Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Dissertations Department of Communication 5-3-2007 Re-Mediating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Use of Films ot Facilitate Dialogue Elana Shefrin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Shefrin, Elana, "Re-Mediating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Use of Films to Facilitate Dialogue." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_diss/14 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RE-MEDIATING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: THE USE OF FILMS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE by ELANA SHEFRIN Under the Direction of M. Lane Bruner ABSTRACT With the objective of outlining a decision-making process for the selection, evaluation, and application of films for invigorating Palestinian-Israeli dialogue encounters, this project researches, collates, and weaves together the historico-political narratives of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, the artistic worldviews of the Israeli and Palestinian national cinemas, and the procedural designs of successful Track II dialogue interventions. Using a tailored version of Lucien Goldman’s method of homologic textual analysis, three Palestinian and three Israeli popular film texts are analyzed along the dimensions of Historico-Political Contextuality, Socio- Cultural Intertextuality, and Ethno-National Textuality. Then, applying the six “best practices” criteria gleaned from thriving dialogue programs, coupled with the six “cautionary tales” criteria gleaned from flawed dialogue models, three bi-national peacebuilding film texts are homologically analyzed and contrasted with the six popular film texts. This exercise is designed to implement a method for identifying “which, why, how, and when” filmic communication is best paired with dialogic communication to buttress the effects of Israeli-Palestinian Track II peacebuilding mediations. It is proposed that a synergized approach of film plus dialogue will contribute to the re-mediation of ethnonational imaginaries and the re-imagining of the violent parameters of the conflict. INDEX WORDS: Palestinian Cinema, Israeli Cinema, Film, Dialogue, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, National Identity RE-MEDIATING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: THE USE OF FILMS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE by ELANA SHEFRIN A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University March 19, 2007 Copyright by Elana Shefrin 2007 RE-MEDIATING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: THE USE OF FILMS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE by ELANA SHEFRIN Major Professor: M. Lane Bruner Committee: David Cheshier Ted Friedman Gayle Nelson Leonard Teel Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2007 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION INCREASING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CURRENT PEACEBUILDING INTERVENTIONS: USING FILMS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE……………………………… 1 CHAPTER 1 COMPETING NARRATIVES: THE HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN ETHNONATIONAL IDENTITIES………………………….. 17 The Emergence of Israeli and Palestinian Ethnonationalisms: Mythic Homeland as Antidote to Victimization and Exile…… 18 Jewish Immigration and Settlement of Palestine, 1880-1948… 22 Arab-Jewish Wars, 1948-1980………………………………... 29 Military Occupation/First Intifada, 1980-1993……………….. 34 Oslo Peace, 1993-2000………………………………………… 39 Second Intifada/Gaza Disengagement, 2000-2007…………….. 45 Past Histories, Present Memories, and Future Reconciliation….. 54 2 PERPETUATING THE CONFLICT: THE PROMOTION OF ETHNONATIONAL IMAGINARIES IN THE ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN CINEMAS…………………………………….. 61 A Brief History of the Israeli and Palestinian Cinemas: Textual Struggles and Oppositional Worldviews……………….. 62 v Goldmann’s Homologic Analysis: Theory and Method…………... 84 3 TEXTUALIZING THE CONFLICT: A HOMOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF THREE PALESTINIAN AND THREE ISRAELI FILMS…………………………………………………… 94 Rami Na’aman’s The Flying Camel (1994) and Michel Khleifi’s Tale of Two Jewels (1994)…………………………………………. 96 Joseph Cedar’s Time of Favor (2000) and Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention (2002)…………………………………………. 115 Eitan Gorlin’s The Holy Land (2003) and Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now (2005)…………………………………………….…. 133 Cinematic Narratives and the Construction of Ethnonationalist Barriers to Peacebuilding…………………………………………… 153 4 TRANSFORMING THE CONFLICT: DIALOGIC INTERVENTIONS AS PEACEBUILDING MEDIATIONS………. 158 Dialogue Interventions: Three Secular Models……………………… 160 Dialogue Interventions: Three Religious Models……………………. 