Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Passion Generated by Identity and Ideology

                                                                                         

The daily news reports of terror, the televised sound bites from devastated Palestinian towns and villages, Israeli shopping malls, markets, and buses, are about people and the conflict and passion generated by identity and ideology. Thinking about how people`s identities and ideologies explain their actions in respect of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Jerusalem Question yields some important conclusions.

One of my goals in "Identity, Ideology and the Future of Jerusalem" was to look again at individuals in leadership and follower roles in the context of their identities and ideologies.

What do the Palestinians desire in respect of the city? Why have successive Israeli leaders failed to come to agreement with them over the city`s sovereignty? Despite different stated policy positions, why is there so little apparent distinction between Israel`s Kadima, Likud and Labor parties when it comes down to the resolution of the problem?

Erik Erikson, the "father of identity studies," has much to offer by way of explanation of the dynamics involved. His conceptualization of identity and ideology as essentially two sides of the same coin helps. But more importantly, he shows that identity is more malleable than we think and modification occurs across the entire human life span. Everyone can change and it is never too late to change.

There is hope for what seems the world's most intractable problem.

About the author:
Dr. David Hulme holds a doctorate in International Relations from the University of Southern California with an emphasis on the Middle East. He`s the author of "Identity, Ideology and the Jerusalem Question" and the blog, Causes of Conflict. He is president of Vision Media Productions and chairman of Vision.org Foundation. Please email at dhulme@vision.org.


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