israeli and Palestinian narratives,
which are most often competing and opposite
stories, the importance of understanding the unfamiliar narrative becomes critical (Litvak-Hirsch,
Chaitin, & Zaher, 2010; Zeedani, 2013). Collective narratives shape both personal identity and
culture (Daoudi & Barakat, 2013). The dominant
Israeli narrative about Palestinians is limited in
detail and does not include the depth and range of
their experiences (Hammack, 2006; Scham, Pogrund, & Ghanem, 2013). The Palestinian narrative
of the 1948 war, called the War of Independence
by most Jewish-Israelis and diaspora Jews, and the
nakba, or catastrophe, by most Palestinians and
Arab Americans, (Manna, 2013) is likely even
more narrow, or nonexistent, for American Jewish
college students. Ben Hagai, Zurbriggen, Hammack, & Ziman (2013) found, in a sample of
Jewish Americans who were majority ages 18
29, that rejection of Palestinian narratives plays a
significant role in predicting support for compromise solutions.
Social group narratives and addressing past
perceptions of injustices can play a critical role
in conflict transformation and peace work
(Barakat, 2009; Scham et al., 2013; Young,
2004; Zeedani, 2013). Palestinian and Israeli
youth participation in a coexistence education
program in the United States led to both shifts
and tensions with regard to personal narratives
around social identity and the conflict (Hammack, 2009). Ron and Maoz (2013) found that
Israelis who had sustained exposure to Palestin-
Opportunities for Jewish college students to

learn about Palestinian narratives exist in their
family upbringing, Jewish day school or religious school, trips to Israel, the media, and
community interactions in sports, schools, and
neighborhoods. However, many of these
sources may be limited, biased, or nonexistent.
The subject of whether and how to teach Palestinian narratives in Jewish educational programming raises anxiety about undermining
identification with Jewish culture and Israel
(Nataf, 2013). We could not locate any studies
that examine whether or how American Jewish
religious schools teach about Palestinian people. Maoz and colleagues (2010) surveyed eight
U.S. high school history textbooks to determine
how the 1948 Palestinian refugee problem and
the current status of Arab minority citizens in
Israel were represented. They found three textbooks represented Palestinians as having fled,
with only one indicating they fled as a result of
fear of Israeli groups, one represented Palestinians as having been expelled, and four represented both perspectives. Two textbooks did not
mention the large population of Palestinians
who hold Israeli citizenship, five mentioned
them but did not say anything about the discrimination they face, and only one mentioned the
discrimination and tension.
For Jewish young adults who enter higher
education settings, college is a time for new
explorations about identity, values, and learning. College and university courses offer some
substantive topics about Palestinian experiences
(see Koren & Einhorn, 2010) and higher edu-
cation programs exist to foster such learning

(Monmouth Dialogue Project, 2013). Many
Jewish students take advantage of the free
Birthright trip to Israel or other programs during
their college years (Kelner, 2010), which may
limit their knowledge about the conflict (Sobel,
2003), and further their resistance to hearing
broader Palestinian perspectives.
A few programs and campuses offer intergroup dialogue courses that intentionally bring
together Jewish and Arab students who report
learning about each others narratives (Dessel &
Ali, 2012; Ben Hagai, Hammack, Pilecki, &
Aresta, 2013; Khuri, 2004). These courses are
rare, and most often students report that while
they know each other socially, they have not
had the opportunity to learn deeply about each
others stories (Dessel & Ali, 2012). Although
we know a great deal about the planned interactions of Israelis and Palestinians (Maoz,
2011), very little attention has been given to
exploring American Jewish student attitudes
about Palestinians, and there is a gap in the
literature that this pilot study seeks to address.
Given the importance of Jewish college students knowing and learning more about Palestinians, and the barriers that exist to this learning, through this study we sought to understand
what might explain or predict these barriers.
Hypothesis 2: Jewish students attachment

to Israel has a negative significant correlation with, and predicts, student attitudes
about Palestinians.
Hypothesis 3: Jewish students political
views on Israel have a negative significant
correlation with, and predict student attitudes about Palestinians.
Hypothesis 4: Parents beliefs about Israel
and about Palestinians have a negative significant correlation with, and predict, Jewish student attitudes about Palestinians.
Hypothesis 5: Knowing a Palestinian or
visiting the West Bank has a positive significant correlation with, and predicts,
Jewish student attitudes about Palestinians.
For the qualitative data, we asked the openended question of what themes might emerge
that indicate barriers for Jewish students to
learning about Palestinian narratives. In this
way we use a mixed methods design to triangulate different data sources to provide a more
comprehensive approach to answering our research questions (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003).
Method for Quantitative Study
Procedure and Participants
Overview of the Study

In line with the research literature on family
influence, intergroup contact, and attitudes, this
study aims to empirically examine the barriers
that might exist for American Jewish college
students to learn about Palestinian narratives,
and predictors of positive attitudes about Palestinians. This involved analysis of a quantitative
survey and of qualitative data. Many ArabJewish coexistence programs have examined
the intersection of attitudes and openness to the
narratives of each other (Abu-Nimer, 1999). For
the quantitative data, we aim to identify the
predictors of students attitudes about Palestinians, and test the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Family Holocaust history,
religiosity, and concerns about antiSemitism have a negative significant correlation with, and predict, Jewish student
attitudes about Palestinians.
We created a quantitative online survey using

items drawn from previous research Cohen &
Kelman, 2010; (Dessel & Ali, 2012) and original
items developed with input from Arab and Jewish
undergraduate students on the research team (see
Appendix 1). Face and content validity were established through a thorough literature review and
then development of the domain of items with
input from key student informants and three experts in the field (Haynes, Richard, & Kubany,
1995). Items were reviewed to reduce any potential bias.
The study population was identified as any
student at the University who identified as Jewish. In 2013, we distributed this online anonymous survey to Jewish students through listservs and student groups at a large Midwestern
University. Students were offered the opportunity to enter their name into a raffle to win
$15.00 toward campus eateries. The University
IRB determined this study was exempt from
oversight. We received 89 responses to this
survey, and this was a convenience sample;

therefore, we were not able to reduce selection
bias.
Quantitative Measures
Demographics. We collected information
on gender, race, sexual orientation, citizenship,
Jewish affiliation, importance of religion, importance of Judaism, and Jewish religious
school experience (Table 1). Additional items
used as independent variables were as follows.
Israel politics. This 4-item scale measures
political views about Israel, ! " .80. The response range is 1 " strongly disagree to 7 "
strongly agree, with higher scores indicating
more politically conservative views about Israel.
Israel attachment and support. This scale
includes 5 items from Cohen and Kelman
(2007, 2010) and 2 new items, ! " .88. Responses for these items range from 1 " strongly
disagree to 7 " strongly agree, with higher
scores indicating higher attachment to and support for Israel.
Anti-Semitism. This 2-item scale measures
concern about Anti-Semitism in the United
States, with a higher score indicating more concern, ! " .71.
Parents attitudes about Palestinians.
This scale of 3 items measures students report
of their parents attitudes about Palestinians,
! " .83. The response range is 1 " strongly
disagree to 7 " strongly agree, with higher
scores indicating more positive attitudes about
Palestinians.
Family beliefs about Israel. This scale
was designed to measure students report of
their familys support for and concerns about
Israel. It has 6 items, ! " .81. The response
range is 1 " strongly disagree to 7 " strongly
agree, with higher scores indicating more support for and concern about Israel.
Been to Palestinian West Bank. This
items states I have been to Palestinian villages
or cities in the West Bank and the response is
0 " no and 1 " yes.
Knowing a Palestinian. These 4 items measure whether a student knows, is close friends
with, has been to the home of, or has worked
someone who is Palestinian. Responses are 0 "
no and 1 " yes. As quality of intergroup contact
can influence intergroup attitudes, and because of
small sample sizes, knowing and worked with

