1. The Extensive Diversity in Israel:Ethnic, Cultural, and Religious Perspectives
Before living in Israel I was under the impression that, for the most part, Israel's current
tensions boiled down to the Israeli Jew versus the Palestinian Arab. This is the standard
description of the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" that the majority of people see and hear in the
media. It is an oversimplification that creates a vacuum of misinformation to the general
population, breeding ignorance to the true nature of conflict.
Within both sides we see major sub-groups that range in cultural, religious, and ethnic
demographics; These variations create a society of sub-groups who hold very different political
views that directly influence their perspective of the conflict; and dictates their idealistic
solutions, values, and tolerance to other sub-groups. These sub-groups can be split up to include:
Muslim Israeli Arabs, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (under Hamas influence), Palestinians in the
West Bank (under Palestinian Authority influence), Christian Palestinians, Christian Israeli
Arabs, Native Israelis, Immigrated Israel's, Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, Russian Jews,
Ethiopian Jews, Haredi Jews, Orthodox Jews, Traditional Jews, Secular Jews, Atheists, and those
who fit somewhere in between.
After understanding that there are a large number of sub-groups, their differences, and
how it influences their differing perspectives towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can
begin to understand why a peaceful solution has been so difficult. I left Israel realizing that
everyone believes they have the answer to the conflict, but if it was that easy, there would have
been on long ago.