Hope in times of threat: The case of israeli and palestinian youth

This study was developed by a group of Israeli and Palestinian researchers for the purpose of examining levels and contents of hope among young people in the conflicted region of the Middle East. Hope was defined as the interaction between wishes and positive future expectations. The differentiation between personal and collective hopes, as well as stability and/or change of levels of hope in the context of a changing reality, were examined. Data were collected at two points of time: during the period of the Oslo Accords talks (1999 -2000) and in the time of events of the Al-Aksa Intifada (2002). The representative samples in the first stage were comprised of 1,183 Palestinian high-school students from the Palestinian National Territories, and 1,188 Israeli Jewish students. The adolescents' hopes, wishes and expectations for the future are compared and discussed from individual, social, and cultural perspectives.