were summed and combined into one score, and
been to the home of, and close friends, were
summed and combined into a separate score.
Higher scores indicate having more contact with
Palestinians.
Family Holocaust history. Family Holocaust history was measured with three items,
with responses of 0 " no, 1 " yes. Responses
to this scale were summed, with higher numbers
indicating more presence of Family Holocaust
history.
Dependent variable: Attitudes about
Palestinians. This is an original scale designed to measure Jewish student attitudes
about Palestinians. It was developed from a
theoretical base in the literature, consultation
with Arab and Jewish students, and previous
qualitative research (Dessel & Ali, 2012). The
scale consists of 13 items, the range of responses is 1 " strongly disagree, 7 " strongly
agree, with higher scores indicating more positive affirming views, ! " .89.
Results
Demographics for the sample (n " 89) are
reported in Table 1. Because of the majority of
students identifying as conservative or reform
with regard to religious affiliation, and having
attended religious Hebrew or Day school, we
did not use affiliation or religious school experience as control variables.
We recoded the Importance of Religion variable into two groups, religious (58.5%) and
nonreligious (41.5%), and the Importance of
Judaism variable into two groups, Judaism is
important (65.5%) and Judaism is somewhat or
not important (34.5%), to examine these relationships with the dependent variable. Contrary to
expectations, an independent sample t test did not
find any mean differences in our dependent variable of attitudes about Palestinians for either of
these two independent variables (religious M "
4.84, nonreligious M " 4.73, p " .66) (Judaism
important M " 4.67, Judaism somewhat/not important M " 4.83, p " .53). As expected, there
was a significant negative correlation between students identifying as pro-Israel (r " #.46, p " .00)
and pro-Zionist (r " #.41, p " .00) and students
attitudes about Palestinians.
Next, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis of previ-
Table 1
Sample of Demographics for Jewish Student Survey (N " 89)
Variable
Gender
Women
Men
Transgender
Race/ethnicity (self-identified)
White
Hispanic
Arab/Middle Eastern
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual
Lesbian/gay/bisexual
Other (pan-questioning, decline, queer)
Citizenship
U.S. citizen
Other citizen (Israeli)
Religion
Jewish
Other (secular Jewish)
Importance of religion
Very important or important
Importance of Judaism
Very important or important
Affiliation
Conservative
Reform
Other (modern orthodox, orthodox parents, none, Jewish,
nonaffiliated, or raised conservative but currently atheist/secular)
Orthodox
Secular
Reconstructionist
Holocaust survivor in family (grandparent or other relative)
Yes
No
Family killed in Holocaust
Yes
No
Family talked about Holocaust
Yes
No
Jewish religious school experience
Hebrew school
Day school
Other
Identify as pro-Israel
Agree or strongly agree
Identify as Zionist
Agree or strongly agree
Been to Israel (not West Bank)
Yes
No
Family in Israel
Yes
No
N
89
63
24
1
(89)
85
2
2
(87)
81
3
3
(88)
87
1
(88)
86
2
(89)
52
(89)
58
(89)
42
28
%
71.6%
27.3%
1.1%
95.5%
2.2%
2.2%
93.1%
3.4%
3.4%
98.8%
1.1%
97.7%
2.2%
58.5%
65.5%
47.2%
31.5%
8
4
4
3
9%
4.4%
4.5%
3.4%
23
65
(88)
39
49
(88)
67
21
(88)
55
22
11
(82)
56
(82)
53
(89)
76
13
(89)
54
35
26.1%
73.9%
44.3%
55.7%
76.1%
23.9%
62%
25%
12%
68.3%
59.8%
85.4%
14.6%
60.7%
39.3%
(table continues)
Table 1 (continued)
Variable
Been settlements in West Bank

Yes
No
Family in settlements
Yes
No
Been to Palestinian cities or villages in West Bank
Yes
No
Know or work with someone Palestinian
Yes
No
Close friends with or been to the home of someone Palestinian
Yes
No
ous and newly developed items measuring student

views about Israel and concerns about anti-anti
Semitism. Items loaded on three factors, which we
identified as Factor 1: Israel Politics, which accounted for 44.82% of the variance (eigenvalue "
4.03), with 4 items; Factor 2: Israel attachment
and support, accounting for 14.97% of the variance (eigenvalue " 1.35), with 7 items; and Factor 3: Anti-Semitism, accounting for 12.87% of
the variance (eigenvalue " 1.16), with two items.
We then created these three new scales.
We next ran correlations among 12 independent variables of interest, to test for bivariate relationships, and these correlations, means, and
SDs are presented in Table 2. Respondents tended
to somewhat agree about affirming and having
interest in Palestinian narratives (Attitudes about
Palestinians: M " 4.76, SD " 1.10). Reporting
about their parents attitudes about Palestinians,
somewhat disagree, indicated much less endorsement and support for Palestinian narratives
(M " 3.17, SD " 1.20). Reporting of their familys Israel beliefs (M " 5.75, SD " .88) indicated
agree with regard to concern for the state of
Israel. Respondents reported somewhat agree
about their Israel attachment and support (M "
5.18, SD " 1.29), they reported they somewhat
disagree to giving up settlements and criticizing
the Israeli government (Israel Politics: M " 3.39,
SD " 1.37), and they reported moderate agreement that anti-Semitism was a concern (M " 4.66,
SD " 1.43).
As expected, students Israel politics, attachment and support of Israel, and concerns about
anti-Semitism, were all significantly and nega-
(89)
27
62
(89)
4
85
(89)
22
67
(116)
60
56
(116)
26
90
%
30.3%
69.7%
4.5%
95.5%
24.7%
75.3%
51.7
48.3
22.4
77.6
tively correlated with student attitudes about Palestinians, such that more attachment and support,
more conservative political beliefs about Israel,
and more concerns about anti-Semitism indicated
more negative student views about Palestinians.
Parents attitudes about Palestinians were positively correlated, in that the more positive Parent
attitudes about Palestinians were, the more positive were student attitudes about Palestinians. As
expected, having been to the Palestinian West
Bank was also positively correlated with more
positive student attitudes about Palestinians. Contrary to what was expected, family beliefs about
Israel, knowing a Palestinian (in any context),
family holocaust history, gender, and religiosity
were not related to student attitudes about Palestinians.
We next entered these 12 variables of interest
into a multiple regression analysis. We assessed
predictors for multicollinearity and performed a
residual analysis for the multiple regression and
found no problems with model assumptions.
Results indicated that the full model was significant for all eight variables, R2 " .74, F(1,
74) " 14.75, p $ .001), with the overall model
accounting for 74% of the variance in the dependent variable of student Attitudes about Palestinians (see Table 3).
We found that Israel Politics (% " #.63,
t(68) " #6.50, p $ .001) was significant, such
that a higher mean on this variable, indicating
more conservative politics with regard to Israel
(more pro-Israel) indicated a lower mean on
the dependent variable of attitudes about Palestinians. No other variables in the model were
Correlation is significant at the .000 level (two-tailed).

