Narratives of collective memory in intractable conflict: The Israeli case

Abstract

Collective societal memory refers to the shared understanding and representation of past events within a society — their antecedents, processes, and consequences within a society. In the context of intractable conflict, in addition to the direct violence between opposing parties, there exists another highly contentious and aggressive rivalry: the struggle over competing collective memories. This battle is not only rhetorical but is usually deeply rooted in the narratives each side constructs about its past. Narratives of collective societal memory are inherently unreliable, but they serve psychological and social functions and thus facilitate coping with conflict. The present paper illustrates the use of the formal Israeli collective memory in the Israeli Palestinian conflict.