Controversial Discussion on “Israel/Palestine: Roadblocks to Negotiation” by Paul Solomon

Abstract

This paper offers a controversial discussion between Paul Solomon and Sheri Oz on the former's article, titled “Israel/Palestine: Roadblocks to Negotiation”. The authors examine the political, social and psychological factors preventing peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and discuss how psychoanalytic and group analytic thinking can help us understand the persistence of the Israel-Palestine conflict and conceive new ways to resolve it. After a brief introduction by the editor of this Section, which places the discussion in context and outlines its main themes and the authors' standpoints, Oz acknowledges her own personal biases and focuses on what she describes as “data” and “facts” in criticising the references, foundations, assertions and proposals of Solomon's article. Solomon replies by emphasising Oz's rightwing political stance, and the way it influences how she frames, interprets and considers facts. The disagreement between Oz and Solomon reveals contradictions between the right-wing and the left-wing Israeli accounts of the Israel-Palestine conflict, between the focus on “facts” and the emphasis on frames, representations and narratives, and between pessimism and optimism regarding the role of society and the utility of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in achieving peace.