!!!

!!
.18
.05
.06
.01
.06
#.04
#.06
.18!
.50!!!
.24!
#.23!
.54
#.45!!!
#.10
#.12
#.27
.37!!!
.35!!!
#.38
.56!!!
#.78
1.10
1.37
1.29
1.43
1.20
.88
1.60
4.76
3.39
5.18
4.66
3.17
5.75
5.26
Attitudes about Palestinians

Israel politics
Israel attachment
Anti-Semitism
Parents attitudes Palestinians
Family beliefs Israel
Been to Palestinian West Bank
Know or work Palestinian
Close friend or home of Palestinian
Religiosity
Holocaust history
Gender
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
.09
#.04
#.12
.08
#.01
.07
#.09
.09
#.11
.19!
.01
.07
.01
#.03
#.22!
#.20!
.15
.14
.27
.20!
.01
#.11
.23!
.49!!!
.03
.03
.24!
.05
#.07
.01
.07
.07
.04
.07
#.04!
.11
.16
.54!!!
.17
#.03
#.12
#.03
#.23!
.18
.04
9
8
7
6
!!!
!!
!!!
!!!
2
1
SD
M
Variable
Table 2
Means and Pearson Correlations of Study Variables
10
11
12
significant, although having been to the Palestinian West Bank (% " .12, t(67) " 1.81, p "
.07), and knowing or working with a Palestinian
(% " .16, t(67) " 1.86, p " .07), approached
significance.
The interaction term of Israeli Politics &
Parent Attitudes about Palestinians (% " .41,
t(67) " 2.29, p $ .001) was significant as well,
such that student political attitudes affects the
relationship between parents attitudes about
Palestinians and student attitudes about Palestinians. Because a higher score on student political attitudes indicates being more pro-Israel
and more politically conservative with regard to
Israel, and a higher score on parents attitudes
about Palestinians indicates being more affirming of and interested in Palestinian narratives,
this significant interaction indicates that, for students who are more pro-Israel and politically
conservative, having pro-Palestinian parents indicates a more positive attitude toward Palestinians for students. Thus, parents attitudes can
significantly affect their students in a positive
direction.
We then ran a second model using an interaction term of Israel politics & family beliefs
about Israel, and this was significant R2 " .72,
F(1, 69) " 16.16, p $ .001) (see Table 4). In
this model, family beliefs about Israel (% " .51,
t(69) " 5.81, p $ .001), parents attitudes about
Palestinians (% " .31, t(69) " 3.83, p $ .001),
having been to West Bank (% " .13, t(69) "
1.97, p " .05), knowing or working with a
Palestinian (% " .12, t(69) " 2.21, p " .03),
and the interaction term (% " #.51, t(69) "
#.6.78, p $ .001), were all significant. This
again indicated the influence of parents, this
time showing that for students who are more
pro-Israel and politically conservative, having
family who are more pro-Israel indicates a more
negative attitude toward Palestinians for students.
Methods for Qualitative Study
Procedure and Participants
The qualitative analysis used data from student
postinterviews and final papers of 24 Jewish undergraduate students, 14 women and 10 men,
from four semesters (2009 2013) of an ArabJewish intergroup dialogue course. This type of
data has been collected in a national study of
10
Table 3
Multiple Regression
Variable
Unstandardized
coefficient (B)
Standardized
coefficient (Beta)
Significance
Gender
Holocaust history
Religiosity
Israel politics
Israel attachment and support
Anti-Semitism
Been to West Bank
Know or work with Palestinian
Close friend or been to home of Palestinian
Israel politics & parent attitudes Palestinians
.09
.06
#.01
#.82
.01
#.02
.10
#.07
.29
.09
.02
.12
.04
.06
#.01
#1.02
.01
#.02
.08
#.08
.12
.16
.03
.41
.60
.34
.88
.00!!
.93
.81
.31
.68
.07
.07
.74
.03!
Note. Dependent variable: Attitudes about Palestinians (for students). F " 14.75, R2 " .74, p " .00.
!
p $ .05. !! p $ .001.
intergroup dialogue courses (Gurin, Nagda, &

Ziga, 2013). This two-credit semester-long
course topic is offered as one, among other social
identity dialogue topics, that students select. Thus,
these students are already motivated to learn about
Arab Palestinian narratives. Yet, they may still
experience certain barriers in the form of collective victimization and resistance to acknowledging their social power (Dessel & Ali, 2012). The
course focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
and is cofacilitated by two peers representing a
Jewish and an Arab identity (see Dessel & Ali,
2012 for a more detailed description of the
course). The final paper assignment for this course
asks students to reflect on five key areas of learn-
ing: (a) social identity, group privilege and oppression, institutional and cultural influences on
social group membership, and beliefs and feelings related to the Arab-Jewish conflict; (b)
group interaction and the development of communication skills, and reflection on the course
activities; (c) negotiating differences and conflict; (d) challenges and rewards of participating
in the dialogue; and (e) applying their learning
in the future. The interview protocol asks about
motivations to take the course, learning outcomes and changes in attitudes and perceptions
of the other, and anticipated changes in behavior as a result of the course (see Appendix 2
for interview protocol).
Table 4
Multiple Regression
Variable
Gender
Holocaust history
Religiosity
Israel attachment and support
Anti-Semitism
Been to West Bank
Know or work with Palestinian
Close friend or been to home of Palestinian
Israel politics & family beliefs Israel
Unstandardized
coefficient (B)
Standardized
coefficient (%)
Significance
.11
.06
.00
#.01
#.02
.63
.28
.33
.11
#.10
#.51
.05
.06
.00
#.01
#.02
.51
.31
.13
.18
#.01
#.82
.50
.41
.96
.95
.81
.00!!
.00!!
.05
.03!
.88
.00!!
Note. Dependent variable: Attitudes about Palestinians (for students). F " 16.16, R2 " .72, p " .00. Israel Politics
excluded from model because of collinearity.
!
p $ .05. !! p $ .001.
Qualitative Data Analysis and Results

The qualitative data were drawn from final
course papers and transcripts of postcourse interviews of 24 Jewish students in four semesters
of an Arab-Jewish intergroup dialogue course.
There were slightly more women (14) than men
(12), and their self-identified race/ethnicity
spanned categories of White, Jewish, American
Jewish, with one student raised in Israel, one in
Hong Kong, and others who identified as Iranian, Russian, and Belarusian (see Table 5).
Interviews were recorded and then transcribed.
We used an exploratory thematic analysis
approach to identify patterns of themes across
this qualitative data set (Braun & Clark, 2012).
This approach helps understand collective
meanings and experiences, and is inductive in
its methods. Two of the research team members
(1 Arab and 1 Jewish) coded the data for themes
related to barriers for Jewish students to learning about Palestinian narratives. The researchers examined the data independently by reading
the papers and transcripts and making notes,
generated initial codes that both used participant language and theoretical concepts, and
then identified conceptual themes. The researchers then reviewed and compared their
codes and themes, decided on any changes, and
agreed upon names for the final themes.
We identified four mutually exclusive primary themes and eight subthemes that represent
Table 5
Sample of Demographics for Jewish Students in the
Dialogue Courses (N " 24)
Variable
Gender
Women
14 58%
Men
10 42%
Race/ethnicity (self-identified)
Jewish White
5
Jewish
3
American Jew, White
3
American Jewish
3
Jewish American (not American Jew), White 2
Jewish Ashkenazi
1
American Jew from Hong Kong
1
White, Jewish, Israeli-American
1
White, Jewish, Polish
1
Dont consider Judaism a race/ethnicity
1
Jewish, Iranian, American
1
Jewish, Israeli, Belarusian, American
1
Russian Jewish American
1
11
Table 6
Themes of Jewish Student Barriers to Learning
Palestinian Narratives
Jewish socialization
Family influence
Jewish education about Israel
Views about Jewish people (Holocaust, Jewish
privilege, conformity)
Own Jewish identity
Experience with and feelings about Arab people
No contact or do not know their story
Negative stereotypes
No empathy
Negative interactions
Personal communication skills
Media coverage
potential or actual barriers for Jewish students

