The Impact of Siege Mentality of Israel: How it Shaped a Society, and the Nature of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Dr. Hani Ahkhorashida

Abstract
It is a rare day when one is able to flip through news channels or turn the page of a newspaper without seeing a story or comment on the conflict between Arabs and Israel. In a way, this ongoing conflict has shaped the world’s view of the Middle East and has become a symbol for the tension and strife in the region. Scholars, historians, and politicians have spent years analyzing each flare-up in the region, dissecting past negotiations in the hope of discovering where exactly we all went wrong in trying to resolve this impenetrable issue; or even better, a concrete reason for how it has evolved into such a daunting quandary with no solution in the foreseeable future. However, through all of this analysis and retrospection, one thing has become abundantly clear. The Israeli mindset of fear, suspicion, and mistrust coupled with the obsession with security has both shaped Israeli society and directly affected the courses of action taken in the conflict. This paper seeks to address the Israeli mindset of “paranoia” on two fronts: first, how it has affected Israel’s relationship to Arabs and second, how it has shaped Israeli society since 1948.

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