How Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights affects anti-Israeli attitudes of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon -

Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between Israel’s denial of Al-Nakba and its effect on Palestinian refugees’ attitudes towards Israelis and willingness to reconcile. Previous literature on reconciliation has shown that one of the conditions for reconciliation is that victims have to be empowered (Shnabel and Nadler, 2008). The literature also identified trust, identity, and values as important factors that can affect reconciliation (Nalder and Liviatan, 2006; Halloran, 2007; Ginges and Atran, 2008; Verkuyten and Maliepaard, 2013). Seventy Palestinian refugees from Beirut's refugee camps (Mar Elias, Shatila, and Burj El-Barajneh) read an alleged policy that the Israeli government is considering either denying Al-Nakba, offering financial compensation, offering a symbolic Right of Return, or offering a full Right of Return. After reading the policy, the participants were assessed on their attitudes towards Israelis and their willingness to reconcile with Israelis. An ANOVA showed Attitudes and willingness to reconcile with Israelis were lowest when Israel denied Al-Nakba and highest when Israel offered a full Right of Return. The results demonstrated that Palestinians could reconcile with Israelis if Israel’s policy changed