Perceptions: The Key to Understanding the Alliance

Abstract

The Israeli—Maronite minority-alliance was created in response to early Zionist and Maronite perceptions of each other and their own place in the Middle East. These perceptions existed on two levels. The first was the image the Maronites and the Israelis had of themselves, their strengths, weaknesses and their role as a minority surrounded by Arabs. The second was how the Maronites and Israelis perceived each other. These two levels, however, were not self-contained. Rather, self-image influenced the decision to enter into a relationship with the other as much as it influenced the other’s decision to enter into an alliance. In other words, how the Maronites perceived themselves was central to Maronite decisions and how the Maronites portrayed themselves to Israel, based on their self-perception, was central to Israeli decision-making. The same applied for Israel’s self-perception.