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Positive contact dominates Jewish–Palestinian interactions in mixed Israeli neighborhoods

  • Stephanie Dornschneider-Elkink*
  • , Oliver Christ
  • , Sarina J. Schäfer
  • , Anja Katrin Munder
  • , Samer Halabi
  • , Ifat Maoz
  • , Danit Sobol-Sarag
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Partition theory holds that ethnic mixing is associated with violence and therefore promotes separation. This article assesses the empirical validity of this logic through a survey in mixed neighborhoods in Israel. The findings largely contrast with partition theory, suggesting that Jewish and Palestinian Israelis interact frequently and positively with each other, and that these interactions are associated with support for contested conflict resolution proposals. Consistent with the psychology literature on inter-group contact, the identified correlations show that even in conflict environments marked by physical separation and violence, ethnic mixing may be related to peaceful interactions and support for conflict resolution.

Original languageEnglish
JournalConflict Management and Peace Science
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

  • Israel
  • Palestinian
  • conflict
  • intergroup contact
  • partition theory
  • security

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