to learning more about Palestinian narratives
(Table 6). The two most common primary
themes are Jewish socialization, and experiences with and feelings about Arab people, followed by the themes of personal communication skills and media influence, which were
mentioned less often, but still play a role in
posing a barrier to learning more about Palestinian narratives. These themes and subthemes
are described next.
Jewish Socialization
This theme represents the strong influence of
being raised in an all-Jewish environment, and
how the influence of parents, siblings, grandparents, those involved in a students upbringing, and Jewish education all have an effect on
students views about Jews and about their own
Jewish identity, and can present barriers to
learning about Palestinian narratives. Some of
these quotes were very specific reflections,
whereas others were broader references to dominant narratives accepted at home. Within this
theme we identified four subthemes of family
influence, Jewish education about Israel, views
about Jewish people, and students talking
about their own current Jewish identity.
Regarding the subtheme of family influence,
which many students discussed, one student
identified this barrier to knowing about Palestinian experiences in the following way, I
didnt really know where I stood because I
wasnt really that educated on the conflict, both
sides, cause I hear so much skewed information
12
from my family but not the other side. (Katya,

International/American Jewish woman). Another student echoed this: I knew a lot about
the Zionist identity as well as the Jewish identity as a result of being in close proximity of
Jews since I grew up in the majority Jewish
community of [town], New York. (Carrie,
American Jewish woman). These quotes, and
the one below, highlight the omission of Palestinian narratives for Jewish people.
Prior to being in the class, I had never interacted with
an Arab person my age. I had been around Arabs in
Israel and eaten in Arab restaurants, but never did I
speak to members of the group about important issues.
This was because of the bubble I lived in while growing up in a Jewish community. My whole life I had
wanted to have a conversation with the Arabs to see
and try to understand their side of the story, and this
class finally gave me the opportunity to do so. (Carrie,
American Jewish woman).
The second subtheme of Jewish education

about Israel was also discussed by many students, and reflected in these two students honest reflections:
My understanding may seem biased but this is all that
I know. After World War II the United Nations decided
that it would be a good idea to give the Jewish people
of Europe the possibility to have their own homeland.
The area what is now known as Israel use to be a desert
and a part of the Middle East that no one wanted. . . .
I believe that the conflict stems from jealousy and that
the Jews in Israel did nothing wrong but try to make
the best out of what they were given (Liz, American
Jewish woman)
I just . . . got, from going to Sunday School and, going
toI went to a Jewish camp, so, I always heard, the
Israel perspectivepro-Israel perspectiveand heard
negative things about . . . Arabs. (Rebecca, American
Jewish woman)
The third subtheme of views about Jewish

people included being right, being victims,
and struggling with the idea of either not holding privilege or that they might hold privilege
despite their collective history of oppression.
Struggle with Jewish privilege has been identified with regard to race and social class (Jewish
Multiracial Network, 2014; Weiss, 2011) and is
unique to the power dynamics in this particular
geopolitical conflict.
I think that everyone both has privilege and are oppressed in a different time and a different situation. So
generalizing groups, I obviously believe in the state of
Israel, and I dont believe that Israel is actively oppressing certain groups of people like some of the
Palestinians Arabs do. [David, American Jewish man]
The last subtheme illuminated students

struggles with their Jewish identity with regard
to views about Israel. This identity was something that was political, Zionist, and sometimes
included feeling like they had to fit into a box
(i.e., think like other Jews) [Katya, International/American Jewish woman]. A number of students noted their Zionist identities, even after
the dialogue:
I never understood how you can be Jewish and not be
pro-Israel and agree with Israel. I feel like the two go
hand in hand, I feel like Zionism and Judaism really do
go hand in hand, and I mean when I hear someone like
a Jew really like not be so pro-Israel its upsetting.
[Ori, International/American Jewish man]
I think I am still a Zionist, but Im definitely more
empathetic toward Palestinian refugees and thinking
about how it feels to be them and the conditions, and I
do sometimes question Israels actions, so I think its
making me more, a better Zionist I guess because Im
more, Im paying, I dont know, I know more information. (Shira, American Jewish woman)
Experience With and Feelings

About Arab People
This theme represents the range of contact
and information with Arab and Palestinian people that many Jewish students discussed. Subthemes noted are lack of contact and information Jewish students have about Palestinian
people, holding negative stereotypes, no personal connection or empathy for Palestinians, or
negative interactions that they had with Arab
students. A few students had never met an Arab
person before joining this dialogue. This lack of
contact translated into Jewish students not
knowing any personal stories or Palestinian
counter narratives to the ones they had learned
from their own communities, and not ever having sought out the information. For example,
one student said:
I definitely learned a lot about the human rights issues
going on over there. I always thought that the proPalestinian groups on campus were just like fighting
for Israels destruction, but the dialogue taught me that
a lot of them were fighting just for the rights of the
Palestinian people and all of the humanitarian stuff
going on there. (Sarah, American Jewish woman)
A number of other students talked about the

second subtheme of negative stereotypes attached to being Arab, to Palestinian, and to the
land of Palestine. These negative stereotypes
spanned from hearing that they were terrorists
and were a threat to Jewish people, to hearing

that Arabs had left the British mandate of Palestine before Jews had immigrated to the land or
have plenty of other countries to flee to, and
have no rights to the land of Israel. There was
also a subtheme of lack of empathy for Palestinians, and feelings of defensiveness when they
heard Arab students saying they hate anyone
pro-Israel or deny the existence of the state of
Israel. As one student reflected on their shift in
perspective in this regard:
. . . earlier if I were to meet an Arab student I would
automatically say Okay its going to be much more
difficult to become friends because of everything thats
going on, and now I realize that its not the case,
theyre just, theyre human as much as I am. (Ori,
International/American Jewish man)
Oftentimes students noted that all of the

