Security Feelings among Jewish Settlers in The Occupied Territories

Abstract

The objective of the described study was to assess the effect of living in a communal settlement in Israel's occupied territories on residents' general feelings of insecurity and related variables. The sample was drawn from three settlements that are similar in size, urban-communal nature, year of establishment, and socioeconomic status, but different in geographic location, political ideology, and extent of exposure to the Palestinian uprising. The results indicate, contrary to the authors' hypothesis, that living in the settlement had little effect on insecurity feelings and most other dependent variables. On the other hand, variables related to the personal rather than the communal context had a significant effect on insecurity feelings. These variables included gender, ethnic origin, level of income, age, having a family member who lived through the Holocaust, level of hawkishness, military service, religiosity, and health problems. Findings are interpreted and considered in the context of the cognitive-relational appraisal theory.