The effect of Jewish–Palestinian mixed-model encounters on readiness for contact and policy support.

Abstract

Mixed-model encounters, focusing on both intergroup commonalities and status disparities, have become a popular intervention in efforts to improve relations between Jews and Palestinians within Israel. A quasi-experiment with Jewish and Palestinian encounter participants and nonparticipants as a control group (N ϭ 498) was conducted. Among Jews, the encounter enhanced readiness for contact by increasing empathy and hope and decreasing hatred. Elevated support for equal rights to Palestinian citizens was mediated by higher hope and lower perceived equality. Among Palestinians, more empathy and hope mediated the increase in readiness for contact, while lower perceived equality suppressed the increase in support for inclusion. Contrary to recent findings on positive contact, perceived equality decreased among both majority and minority members. The paper discusses important limitations of the present study as well as its practical implications.

Intergroup contact and social change: An integrated Contact‐Collective Action Model

“…Existing interventions that could achieve this are so-called mixedmodel encounters (Maoz, 2011;Zúñiga et al, 2002). These structured contact interventions build a climate of trust first, followed by an open discussion of privileges enjoyed by some and deprivations faced by others (Shani & Boehnke, 2017). Importantly, an open discussion of inequalities is essential to achieving social change because focusing solely on commonalities may decrease identification with the disadvantaged group (Dovidio et al, 2009;Ufkes et al, 2016) and draw attention away from group disparities (Dovidio et al, 2009;Saguy & Chernyak-Hai, 2012;Saguy et al, 2009;-Thiessen & Darweish, 2018).…”

Support for ‘normalization’ of relations between Palestinians and Israelis, and how it relates to contact and resistance in the West Bank

“…Previous studies have examined Palestinians' readiness for personal or social engagement in intergroup contact with Israelis. Most of these studies, however, focused on the Israeli society, examining the relationship between the disadvantaged indigenous Palestinian minority and the dominant Jewish majority (Diab & Mi'Ari, 2007;Hofman, 1972Hofman, , 1982Peres, 1971;Sagiv & Schwartz, 1995;Shani & Boehnke, 2017;Smooha, 1984;Yogev, Ben-Yehoshua, & Alper, 1991;Yuchtman-Yaar & Inbar, 1986). These studies have typically shown that members of the indigenous Palestinians in Israel are more willing to establish relations with the Israeli Jewish than vice versa.…”

Intergroup Contact and Social Change: An Integrated Contact-Collective Action Model

“…Existing interventions that could achieve this are so-called mixed-model encounters (Maoz, 2011;Zúñiga et al, 2002). These structured contact interventions build a climate of trust first, followed by an open discussion of privileges enjoyed by some and deprivations faced by others (Shani & Boehnke, 2017). Importantly, an open discussion of inequalities is essential to achieving social change because focusing solely on commonalities may decrease identification with the disadvantaged group (Dovidio et al, 2009;Ufkes et al, 2016) and draw attention away from group disparities (Dovidio et al, 2009;Saguy & Chernyak-Hai, 2012;Saguy et al, 2009;Thiessen & Darweish, 2018).…”