aforementioned barriers led to the fourth subtheme of overall negative expectations about
their encounters with Arab students. This manifested in apprehension, pessimism, and worry
about how the dialogue interactions would go.
A few students mentioned an exchange at a
campus event where Jews and Arabs were upset and arguing (Jacob, American Jewish
man) and that despite the fact that these students
in the dialogue had developed empathy for the
Palestinian situation and could talk with their
Arab peers, they felt pessimistic . . . about
[peace] ever happening in my lifetime and that
politics makes everything complicated. (David, American Jewish Man)
Personal Communication Skills
This theme speaks to students ability to communicate across conflict in the classroom,
which involves skills of active listening and
reflecting on hearing counternarratives of the
Palestinian perspective, not engaging in debate
about facts or trying to change the minds of
Arab students, and managing ones emotions.
These were mentioned by a number of students.
Negotiating emotions and conflict are challenges faced in dialogic encounters that can
become heated, and the development of communication skills across social conflict is a key
outcome of intergroup dialogue (Gurin et al.,
2013). One student expressed their intense difficulty to remain in an active listening mode in
this way,
13
I would never call Hamas a freedom fighter. I would

sooner, frankly, cut my tongue out than call Hamas a
freedom fighter. Thats just not how I work. So that
wasI was heated that day, you know, when I heard
that I immediately just said screw active listening. Im
gonna beat your argument. I guess that was more
verbal conflict, but I dont think anybody was upset at
each other on a personal level. (Carl, American Jewish
man)
while another student described their struggle

with their own emotions:
Specifically during the dialogue, It was most difficult
for me not express my feelings of anger when I felt that
the Arab students in our group did not seem to grasp
the concept of the Holocaust and the impact it had for
Jews around the world. (Rob, American Jewish man)
Another student talked here of moving out of

debate mode:
I learned how to be, about myself, I usually try to
overanalyze what someone is saying and if I disagree
with their belief in general then Ill try to pick certain
words that they said that were wrong to try to use that
toward my argument, but I learned to try and not do
that and to try to be open. (Shira, American Jewish
woman)
Media
Finally, a few students described this theme
of being strongly affected by the news reports of
the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The
tension overseas had a strong impact on campus
climate and relationships, and often prompted
escalation of tensions on campus as well. One
student described it this way:
. . . after the November bombings between Israel and
Palestine and the silent protests on the (campus), the
presence of the conflict was highly reinforced. Its
almost as if the hatred toward the Palestinians and
Israelis grew at an immense rate and I felt hopeless.
(Maura, International/American Jewish woman)
Another student struggled with the effects of the

news, though she tried to keep an open mind:
I do not think that the people on the other side are
wrong but it is hard to decipher the information about
the conflict that is presented on the news and other
media outlets. When the bombing in Israel/Gaza Strip
occurred earlier this year, it did have a personal impact
on me. (Sadie, American Jewish woman)
This media effect of war journalism has been

well documented (Lynch & McGoldrick, 2005)
and points to the importance of helping students
to think critically about the media they consume
and to seek out multiple narratives.
14
Discussion: Quantitative and

Qualitative Findings
This study sought to fill a gap in the literature
by analyzing data from American Jewish college students to better understand what barriers
may exist for them to learn about Palestinian
narratives and experiences, and what factors are
associated with and predict more positive attitudes toward Palestinians. A better understanding of these barriers and attitude predictors will
inform and improve intergroup work and intergroup dialogue with Jewish and Arab students
on college campuses and in the broader society.
With regard to our research questions, we
first found that, in the bivariate quantitative
analysis, contrary to our expectations, religiosity was not correlated with student attitudes
about Palestinians. Given that we had a fairly
even breakdown of students who rated religion
and Judaism as very important/important or not
important, these variables did not seem to play
a role or barrier for this sample in students
affirmative attitudes about Palestinians. It is
possible that as the millennium generation of
Jewish young adults are identifying in varying
ways with religion and Judaism, these categories become less influential on their political
views (Pew Research Center, 2013). Identifying
as pro-Israel and pro-Zionist were negatively
associated with attitudes about Palestinians,
which concurs with Litvak-Hirschs, Chaitin, &
Zahers (2010) findings that Palestinians and
Israelis are in a negative interrelationship with
each other that continues to evoke pain and
trauma. This may be a target area for future
work, in terms of supporting students to critically analyze what these group identifications
really mean (Hammack, 2009) and how they
play out tangibly in students political advocacy.
In the multivariate quantitative analysis, we
found that as expected, a students own political
views about Israel, and the interaction of these
views with family beliefs, had a negative influence on student attitudes about Palestinians, and
thus may be a barrier to wanting to learn more
about Palestinian narratives and experiences.
This interaction may be explained by the strong
socialization process of family and community
(Aviv & Shneer, 2010; Jost et al., 2008), and the
powerful and perhaps indirect influence of family Holocaust history (Wohl & Van Bavel,
2011). This indicates another area that educators and others should attend to in order to
increase Jewish students critical thinking about
Israel in relation to the Palestinian narrative.
We also found that knowing or working with
a Palestinian person, or having visited Palestinian villages or cities in the West Bank had a
positive effect on student attitudes about Palestinians. Thus, if a student does not know a
Palestinian or has not been to the West Bank,
this may be a barrier to learning more about
Palestinians and developing affirmative attitudes about the Palestinian experience. In line
with the literature on influence of parental attitudes, parents attitudes about Palestinians did
significantly influence students attitudes in a
positive direction, and can be both a facilitator
of affirming attitudes, or a barrier if parents
attitudes are more negative.
Contrary to the literature on collective victimhood (Halperin & Bar-Tal, 2011; SchoriEyal et al., 2014) and to our expectations, family Holocaust history was not identified as a
significant barrier to students wanting to learn
about Palestinian narratives. This may have
been because of the categorical response options, and a measure with more variability may
produce different results. It is also possible that,
concurrent with Vollhardts (2009) findings,
students whose families have experienced the
horrors of the Holocaust are more inclined to
empathize with and want to learn more about
Palestinian oppression. Finally, Parents views
about Israel, which were not significant in the
bivariate analysis, but became significant in the
multivariate analysis because of contributions
of other variables, indicated that the more parents were attached to or are concerned about
Israel, the more positive students attitudes are
about Palestinians. It is possible that if Israel
plays a large part in their parents lives, or their
parents are worried about the future of Israel,
that students feel a responsibility to get to know
Palestinians and their circumstances, to resolve
this conflict in a way that preserves a Jewish
state. Students may be thinking more critically
than their parents do about the conflict (Pew
Research Center, 2013; Saxe & Boxer, 2012).
Teaching about this conflict is a challenging
prospect, and work with Jewish American
young adults who are involved in this issue
should promote reflection about their own socialization and narratives (Ben Hagai, Ham-
mack, Pilecki, & Aresta, 2013), and in particular about their parents views.
The qualitative analysis of American Jewish
students who engaged with Arab students in the
dialogue course confirmed the influence of family
and socialization process around Israel and Jewish
identity, which is concurrent with findings that
collective victimhood can impede openness to
compromise (Schori-Eyal et al., 2014), as well as
the lack of knowing Palestinians, as barriers to
learning more about the Palestinian narrative. Additionally, there were other important factors identified, such as the media, interpersonal communication skills, and reported negative interactions
with Arab students.
These results confirm the importance of dialogic and intergroup interventions that teach students to critically analyze how they are socialized
by their family and by the media, skills to communicate across conflict, and that foster positive
and productive relationships (Gurin et al., 2013).
Hammack (2009) suggests that peace education
programs promote critical consciousness that
highlights structural inequalities and support action oriented change. This analysis also identified
the influence of Jewish education about Israel,
which points to the need to include this variable in
future quantitative research. Finally, the identification of views about Jewish people as a variable
confirms the need to help students critically analyze this social identity in terms of both the past
and the future. As Holocaust history was identified
as a barrier in the qualitative analysis, and not in
the quantitative findings, it is possible that it still
exists as an obstacle for some students, but overall
is losing its significance in the current generation
(Pew Research Center, 2013). The students who
chose to take the dialogue course may be thinking
more critically about their own Jewish identity
and socialization process, thus, leading them to
have somewhat different responses to how their
family Holocaust history influences their perspective on the conflict and perception of Palestinians.
These themes can be shared with students to raise
their awareness of potential barriers to learning
more about Palestinians.
Limitations and Future Research
This study has a number of limitations that have
implications for the internal and external validity
of the findings, generalizability, and future research. The online sample was not randomly se-
15
lected, and the sample size was small, so selection

