The Holocaust and Peacebuilding in Israel: Holocaust Survivors' Narratives of Empathy andEngagement in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Prominent academicians suggest that the collectivesense of trauma imparted by the Nazi Holocaustcontributes to the intractability of theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. This pilot studyconsiders the anomalous group of individuals directlytied to the trauma of the Holocaust who are workingfor a sustainable and just peace. Through extensiveinterviews, this inquiry provides an understandingand appreciation for the complexities of whatmotivates a number of Israeli Holocaust survivors andtheir descendants to work towards achieving peace,understanding, and social justice for Palestinianswithin their society. It joins other human-centeredapproaches in recognizing the critical importance ofgoing to the roots of a conflict to address theissues that sustain it. This thought provoking workwill be of particular interest to those in the fieldsof conflict resolution, the emerging field of peacepsychology, as well as those interested in theexperiences of European Jewry during the Holocaustand the social-psychological dynamics of theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict.