The Impact of Protracted Peace Processes on Identities in Conflict: the case of Israel and Palestine

This book, published by Palgrave Macmillan and written by CEIS20 collaborating researcher Joana Ricarte, addresses one of the most relevant and pressing issues in international peace and security today, the protracted and enduring nature of conflicts, where negotiation processes that are also constantly postponed or extended in time fail to achieve peace. O The book analyses how, over time, protracted peace processes affect the patterns of construction of otherness in protracted conflicts and how this relates to the perpetuation and deepening of violence. Using Israel and Palestine as case studies, the book maps the various representations of the success and failure of the protracted peace process, as well as its policies, narratives, norms and practices, in order to analyse their impact on the (re)construction of identities and their consequent contribution to the maintenance and/or transformation of cultural violence in this conflict.

On the one hand, from an interdisciplinary perspective based on international relations, history and social and political psychology, the book proposes an analytical framework for a better understanding of the specificities of the process of identity construction in protracted conflicts. Dehumanisation and reconciliation practices in ongoing conflicts are identified as the main elements influencing the construction of otherness and violence in this type of conflict. On the other hand, the book offers an empirical historical analysis of how the protracted peace process has affected the construction of identities and representations of the ‘other’ in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the end of the 19th century to the present day.

The book, published by Palgrave Macmillan, is available in open access. You can download the pdf version and purchase the printed versions here.