bias may be present and the findings cannot be
generalized beyond the sample population. For the
qualitative sample, the results are only applicable
to this group of students who chose to take the
dialogue, and cannot be generalized to other Jewish students who may not be open to participating
in a dialogue encounter. Future research should
collect a larger quantitative and ideally randomly
sampled population. Further, as mentioned, we
recommend examining the influence of religious
school education, and possibly Jewish affiliation,
on student attitudes about Palestinians, using a
more diverse sample that includes Jewish students
who have not attended Jewish religious education
or who do not identify religiously as conservative
or reform. The content and face validity of the
new scales were examined, but not the criterion
validity, and so future research should examine
the variables studied using different scales. The
quantitative cross-sectional analysis does not indicate causality. With regard to the qualitative analysis, there may have been response bias with the
use of course assignments and in the interviews,
which we sought to avoid with the use of matching interviewer and interviewee identities (i.e.,
Arab students on the research team interviewed
Arab students, and the same for Jewish students).
However, the question of barriers was not asked
of the students, but rather derived from the
grounded theory coding method, thus, possibly
eliminating this bias. Future research should more
closely examine, both quantitatively or qualitatively, the relationship between students critical
analysis of their own powerful familial and community socialization, and students change in attitudes about Palestinians, to see if a direct change
can be observed as a result of intergroup dialogue
interventions.
Jewish college students can play an important
role in intergroup relations work on college campuses, as well as in future peace efforts in the
Middle East, given the power and resources they
may hold in American society (Ben Hagai, Zurbriggen, Hammack, & Ziman, 2013). As they are
afforded various opportunities to learn about Palestinians and their experiences with the Israeli
conflict, it is critical that educators and others in
leadership positions be prepared to address important areas of barriers and challenges to this education, to open up new possibilities for knowledge. Removing these barriers may move learning
16
and intergroup relations forward for both groups

of people.
References
Abu-Nimer, M. (1999). Dialogue, conflict resolution
and change: Arab-Jewish encounters in Israel.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Albeck, J., Adwan, S., & Bar-On, D. (2002). Dialogue groups: TRTs guidelines for working
through intractable conflicts by personal storytelling. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 8, 301322. doi:10.1207/S15327949
PAC0804_01
Aviv, C., & Shneer, D. (2010). New Jews: The end of
the Jewish diaspora. New York, NY: New York
University Press.
Barakat, Z. (2009). Diverging narratives as part of the
conflict: Converging narratives as part of the solution. In K. von Gehlen (Ed.), Religious narratives on Jerusalem and their role in peace building
(conference held in Jerusalem, Oct. 20th 2009).
Retrieved from http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/
kas_19583-1522-2-30.pdf?110210175815. Publisher Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
Bar-Tal, D., Halperin, E., & Oren, N. (2010). Sociopsychological barriers to peace making: The case
of the Israeli Jewish society. Social Issues and
Policy Review, 4, 63109. doi:10.1111/j.17512409.2010.01018.x
Beinart, P. (2013, September 26). The American
Jewish cocoon. The New York Review of Books,
113.
Bekerman, Z., & Zembylas, M. (2011). Teaching
contested narratives: Identity, memory and reconciliation in peace education and beyond. Cambridge, England: New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139015646
Ben Hagai, E., Hammack, P. L., Pilecki, A., &
Aresta, C. (2013). Shifting away from amonolithic
narrative on conflict: Israelis, Palestinians, and
Americans in conversation. Peace and Conflict:
Journal of Peace Psychology, 19, 295310. doi:
10.1037/a0033736
Ben Hagai, E., Zurbriggen, E., Hammack, P., &
Ziman, M. (2013). Beliefs predicting peace, beliefs
predicting war: Jewish Americans and the Israeli
Palestinian conflict. Analyses of Social Issues and
Public Policy, 13, 286 309. doi:10.1111/asap
.12023
Braun, V., & Clark, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In
H. Cooper (Ed.), APA Handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2: Research Designs quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 5771). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association, x, 701 pp. doi:10.1037/
13620-004
Cohen, S., & Kelman, A. (2007). Beyond distancing:

Young adult American Jews and their alienation
from Israel. Berman Jewish Policy Archive. Retrieved from http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/
downloadFile.cfm?FileID"317
Cohen, S., & Kelman, A. (2010). Distancing is closer
than ever. Contemporary Jewry, 30, 145148. doi:
10.1007/s12397-010-9039-2
Daoudi, M. S. D., & Barakat, Z. (2013). Israelis and
Palestinians: Contested narratives. Israel Studies,
18, 53 69. doi:10.2979/israelstudies.18.2.53
Dessel, A., & Ali, N. (2012). Arab/Jewish intergroup
dialogue courses: Building communication skills,
relationships, and social justice. Small Group Research, 43, 559 586.
Gaunt, R. (2011). Effects of intergroup conflict and
social contact on prejudice: The mediating role of
stereotypes and evaluations. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, 41, 1340 1355. doi:10.1111/j
.1559-1816.2011.00762.x
Gurin, P., Nagda, B. A., & Ziga, X. (2013). Engaging race and gender: Intergroup dialogues in
higher education. New York, NY: Russell Sage
Foundation.
Halperin, E., & Bar-Tal, D. (2011). Socio psychological barriers to peacemaking: An empirical examination within the Israeli Jewish Society. Journal
of Peace Research, 48, 637 651. doi:10.1177/
0022343311412642
Hammack, P. (2006). Identity, conflict, and coexistence: Life stories of Israeli and Palestinian adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 21, 323
369. doi:10.1177/0743558406289745
Hammack, P. (2009). The cultural psychology of
American-based coexistence programs for Israeli
and Palestinian youth. In C. McGlynn, Z. Bekerman, M. Zembylas, & T. Gallagher (Eds.), Peace
education in conflict and post-conflict societies:
Comparative perspectives (pp. 127144). New
York, NY: Palgrave McMillan.
Haynes, S., Richard, D., & Kubany, E. (1995). Content validity in psychological assessment: A functional approach to concepts and methods. Psychological Assessment, 7, 238 247. doi:10.1037/
1040-3590.7.3.238
Heilman, S. (2010). Ed.s introduction to the distancing hypothesis issue. Contemporary Jewry, 30,
141143. doi:10.1007/s12397-010-9057-0
Hirsch, M. (2014). Postmemory.net. Retrieved from
http://www.postmemory.net
Horowitz, B. (2000). Connections and journeys: Assessing critical opportunities for enhancing Jewish
identity. New York, NY: United Jewish Association.
Horowitz, B. (2010). Beyond attachment: Widening
the analytic focus about the American Jewish relationship to Israel. Contemporary Jewry, 30, 241
246. doi:10.1007/s12397-010-9042-7
Jewish Multiracial Network. (2014). Privilege checklist. Retrieved from http://www.jewishmultiracial

