IDENTITY FORMATION IN THE SHADOW OF CONFLICT - PROJECTIVE DRAWINGS BYPALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI ARAB CHILDREN FROM THE WEST-BANK AND GAZA

Social identity is thought to be the means through which individuals u nderstand themselves in their social context. Understanding the proces ses of identity formation in the context of intergroup conflict is par ticularly important, since social identity is critical to understandin g how people act. Social identity, though, has been a difficult proces s to study since it is a purely internal construct. In this study, we argue that free-form drawings provide the greatest insight into how pe ople see themselves in their social context. Data were gathered from A rab subjects in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Among the i mportant findings is that subjects exposed to the greatest conflict te nd to organize their identities in ways that include their enemy as we ll as themselves. This necessarily creates a situation where the confl ict becomes self-perpetuating.