Sense of national coherence and willingness to reconcile: the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Anat Sarid, Anan Srour, and Shifra Sagy’s paper Sense of National Coherence and Willingness to Reconcile: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict examines a new concept – sense of national coherence (SONC) – and its relationship with willingness to reconcile. Based on Antonovsky’s concept of sense of coherence, SONC is defined as an enduring tendency to perceive one’s national group as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Previous studies found SONC and other similar concepts to be a barrier to openness to the other. The authors hypothesized that after a violent and stressful event (the Gaza war in 2014), SONC would be stronger, and willingness to reconcile would be lower than before the war. Moreover, they expected that the relationship between SONC and willingness to reconcile would be negative and even stronger after the war. The research questions were examined among Israeli-Jewish students. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 140 students before the military action and 90 students after it. The results support research hypotheses regarding the negative relationship between SONC and willingness to reconcile. This relationship was found to be stronger after the military action. The discussion focuses on the dual role of SONC as a resilience resource in hard times on one hand and at the same time as a potential barrier to a peace process in areas at war or in serious conflict.