network.org/advocacy/privilege-checklist/
Jost, J., Ledgerwood, A., & Hardin, C. (2008).
Shared reality, system justification, and the relational basis of ideological beliefs. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 171186. doi:
10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00056.x
Judis, J. (2014a). Genesis: Truman, American Jews,
and the origins of the Arab/Israeli conflict. New
York, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Judis, J. (2014b). Hillels crackdown on open debate is
bad news for American Jews. New Republic. Retrieved
from http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116100/
hillel-college-campuses-fractures-students-debate-israel
Kelner, S. (2010). Tours that bind: Diaspora, pilgrimage, and Israeli birthright tourism. New
York, NY: New York University Press.
Khalidi, R. (2013). The United States and the Palestinians, 19772012: Three key moments. Journal
of Palestine Studies, 42, 6172. doi:10.1525/jps
.2013.42.4.61
Khuri, M. L. (2004). Facilitating Arab-Jewish intergroup dialogue in the college setting. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 7, 229 250. doi:10.1080/
1361332042000257056
Klar, Y., Schori-Eyal, N., & Klar, Y. (2013). The
Never Again state of Israel: The emergence of
the holocaust as a core feature of Israeli identity
and its four incongruent voices. Journal of Social
Issues, 69, 125143. doi:10.1111/josi.12007
Koren, A., & Einhorn, E. (2010). Searching for the
study of Israel: A report on the teaching of Israel
on U.S. College campuses 2008 2009. Cohen
Center for Modern Jewish Studies. Waltham, MA:
Brandeis University.
Litvak-Hirsch, T., Chaitin, J., & Zaher, E. (2010).
Perceptions of the Holocaust of Palestinian young
adults, citizens of Israel. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 16, 231252. doi:
10.1080/10781911003694488
Lynch, J., & McGoldrick, A. (2005). Peace journalism. Stroud, United Kingdom: Hawthorn Press.
Manna, A. (2013). The Palestinian Nakba and its
continuous repercussions. Israel Studies, 18, 86
99. doi:10.2979/israelstudies.18.2.86
Maoz, I. (2011). Does contact work in protracted
asymmetrical conflict? Appraising 20 years of reconciliation-aimed encounters between Israeli Jews
and Palestinians. Journal of Peace Research, 48,
115125. doi:10.1177/0022343310389506
Maoz, I., Freedman, G., & McCauley, C. I. (2010).
Fled or expelled? Representation of the IsraeliArab conflict in U.S. high school history textbooks. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 16, 110. doi:10.1080/107819109
03237562
17
Maoz, I., & McCauley, C. (2011). Explaining support

for violating out-group human rightsin conflict:
Attitudes toward principles of human rights, trust
in the out-group, and intergroup contact. Journal
of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 891905. doi:
10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00740.x
Margalit, A. (2005). A story of ambivalence or pure
love: Israelis and America. Social Research, 72,
825 830.
Mearsheimer, J., & Walt, S. (2007). The Israel lobby
and U.S. foreign policy. New York, NY: Farrar,
Straus & Giroux.
Monmouth Dialogue Project. (2013). Directory of Arab-Jewish/Israeli-Palestinian groups for dialogue
and peaceful coexistence. Retrieved from http://
www.monmouth.edu/university/directory-of-arab-jewish/
israeli-palestinian-groups-for-dialogue-and-peacefulcoexistence.aspx
Nataf, F. (2013). Getting the discussion started:
Teaching the Palestinian narrative in diaspora
Jewish schools. Retrieved from http://www
.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id"229
Pew Research Center. (2013). A portrait of Jewish
Americans. Jewish Telegraph Agency. Retrieved
from http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/
jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/
Pomson, A. (2010). A sense of distance through the
classroom window. Contemporary Jewry, 30,
263267. doi:10.1007/s12397-010-9036-5
Raven, B. (1999). Influence, power, religion, and the
mechanisms of social control. [Special issue: Social influence and social power: Using theory for
understanding social issues]. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 161186. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00111
Rofes, L., & Zimmerman, S. (May 22, 2013). OpEd.: Pluralism must extend to Israel. Retrieved
from http://www.jta.org/2013/05/22/news-opinion/
opinion/pluralism-in-hillel-must-extend-to-israel
Ron, Y., & Maoz, I. (2013). Dangerous stories: Encountering narratives of the other in the Israeli
Palestinian conflict. Peace and Conflict: Journal of
Peace Psychology, 19, 281294. doi:10.1037/
a0033686
Rozin, P., & Wolf, S. (2008). Attachment to land:
The case of the land of Israel for American and
Israeli Jews and the role of contagion. Judgment
and Decision Making, 3, 325334.
Ruttenberg, J., Zea, M. C., & Sigelman, C. K. (1996).
Collective identity and intergroup prejudice among
Jewish and Arab students in the United States.
Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 209 220. doi:
10.1080/00224545.1996.9713995
Sales, L., & Saxe, L. (2006). Particularism in the
university: Realities and opportunities for Jewish
life on campus. Brandeis University. Retrieved
fromhttp://avichai.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2010/
06/Jewish-Life-on-Campus.pdf
18
Sasson, T. (2010). Mass mobilization to direct engagement: American Jews changing relationship
to Israel. Israel Studies, 15, 173195. doi:10.2979/
ISR.2010.15.2.173
Sasson, T., Kadushin, C., & Saxe, L. (2010). On
sampling, evidence and theory: Concluding remarks on the distancing debate. Contemporary
Jewry, 30, 149 153. doi:10.1007/s12397-0109040-9
Saxe, L., & Boxer, M. (2012). Loyalty and love of
Israel by diasporan Jews. Israel Studies, 17, 92
101. doi:10.2979/israelstudies.17.2.92
Saxe, L., & Chazan, B. I. (2008). Ten days of Birthright Israel: A journey in young adult identity.
Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.
Scham, P., Pogrund, B., & Ghanem, A. (2013). Introduction to shared narratives: A PalestinianIsraeli Dialogue. Israel Studies, 18, 110. doi:
10.2979/israelstudies.18.2.1
Scham, P., Salem, W., & Pogrund, B. (Eds.). (2006).
Shared histories: A Palestinian-Israeli dialogue.
Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Schori-Eyal, N., Halperin, E., & Bar-Tal, D. (2014).
Three layers of collective victimhood: Effects of
multileveled victimhood on intergroup conflicts in
the IsraeliArab context. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology. Advanced online publication. doi:
10.1111/jasp.12268
Shibley, R. (2014, March 18th). Dont let the IsraeliPalestinian conflict overwhelm free speech on
campus. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www
.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/03/18/dont-letthe-israeli-palestinian-conflict-overwhelm-freespeech-on-campus/
Sobel, R. A. (2003). Birthright Israel: Identity construction through travel and photographs for
American Jewish youth. (Order No. 3081789,
Temple University). ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses, 267 p. Retrieved from http://search
.proquest.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/docview/
305295796?accountid"14667
Swank, E., & Raiz, L. (2010). Predicting the support
of same-sex relationship rights among social work
students. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Ser-
vices, 22, 149 164. doi:10.1080/10538720

