PROCEEDINGS | Scientific Symposium
The contradiction is clear between the representation of the Jewish settler and the local Palestinian : the first is strong and active , the second is passive and unproductive .
Fig . 2 - Reuven Rubin , First Fruits 1923 , Israel Museum Collection
Museums and art had a great influence in representing the collective image of Israel in the first years of its existence . Through these institutions , a reality has been described according to which the pioneers arrived in a rural , almost uninhabited land , where few Palestinians lived in small communities until they brought civilization from Europe ( Katriel 1994 ןוא-רב ; 2011 ). In this way , a collective memory of the first years of the state was built .
Although this memory is based on events that happened , it is arguably true that this represented reality as it was . The memory of the establishment of the country is different from its history , Pierre Nora ( 1998 ) distinguishes the terms Memory and History . He argues that Memory is a living thing , it changes through time and human perception , it always develops and is sensitive to manipulations . History , on the contrary , is always incomplete and describes reality but will always lack complete information . Collective Memory is shared , transmitted and built by a community . It is the remembrance of an experience lived by a community , not all participants must have lived it personally but somehow everyone will feel this memory as their own ( Nora 1998 ). Maurice Halbwachs ( 1987 ) defines Cultural Memory as a collective concept which directs behavior and experience in an interactive society , this is developed through generations and repeated through social practices ( Halbwachs 1987 ).
The Collective Memory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , as every memory is part of a narrative , which does not necessarily tell the truthful history of the past but intends to tell it in a way that will be functional for the goal of national unity . The Jewish-Israeli narrative describes the waves of immigration as the expression of a collective aspiration that wished to build a country that would be the home for the Jewish people in their ancient native land ( Scham 2012 ; Bar-Tal & Salomon 2006 ). The newcomers rightfully bought lands from the local Palestinians in which they built the first settlements where they intended to live peacefully alongside their Arab neighbors . The common Israeli narrative describes the Palestinians as those who started the violence against the Jews , an unjustified violence that led to the outbreak of the War of Independence ( Ibid ). This remains the dominant narrative in Israel today .
Existing in a state of conflict , the Israeli narrative is based on reasoning in a way that justifies the war and its outcome . On the other hand , Palestinians have their own national narrative which describes the Palestinian people as the victims of Israeli violence ( Schulze 2013 לאמ ’ ג ; 2014 ). The Nakba , which means the catastrophe , is the Collective Memory of the events of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948
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