175 5 PROCEDURAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSTACLES TO DIALOGIC COMMUNICATION: CONFRONTING ISSUES OF POWER, IDENTITY AND DISCOURSE…………………….... 193 Power Asymmetry and the Politics of Conflict: Acknowledging Procedural Obstacles to Dialogue……………………………………. 194 vi Collective Memories, Ethnonational Identities, and Cultural Discourse: Confronting Psychological Obstacles to Dialogue…….….. 203 6 RE-MEDIATING THE CONFLICT: PEACEBUILDING INTERVENTIONS AND FILM TEXTS……………………………… 223 Selection of the Three Peacebuilding Film Texts…….……………….. 224 Evaluation of the Three Peacebuilding Texts………………………..… 228 Micha X. Peled’s and George Khleifi’s You, Me, Jerusalem (1995)………………………………………………………. 228 Anat Even’s Compromise: A Love Story of Arabs and Jews (1995, 2000)……………………………………………………… 238 Jamal Dajani’s and David Michaelis’s Occupied Minds: A Palestinian-Israeli Journey Beyond Hope and Despair (2005)……… 245 Application of the Three Peacebuilding Texts…………………………. 257 Using Popular and Foreign Films for Promoting Dialogue About the Conflict………………………………………………………. 264 CONCLUSION FILMS PLUS DIALOGUE AS TOOLS FOR RE-IMAGINING THE CONFLICT………………………………………………………… 274 Chapter Summaries and General Guidelines…………………………….. 278 A Call for Dialogically Inspired Peacebuilding Films…………………… 287 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………….…… 292 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………….…. 328 1 INTRODUCTION INCREASING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CURRENT PEACEBUILDING INTERVENTIONS: USING FILMS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE In advocating the use of film to facilitate dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, this work focuses on the potentially synergistic relationship between two types of complex human communication -- filmic and dialogic -- that are currently being employed by peacebuilding practitioners within the field of international conflict resolution. Over the past few decades, various third-party mediators have invented successful methodologies for establishing dialogue between parties in conflict; other professional interveners have achieved positive results by creating programs for using arts, culture, and media as peacebuilding tools for reconciling former enemies. However, with very few exceptions, peacebuilding practitioners are currently overlooking the potential benefits of pairing filmic with dialogic communication. By exploring the potential impact of such a synergized approach to communicative interventions within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, new avenues may be opened for re-mediating the intransigent qualities of ethnonationalist disputes around the world. Due to their communicative qualities, film and dialogue have both been recognized as sources of social, psychological, and historical information about the inhabitants of their originating cultures. Formatively, they are each birthed by social individuals, and in this sense are nurtured by collective environmental factors. They are then constituted through discourse and instantiated by nonverbal patterns into verbal texts. The goal of this verbal-nonverbal production is to communicate with individuals or groups of receivers. Film and dialogue are 2 thus intrinsically related through their theoretical commonalities, and are also extrinsically related through their practical applications. This multi-tiered relationship imbues them with an inherent compatibility in representing and evaluating the cultural identities and political ideologies that have constructed and perpetuated ethnonational conflicts worldwide. Despite their commonalities, film and dialogue have obvious differences in their modes of production and reception. Filmic communication is co-created by filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, and crew during a particular period of production. It is then transmitted over an indeterminate period of time to various audiences in disparate locales. Its message is effectuated through a complex combination of verbal and nonverbal cues, including technological manipulations, visual imagery, movement, sound, music, characterizations, scripted or impromptu language, and intended/unintended meaning. Dialogic communication, on the other hand, is co-created by persons who are generally in the same place at the same time, and its period of production roughly coincides with its period of transmission. Its message is effectuated through a substantially smaller repertoire of verbal and nonverbal cues, including voice-tone, body language, facial expressions, dress codes, vocabulary, accent, social status, and intended/unintended meaning. Unlike the filmic message, the dialogic message