Introduction to Shared Narratives—A Palestinian-israeli Dialogue

Since the publication of <italic>Shared Histories</italic>¹in 2005, the narratives of the various sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become both a cottage industry² and a common catchphrase³ used frequently even by negotiators and politicians. However, the concept of narratives as a working tool in the peace process has not yet been taken on board by those involved in resolving the conflict.

The reason is not hard to find, and is touched on in some of the literature.⁴ The study of “Narratives” is considered a squishy, academic activity, far removed from the hard-headed realities of creating enforceable agreements. It implies a post-modernist concept that there are truths beyond “objective realities”. In fact, in this context, it posits that historical truth is less important in peacemaking than what the two societies believe to have happened. This is a counter-intuitive, even bizarre, concept to those, including the vast majority of educated citizens, who believe it is a truism that good, i.e., correct history, by definition, tells you what “really” happened in the past.

Moreover, both parties, including the majority of their populations and most of their leadership, genuinely believe in the truth of their own narrative. This is true of most of those who, concurrently, genuinely believe in the two-state solution (polls indicate this is a majority of both Israelis and Palestinians)⁵ and in coexistence with the other side. In other words, they are sure that their side and their narrative is right and just, but they are willing to make peace because realistic people on both sides have reached the sensible conclusion that neither side is going to leave.

The latter attitude took decades to achieve and, in most conflicts, that would be sufficient to provide the basis for a settlement that would be more or less acceptable to both parties. One of the important questions in this conflict, and a major impetus for the growth of studies of narratives of the conflict, is why it has proved to be insufficient here.

This special issue, like our previous volume, attempts to provide some of the answers to that question. Its methodology is to present written versions of the alternative narratives and then provide a forum where those who are interested in the conflict, whether or not directly involved, can see the two sides arguing over these issues. This is a slice of reality that is usually invisible to everyone except for the few who actually participate in these dialogues which are freely available at http://www.israelstudies.umd.edu/sharednarratives.html

It should be understood from the outset that this cannot be considered to be a “typical” Israeli-Palestinian interaction (if there is such a thing). The participants are professionals, many are academics specializing in these fields, and most are intimately familiar with both the past and present of the conflict. Moreover, they are probably more “moderate” than the “average” Israeli or Palestinian. The fact that all agreed to sit down with the other side and have a civil dialogue illustrates this. Those on both sides who are more nationalist or more militant in general, seldom do this in a non-confidential setting (and rarely enough even behind closed doors).

However, in fundamental ways the participants in this project are indeed representative of their respective societies. All are citizens of Israel, including Palestinian citizens, or of the Palestinian Authority; almost all live there currently, and the large majority were born into the societies (two of the few exceptions to the latter rule are among the authors of this introduction).

Based on the reactions to the previous book, which used the same format, the most useful, even eye-opening, aspect of that volume was providing readers with the opportunity to actually see and thus better understand the clash of ideas between the two societies, but also within each. Anyone who reads the transcripts (which were edited to remove redundancies, make vague points clearer and render non-native speakers of English, which most participants are...