Dialogue, Conflict Resolution, and Change: Arab-Jewish Encounters in Israel

CHAPTER 5. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND THE ARAB-JEWISH PROGRAMS

5 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ Methodological Considerations and the Arab-Jewish Programs There is a pressing need to examine more than one or two case studies that focus on the relationship and process of interaction rather than on quantifying changes at the individual level only, which causes the loss of impact of the context as well as important insights and nuances. Therefore, this research is designed to explore the meaning and influence of context on both macro and micro implications of intervention. This qualitative study combines the three goals of explanation, exploration , and description. Hence it refers to meaning, concepts, symbols, characters , definitions, metaphors, and descriptions of Arab-Jewish encounter experience. For example, measuring the change in the attitudes of Arab and Jewish participants in a workshop is possible, but missing the meaning and the context of these attitudes is likely, as they are described by the participants in their communities. For instance, many scholars describe the change in identity among Arab participants, but none of them asked about the meaning and content of such identity according to Arabs. In the research, I relied on the nonscheduled (nonstructured) interview and direct observation (participant-as-observer) as the two main methods of gathering data. In all the interviews the method of semistandardized interview was used; the interviews were tape-recorded in both Hebrew and Arabic and the data were transcribed verbatim. During a year of intensive fieldwork and several visits to these intervention programs, seventy-five interviews and eight observations were completed . Also full transcripts of previous workshops were attained.1 The purposeful selection of the six case studies in this research ensures that different types of programs and organizations, teachers, students, intervenors, directors, and facilitators are included. It covers at least 50 55 Methodological Considerations and the Arab-Jexvish Programs 56 zyxwvutsrqpo 5 6 percent of the community of Arab-Jewish encounters' facilitators that constantly operate in this field. The selection of each specific organization was made according to the following criteria: a. The model of intervention has to include at least one encounter of Arab and Jewish participants. b. The staff includes at least 4 Arab and 4 Jewish facilitators. c. The organization has been functioning for at least the last five years. d. Conduct encounters only between Arabs and Jews in Israel, and not Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza (territories under Israeli military control). All the directors of the organizations are Jews, except in one organization , in which an Arab director is temporarily fulfilling the duties of a previous Jewish director. In general, the directors of these organizations are more involved in the financial and organizational aspects of the activities. None of these directors personally facilitates any of their organization's models of intervention. From each organization, an Arab and aJewish facilitator were selected. They were the most experienced facilitators and they all had at least three years of experience in facilitating Arab-Jewish encounters. All the Arab facilitators who were interviewed were males. Of the Jewish facilitators, 60 percent were females. Four of the organizations' activities are directed toward high school and secondary school students, while the two other organizations focus on high school and secondary school teachers. All participants were selected randomly before the actual observation took place, or they were selected by their teachers. When there was no opportunity for actual observation, subjects were interviewed about their previous encounters. A total of eight observations were conducted during the three phases of the fieldwork. They were basically detailed descriptions of the participants ' and facilitators' verbal expressions. An additional set of interviewees includes nine facilitators (four Arabs and five Jews) with at least five years of experience in leading Arab-Jewish groups. These informants were asked about: (a) the ideal and most effective model of intervention in ArabJewish relations according to their experience; (b) limitations and advantages of the existing models of intervention in Arabjewish relations; (c) impact of the political context on intervention models. Informants also included five Arab community leaders, three Arab Parliament members, a religious leader, a lawyer, and four Jewish Parliament members. Each informant was asked to evaluate the impact of 57 zyxwvut Methodological Considerations and the Arab-Jexvish Programs intervention models on Arabjewish relations. Among the Jewish Parliament leaders there is representation of the Labor Party, the Mapam Party, and the Hat'hia Party. Several Likud members were approached for interviews, but none of these members agreed to be interviewed on...