Moore and Guy discuss the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which involves three main groups; Jewish–Israelis, who are the majority residents in Israel; Arab citizens of Israel; and the Palestinians, who are primarily refugees living in territories under the Palestinian Authority. History of this conflict is delineated along with detailed examination of various attitudes and values held by the different group members.
The origin of conflict is traced to the end of colonialism and creation of a home for Jewish people after World War I, which resulted in large-scale immigration of Jews into Palestine. Resulting rebellion by Palestinians eventually led to war for Israeli independence, from which the state of Israel was born. Historical review details the many years of conflict, including continued attempts at negotiations, involvement of the UN and other nations, influences of political leaders, and actions taken by both sides. Moore and Guy present the five core issues that both sides agree need to be resolved in order to reach peace.
The authors define the members of various collectivities and emphasize different perceptions of the conflict, associated causes, and potential solutions. Giddens’ Theory of Structuration is utilized to explain how individuals within the sociohistorical context have affected the social systems in favor of the majority group. Social identity theory is applied to explain conflict behaviors as they relate to group identification. The authors further combine these two theories and present detailed descriptions of salient identities for each group under discussion. A recent study is presented which provides evidence of changing hierarchical structure of these identities and associated effects on attitudes toward conflict ­resolution. Moore and Guy present suggestions to promote peace through long-term use of the educational system as a means to change identifications from those associated with the conflict.