903332552
Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (Eds.). (2003). Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral
research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Vollhardt, J. R. (2009). The role of victim beliefs in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Risk or potential for peace?
Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 15,
135159. doi:10.1080/10781910802544373
Vollhardt, J. R. (2013). Crime against humanity or
Crime against Jews? Acknowledgment in construals of the Holocaust and its importance for
intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, 69,
144 161. doi:10.1111/josi.12008
Waxman, C. (2010). Beyond distancing: Jewish identity, identification, and Americas young Jews.
Contemporary Jewry, 30, 227232. doi:10.1007/
s12397-010-9048-1
Weiss, P. (2011, March 17). Jewish privilege. Retrieved from http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/
jewish-privilege.html
White, B. (2013). Quarterly update on conflict and
diplomacy. Journal of Palestine Studies, 42, 126
149. doi:10.1525/jps.2013.42.4.126
Wohl, M. J. A., & Branscombe, N. R. (2008).
Remembering historical victimization: Collective guilt for current ingroup transgressions.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
94, 988 1006. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.6
.988
Wohl, M. J. A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2011). Is identifying with a historically victimized group goodor
bad for your health? Transgenerational posttraumatic stress and collective victimization. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 818
824. doi:10.1002/ejsp.844
Young, S. (2004). Narrative and healing in the hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation
commission. Biography, 27, 145162. doi:
10.1353/bio.2004.0041
Zeedani, S. (2013). Recognition of the other and his
past. Israel Studies, 18, 148 155. doi:10.2979/
israelstudies.18.2.148
(Appendices follow)
19
Appendix 1
Quantitative Survey Items
Family Holocaust
history
Israel attachment and

support
Israel politics
Anti-Semitism
Family beliefs about
Israel
Parents attitudes about

Palestinians
Attitudes about
Palestinians
Response: 0 " no, 1 " yes

I have a grandparent or great grandparent who is a Holocaust survivor
I have another relative (other than grandparents) who is a Holocaust survivor
I have family members who were killed in the Holocaust.
Response: 1 " strongly disagree, 2 " disagree, 3 " somewhat disagree, 4 " neither agree
nor disagree, 5 " somewhat agree, 6 " agree, 7 " strongly agree
I am always proud of Israel
I am emotionally attached to Israel
Caring about Israel is an important part of being a Jew
Israels destruction would be a personal tragedy
I worry about the security of Israel in the Middle East
Supporting Israel keeps me tied to my religion
Supporting Israel keeps me connected to the Jewish community
I feel Israel should give up most of the settlements in the West Bank (R)
I feel Israel should give up all of the settlements in the West Bank (R)
American Jews should not publicly criticize the policies of the Israeli government
I agree with the Israelis governments policies regarding Palestinians.
Anti-Semitism in America is currently not a serious problem for American Jews (R)
Anti-Semitism in America may, in the future, become a serious problem for American Jews
One or both of my parents are pro-Israel
One or both of my grandparents are pro-Israel
I have other family members who are pro-Israel
My parents worry about the security of Israel in the Middle East
My parents worry about suicide bombings in Israel
My parents believe that it is ok to publicly criticize the policies of the Israeli government
My parents believe that Palestinians were displaced from their land
My parents believe that Palestinians face inequality and segregation within Israel
My parents are involved in working for Palestinian equal rights
I believe that Palestinians were displaced from their land
I believe that Palestinians face inequality and segregation within Israel
I am involved in working for Palestinian equal rights
I want to learn more about the personal stories of Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, and the West
Bank
I believe that the Palestinians have a right to return to their land that Israel (proper)
occupies
I believe the Palestinians when they say that the land that Israel occupies belongs to them
I wish that I had learned more about Palestinian narratives when I was younger
Palestinians have the right to a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza, so long as it does
not threaten Israel
If Israel could be assured of peace and secure borders, she should be willing to return to
Arab control most of the territories she has occupied since 1967
Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel should be treated equally
I have sought out education on the Palestine/Israel conflict since being at college
I would like to have more structured opportunities to talk to Arab students about the
conflict
I am interested in collaborating with Palestinians to work for peace
(Appendices continue)
20
Appendix 2
Qualitative Interview Protocol

1. Can you please tell me how you identify in terms of your race/ethnicity/religion as it relates to this course?
(We want to know if they are Arab or Jewish, specifically).
2. Can you tell me why you decided to take this course?
3. What were your expectations for the course?
4. What have you learned in the course?
a. About yourself?
b. About others?
5. Were there things that surprised you?
6. Did you feel the course created a safe space for dialogue? Please explain.
a. If so, why?
b. Or why not?
7. Have your views, about the other group changed as a result of this course? If so, how?
a. Have your feelings or about the other group changed as a result of this course? If so, how?
b. Has your understanding about the other group changed as a result of this course? If so, how?
8. Did you feel there was conflict in this course?
a. If so, how did you feel conflict was handled in this course?
9. Please describe your understand about power, privilege and oppression as a result of having taken his course?
a. Ask about each of these separately.
10. Please describe how this course may have affected your communication skills about the issues in the dialogue?
11. Did you take any previous courses on the Middle East or Arab/Israeli conflict?
a. If so, how do you think this might have affected your experience in this course?
12. Is there anything you might do differently as a result of having taken this course? Please explain.
13. Is there anything else that is important to share with me?

Dessel Ali Mishkin Jewish Barriers

Încărcat de

Informații document

Descriere originală:

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Dessel Ali Mishkin Jewish Barriers

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

2014 American Psychological Association

Learning About Palestinian Narratives:

particular play a political role in this conflict in

lol, US kind of sucks at helping

social justice and the Arab-Jewish conflict, and social

ADRIENNE DESSEL earned her PhD from the University of

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

and understandings of the conflict (Judis,

Need to identify/understand barriers to

Information about barriers is critical because it

Family Holocaust History and

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

Museum, to an afternoon at Har Herzl, the Israeli

number of secular Jews who are involved in new

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

whereas 32% of younger Jews under age 30

Opportunities to Learn About Palestinian

The concept of narrative implies that there is

Opportunities for Jewish college students to

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

cation programs exist to foster such learning

Hypothesis 2: Jewish students attachment

Overview of the Study

We created a quantitative online survey using

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

survey, and this was a convenience sample;

small sample sizes, knowing and worked with

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

Been settlements in West Bank

ous and newly developed items measuring student

Correlation is significant at the .000 level (two-tailed).

Correlation is significant at the .001 level (two-tailed).

Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed).

Attitudes about Palestinians

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

intergroup dialogue courses (Gurin, Nagda, &

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

Qualitative Data Analysis and Results

potential or actual barriers for Jewish students

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

from my family but not the other side. (Katya,

The second subtheme of Jewish education

The third subtheme of views about Jewish

The last subtheme illuminated students

Experience With and Feelings

A number of other students talked about the

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

and were a threat to Jewish people, to hearing

Oftentimes students noted that all of the

I would never call Hamas a freedom fighter. I would

while another student described their struggle

Another student talked here of moving out of

Another student struggled with the effects of the

This media effect of war journalism has been

DESSEL, ALI, AND MISHKIN

Discussion: Quantitative and

LEARNING ABOUT PALESTINIAN NARRATIVES

lected, and the sample size was small, so selection