Peace and Conflict Studies - Spring 2014

Peace and Conflict Studies Volume 21, Number 1 17 It seems as if it is only by physically distancing themselves from the conflict can Arabs and Jews meet and establish some kind of dialogue. Likewise, most of the texts that narrate love stories between Jews and Arabs have an unhappy ending with the relationship breaking off. Significantly, when a relationship takes place outside Israel—it prevails. In the movie A Narrow Bridge ( Gesher tzar meod ), the love story between Laila, a Palestinian widow, and an Israeli officer ends when she leaves for Jordan due to societal pressure. In Heat-Wave , Chava’s brother releases an ox that kills her Arab boyfriend, Halad. In Arabesques , (Shammas, 1986) the Jewish writer Yosh Bar-On gets acquainted with an Arab-Israeli and a Palestinian only when staying in Paris and in the United States. In The Smile of the Lamb the Israeli officer Uri and the Arab Hilmi have an equal status that can permit a dialog only when Uri comes to Hilmi’s isolated cave (Grossman, 1983). In Ta’atu’on , the place where Palestinians and Israelis meet in order to try and have a dialogue is an institution for the mentally ill (Ben-Ner, 1989). In the movie Fictitious Marriage the only place where the Palestinian workers and the Jewish protagonist can meet is in a construction site (significantly, not a constructed house, for example). Likewise, in A Trumpet in the Wadi , the love story between Alex and Huda does not take place in a house but in the attic (Michael, 1987). The Contradiction When comparing the Israeli cultural texts of the time and the Israeli psychological repertoire and ethos of conflict of the time – one can see that they do not go in the same directions. Although both changing at about the same time, and undoubtedly influencing one another, they do not share the same characteristics of change. The most revealing fact is that while Israeli public discourse showed a reduction in viewing the conflict as a zero-sum-game, the texts do not: they end in death, the protagonists lose their minds, and no chance for a positive future is presented. The dialogues are not between equals and – according to the cultural texts of the time – the only place where Jews and Arabs can meet and sustain a normal relationship is outside of Israel/Palestine. The most important trait of these texts is that they tell a story of not being able to tell a story and so the texts are confusing. They deal almost obsessively with the questions of what is true or false and question what is reality and what is not. At the same time, though, the perceptions of Israelis about the conflict changed after the peace treaty with Egypt and the new belief that there is a rational way to understand the conflict and even to solve it. The concept of Land for Peace, proven to be a solution, was a way of understanding the conflict