A Tale of Two Narratives

"With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raging on into its eight decade, by now, we are well-accustomed to reoccurring reports discussing the latest flare-up in violence. The vicissitudes of the Mideast conflict continue to dominate the international policy agenda, undeterred by the numerous failed attempts at reconciliation and the resulting entrenchment of the peace-adverse status quo. Despite the primary conceptualization of the conflict as a territorial dispute over borders and designated state territory, the interminable state of political confrontation and violence has had a profound effect on both Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish society. Palestinians and Israelis' worldview, past and present, has been affected by - and in turn influences - the ongoing dispute. This study is concerned with the usage of primary historical narratives as a means of group identity-formation and as a means of contextualizing and justifying political acts. In doing so, this book exposes the social taming of societies' pasts to become tales of empowerment which demonstrate the justness of today's cause and culminate in a rejection of the opponent's foundational narrative. The pasts inferred here are the Holocaust and the Nakba, which have turned into primary formative events among the two groups engaged in an intractable conflict"--