Oslo's Misreading of an Honor Shame Culture
In the last quarter of a century, a critical lack of analysis of the honor shame paradigm, with its zero sum tendencies, has plagued the Arab Israeli conflict. As a result of a confluence of intellectual trends (postmodernism/postcolonialism, anti Orientalism, peace anthropology, peace and conflict resolution studies) the role of honor shame motivations in key decisions made throughout this conflict (and others) has been systematically ignored. Indeed, the entire peace process was predicated on the rational, positive sum assumption that if offered the right deal, Palestinians would say yes to a win win solution. As a result of both conceptual and procedural biases, scholars and policymakers seeking peace ignored compelling evidence of zero sum honor concerns among Arab patriarchal elites in which one only wins when the other side demonstrably loses.
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs