Abstract
Peace process is characterized by a complex political and social context creating difficult challenges for societies previously engulfed by conflict and for those who lead them. This was the case when the official peace process—known as “the Oslo process”—started between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on September 1993. The basic role of a political leader from a sociopsychological perspective is to assist society in coping with the challenges that it faces and to mobilize its members for the policy she/he is constructing. In the challenging circumstances of a peace process following an intractable conflict, as those created during the Oslo process, the role of the leader becomes even more prominent. A unique psychosocial role for a leader during a peace process is coping with duality which characterizes it. During the Oslo process, for example, both Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat had to assist their societies in coping with a complex dual reality, which included cooperation and signing agreements between the sides, acts of serious violence, continued building of settlements in the occupied territories, and agreement violations. Each of the leaders fulfilled this role using messages of different content but whose aim was similar—to create rhetorical containment. The aim of rhetorical containment—a concept which is proposed for the first time in this chapter—is to aid the public in moderating and processing the difficulties and the pain involved in the peace process and to accept the complex character of the process through the speeches of the leader.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arian, A. (1998). Opinion shift in Israel: Long-term patterns and the effects of security events. In D. Bar-Tal, D. Jacobson, & A. Klieman (Eds.), Security concerns: Insights from the Israeli experience (pp. 267–286). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
Aristotle. (1909). Rethorica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Arrow, K., Mnookin, R., Ross, L., Tversky, A., & Wilson, R. (Eds.). (1995). Barriers to conflict resolution. New York, NY: Norton.
Bar-Siman-Tov, Y. (Ed.). (2010). Barriers to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
Bar‐Siman‐Tov, Y. (1997). Peace‐making with the Palestinians: Change and legitimacy. Israel Affairs, 3(3–4), 170–186.
Bar-Tal, D. (2007). Sociopsychological foundations of intractable conflicts. American Behavioral Scientist, 50(11), 1430–1453.
Bar-Tal, D. (2013). Intractable conflicts: Psychological foundations and dynamics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bar-Tal, D., & Bennink, G. (2004). The nature of reconciliation as an outcome and as a process. In Y. Bar-Siman-Tov (Ed.), From conflict resolution to reconciliation (pp. 11–38). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bar-Tal, D., & Halperin, E. (2009). Overcoming psychological barriers to peace making: The influence of mediating beliefs about losses. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions and behavior (pp. 431–448). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
Bar-Tal, D., & Halperin, E. (2011). Socio-psychological barriers to conflict resolution. In D. Bar-Tal (Ed.), Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: Social psychological perspective (pp. 217–240). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Bar-Tal, D., Halperin, E., & Oren, N. (2010). Socio-psychological barriers to peace making: The case of the Israeli Jewish society. Social Issues and Social Policy Review, 4, 63–109.
Bar-Tal, D., Landman, S., Magal, T., & Rosler, N. (2009, September). Societal-psychological dynamics of peace-making process—A conceptual framework. Paper presented at the small meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology about “Resolving societal conflicts and building peace: Socio-psychological dynamics”, Jerusalem, Israel.
Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning from experience. London: Tavistock.
Brewer, J. D. (2010). Peace processes: A sociological approach. Cambridge: Polity.
Cohen-Chen, S., Halperin, E., Porat, R., & Bar-Tal, D. (2014). The differential effects of hope and fear on information processing in intractable conflict. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 11–30.
Condor, S., Tileagă, C., & Billig, M. (2013). Political rhetoric. In L. Huddy, D. O. Sears, & J. Levy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political psychology (2nd ed., pp. 262–297). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Darby, J., & Mac Ginty, R. (Eds.). (2000). The management of peace processes. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
De Dreu, C. K. W. (2010). Social conflict: The emergence and consequence of struggle and negotiation. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology, vol. 2 (5th ed., pp. 983–1023). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Deutsch, M. (1973). The resolution of conflict. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Elcock, H. (2001). Political leadership. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Fitzduff, M. (2002). Beyond violence: Conflict resolution process in Northern Ireland. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.
Gormley-Heenan, C. (2007). Political leadership and the Northern Ireland peace process: Role, capacity and effect. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grinberg, L. (2009). Politics and violence in Israel/Palestine: Democracy versus military rule. New York, NY: Routledge.
