The Middle East Beyond the Headlines
Clashing Israeli and
Palestinian Narratives
istory is never objective; rather, what is important is how people
remember and interpret history. Nowhere is this more evident
than in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both Israelis and Palestinians
have developed their own victimization narratives, with each population
justifying its nationalist claims to the same territory by emphasizing its
historical suffering at the hands of the other.
As Dr. Asher Susser of Tel Aviv University notes,
these narratives are “completely contradictory
to one another,” making it nearly impossible to
settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a way
that each side finds just.
Israelis celebrate Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification
of Jerusalem under Israeli control following the Six Day War.
Palestinians view the result of this war as an
example of Israeli aggression.
Israelis perceive persecution as being
endemic throughout Jewish history.
Anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe during the 1800s and early 1900s,
as well as the rise of Nazi Germany and
the Holocaust, were only the latest
indications that Jews would never be safe
without a state of their own. The Zionist
movement identified Palestine as the
future homeland of the Jewish people,
Graffiti in Hebron portrays the mistrust that
exists between Israelis and Palestinians.
with their religious and historical ties to
the Holy Land giving Jews a legitimate
right to return. In this sense, Israelis view the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
not only as their War of Independence, but as a homecoming that
The West Bank city of Hebron is one of the most
politically-controversial cities for Israelis and Palestinians.
rectifies historical injustices committed against the Jewish People.
UCM students touring Hebron with an Israeli guide
as part of a dual narrative tour.
For Palestinians, prior to World War I Palestine was not a “land
without a people,” an idea that was prevalent among the Zionist
movement and remains influential among Israelis today. Rather,
Arabs maintained an existence in Palestine long before Jewish
migration to the region began in the late 1800s. Arabs therefore
perceive Jewish migration to Palestine not as creating justice, but
rather as the cause of Palestinian displacement. Palestinians to this
day refer to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the creation of the State
of Israel as the nakba, or catastrophe, due to what they view as the
loss of their homeland.
Today, both Israelis and Palestinians continue to understand the conflict between them in different ways. For
Palestinians, Israel is an occupying power blocking the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state. They similarly attribute the creation of over
5 million Palestinian refugees to Israeli aggression during both the 1948
war, as well as the Six Day War in 1967. By contrast, many Israelis
understand their presence in the West Bank as both a religious right, as well
as a necessity for ensuring the country’s security. And in a country founded
in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, resistance to the State of
Israel is often understood as the latest example of anti-Jewish persecution.
In these Aurasma videos, Israelis and Palestinians describe their competing
perspectives on the conflict between them.
The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron is the site of a 1996 massacre in which
an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinian worshippers. The city is also the
site of a 1929 massacre in which an Arab crowd killed 67 Jews.
Alternatively, scan the QR codes to view the videos on YouTube or visit https://youtu.be/RwBREqt0LNk and https://youtu.be/mip8FsniR50