Also Hammack (2010) described how contemporary Palestinian youth engage with a tragic narrative of loss supported by the social structure of ongoing intractable conflict and Israeli military occupation. Furthermore, he related to the current ideological divisions within Palestinian society between secular and religious nationalism. Some studies have tried to link the exposure of Palestinian youth to political violence with levels of aggression. While an earlier study did not find such a link (Barber, 1999), a later study did (Qouta et al., 2008).
There are several studies on Palestinian adolescents and students. Although some of these studies referred to students in Israel and others to those in the Palestinian Authority, findings seem similar. Family life is highly important for the Palestinians. A study in the mid-nineties found that Palestinian adolescents have expectations for traditional family roles, similar to those of their parents) (Fronk et al., 1999). A couple of studies found that Palestinian students evaluated collectivistic values higher than did Jewish students (Sagie et al., 2005; Sagy et al., 2001). Palestinian Arab students were found to have strong identities, as concerning both their Arab and their Palestinian identity (Diab & Mi’ari, 2007). One study found that Palestinian students tend to distinguish between emotional and instrumental support and allocate sources of support accordingly; a tendency which is likely to have impact on friendships. Emotional support was sought within the social network and instrumental support was sought within the family (Ben-Ari, 2004).
