Peace and Conflict Studies - Spring 2014

Peace and Conflict Studies Volume 21, Number 1 11 decrease in the ethos of conflict started from the late 1970s and through the 1980s. This trend continued in the 1990s but completely changed in 2000 after the second Intifada. The Conflict’s Representation in Israeli Cultural Texts of the Late 1970s and the 1980s Societies in conflict form a culture of conflict that is rooted in the themes and symbols of society; in its mass media, theatre, literature and films. These have an important role in influencing society, making it understand the conflict and coping with it (Bar-Tal, 2010). It could be assumed that the changes discussed above in the “real” conflict, in public opinions, in the inter-group psychological repertoire and in the ethos of the conflict – will be in line with the changes in the cultural texts. And so, while the shape, focus, and perception of the Israeli-Arab conflicts and ethos of conflict started to change in the late 1970s, the representation of the conflict in cultural texts of the time also changed. But although the changes happened simultaneously, they weren’t identical and at times even showed contradicting perceptions of the conflict. Some aspects of the changes in the ethos of conflict were similar to the changes that occurred in the cultural texts; it is at this decade that Israeli films became more critical of the national narrative and changed the way they portrayed the Israeli-Arab conflict. After decades in which they almost fully embraced the Israeli-Jewish national narrative (Shohat, 1989) the perception of the conflict became more complex and less focused on the Israeli- Jewish perspective (Shohat, 2010). Scholars debate whether the films of the 1980s truly brought a new narrative to Israeli cinema or only proposed a new way to tell the same Israeli- Jewish narrative (see Gertz, 2004; Loshitzky, 2001; Ne’eman, 1995; Shohat, 1991), but all agree that a significant change did occur in the representation of the conflict. Interestingly, at this same time some important changes also took place in the Palestinian cinema (Gertz & Khleifi, 2008). It is in this decade that Israeli theatre plays were more focused on the conflict; as Orian (1996) shows, between 1982 and 1994 Arab characters can be seen in more than a hundred Israeli plays, in central roles, a number that exceeds the number of all plays dealing with this topic in the previous seven decades combined. It is not only that the quantity of Arab characters increased, but their representation was also transformed: from stereotypical characters, presented as the other, whom the Jews fear but to whom they are also attracted, they became non-stereotypical, rounded characters who more authentically present the Arab narrative (Orian, 1996).