Halperin, E. (2011). Emotional barriers to peace: Emotions and public opinion of Jewish Israelis about the peace process in the Middle East. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 17, 22–45.
Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S. D., & Platow, M. J. (2011). The new psychology of leadership: Identity, influence and power. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Hermann, M. G., & Gerard, C. (2009). The contribution of leadership to the movement from violence to incorporation. In B. W. Dayton & L. Kriesberg (Eds.), Conflict transformation and peacebuilding: Moving from violence to sustainable peace (pp. 30–44). London: Routledge.
Hewstone, M., Kenworthy, B., Cairns, E., Tausch, N., Hughes, J., Tam, T., et al. (2008). Stepping stones to reconciliation in Northern Ireland: Intergroup contact, forgiveness and trust. In A. Nadler, T. E. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup reconciliation (pp. 199–226). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hogg, A. (2007). Social psychology of leadership. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed., pp. 716–733). New York, NY: Guilford.
Höglund, K. (2008). Peace negotiations in the shadow of violence. Leiden, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
Kelman, H. C. (1999). Transforming the relationship between former enemies: A social-psychological analysis. In R. L. Rothstein (Ed.), After the peace: Resistance and reconciliation (pp. 193–206). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Kellerman, B. (Ed.). (1986). Political leadership: A source book. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Khalidi, R. (2006). The iron cage: The story of the Palestinian struggle for statehood. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Kimmerling, B. (2008). Clash of identities: Explorations in Israeli and Palestinian societies. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Kimmerling, B., & Migdal, S. (1994). Palestinians: The making of a people. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kriesberg, L., & Dayton, B. W. (2012). Constructive conflicts: From escalation to resolution (4th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Lederach, J. P. (1997). Building peace: Sustainable reconciliation in divided societies. Washington, DC: United Stated Institute of Peace Press.
Maoz, I., Ward, A., Katz, M., & Ross, L. (2002). Reactive devaluation of an Israeli and a Palestinian peace proposal. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 46, 515–546.
Marcus, C. (2006). Change and conflict: Motivation, resistance and commitment. In M. Deutsch, P. Coleman, & E. Marcus (Eds.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 436–454). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Porat, R., Halperin, E., & Bar-Tal, D. (2015). The effect of sociopsychological barriers on the processing of new information about peace opportunities. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59(1), 93–119.
Rosler, N. (2012). Political context, social challenges, and leadership: Rhetorical expressions of psycho-social roles of leaders in intractable conflict and its resolution process—the Israeli-Palestinian case. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (in Hebrew).
Rosler, N. (in press). Not as simple as that: How leaders faced the challenges of pursuing the peace process in Northern Ireland. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.
Rosler, N., Cohen-Chen, S., & Halperin, E. (in press). The distinctive effects of empathy and hope in intractable conflicts. Journal of Conflict Resolution.
Rouhana, N. (2011). Key issues in reconciliation: Challenging traditional assumptions on conflict resolution and power dynamics. In D. Bar-Tal (Ed.), Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: A social psychological perspective (pp. 291–314). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Said, W. (2000). The end of the peace process: Oslo and after. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
Segal, H. (1989). Klein. London: Karnac Books.
Sharvit, K. (2014). How conflict begets conflict: Activation of the ethos of conflict in times of distress in a society involved in an intractable conflict. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 252–261.
Shikaki, K. (1999). The internal consequences of unstable peace: Psychological and political responses of the Palestinians. In R. Rothstein (Ed.), After the peace: Resistance and reconciliation (pp. 29–65). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Snow, A., & Benford, D. (1988). Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization. In B. Klandermans, H. Kreisi, & S. Tarrow (Eds.), International social movement research: From structure to action (pp. 197–217). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Stedman, J. (2000). Spoiler problems in peace processes. In P. C. Stern & D. Druckman (Eds.), International conflict resolution after the Cold War (pp. 178–224). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Media and political conflict: News from the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zartman, I. (2000). Ripeness: The hurting stalemate and beyond. In P. Stern & D. Druckman (Eds.), International conflict resolution after the Cold War (pp. 225–250). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rosler, N. (2016). Containing the Duality: Leadership in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. In: Sharvit, K., Halperin, E. (eds) A Social Psychology Perspective on The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24841-7_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24841-7_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24839-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24841-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)