Israeli and U.S. Community Mediation

Abstract

This study investigates the mediations of 100 Israeli (50 Sefaradim and 50 Ashkenasim) and 100 U.S. residents who were neither trained as mediators nor are official mediators, but who had mediated a recent dispute. We refer to these residents as mediators. It was predicted that Sefaradic Israelis would be more assertive mediators than their Ashkensi counterparts, relying more frequently on the techniques of putting the disputants together, calling for concessions, and advising the disputants on how to act in the dispute. As for the Israeli-U.S. differences, it was predicted that the Israeli mediators would be more assertive than the U.S. mediators, and would more often utilize the aforementioned techniques. The data - based on 200 personal interviews - support the hypotheses for international - Israeli-U.S. - differences but not those for the Seferadim and Ashkenasim.