Planting Hatred, Sowing Pain: A Book Talk by Moises Salinas

On Thursday, September 6, 2007, Meretz USA hosted Dr. Moises Salinas for a talk on his new book, Planting Hatred, Sowing Pain: The Psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.  Below is a summary of his talk. 

Whereas much scholarship focuses on the political obstacles to achieving peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, Dr. Salinas’ most recent book addresses the psychological barriers to doing so.  In it, the professor of psychology argues that stereotypes, mistrust, and extremism are just as influential in fueling the conflict as disagreements over borders and refugees. 

Dr. Salinas began his talk by posing a question: Why, if surveys show that most Israelis and Palestinians understand that there will be a two-state solution along the 1967 borders, with some solution for the refugees, has the conflict not yet been resolved?  The reason, he argued, is psychological biases.   

Most serious among these obstacles is the prevalence of stereotypes.  Both sides believe that, although their own side wants peace, the other will never agree.  These understandings are particularly influenced by popular culture.  There are negative stereotypes of Arabs in Israeli television programs; and in Palestinian society it is perfectly acceptable to speak about Jews in prejudicial ways as well as to vilify them. 

Dr. Salinas also highlighted the existence of extremists on both sides, who perpetrate violence on the other.  Ideological Israeli settlers and Palestinian terrorists come from cultures with a deep sense of injustice and hatred, a social acceptance of violence, and an idolization of those who violently attack the other side – all factors that are conducive to extremism.  Furthermore, the violence has left both sides severely scarred, with many experiencing post-traumatic stress.  The conflict has affected everyone, on both sides, in a very personal way.  Many don’t have a clear idea of why the fighting continues, but they have such distrust, suspicion, and hatred that they do nothing to stop it. 

With this understanding in mind, Dr. Salinas turned to suggestions for helping to resolve the conflict, making recommendations on the political level and the societal level.  At the political level, he focused on negotiations, stressing the fact that Israelis and Palestinians communicate differently – a fact that makes negotiations difficult.  While Palestinians are non-confrontational and vague, Israelis are extremely direct – something that can be perceived as disrespectful.  Dr. Salinas suggested using Arab Israelis to help bridge this difference. 

Dr. Salinas also explained that the particular model of negotiation currently used in the political talks is problematic.  Israeli and Palestinian negotiations have tended to use the model that experts call “distributive bargaining,” which treats negotiations as a competitive “zero-sum” game. Each side perceives what the other side gets as something their own has lost.  Dr. Salinas suggested instead using either an “integrative bargaining” model.  This negotiation method focuses on the interests of the participants, such as fears, desires, or needs, and works to address them and find a mutually beneficial solution.  In both of these negotiating models, Dr. Salinas also highlighted the importance of a mediator perceived of as neutral by both sides. 

On the societal level, Dr. Salinas made several suggestions.  He noted that evidence has shown that group encounters can be very successful, if done right.  In particular, they must be comprehensive, with many meetings, a good negotiator, and shared goals.  But equally important, there cannot be a perception of unequal power between the parties.  There must, instead, be a sense of equality.   Dr. Salinas also proposed increased economic interaction.  Here, again, there must be a sense of equality between the parties. 

Finally, Dr. Salinas stressed the importance of having social and cultural events that bring both sides together as well as the necessity of education.  Both democracy education programs and education towards tolerance and diversity have been shown to be successful.  Several schools in Israel that teach towards tolerance have done very well.