The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank

Abstract

More than 2000 written dream reports were collected from Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the West Bank. From this general dream sample 212 encounter dreams (dealing with the other side on the manifest level) were extracted. The content analysis of the dreams supports Calvin Hall's continuity hypothesis: judging from the prevalence of encounter dreams, their stereotypical characterization of the other, and the overabundance of aggression and violence in their interactions, it appears that the children under study have internalized the contents of the conflict as well as its affective tone. While the major axis of comparison is Jews vs Arabs, some group variations within each sector are noted as well. In an attempt to let the dreams speak for themselves the presentation is embedded with many illustrations from the data.