Impact of - Peace Treaty on Psychological Well - being . A Follow - up

The article reports the impact of Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty, children's perception of it/ the amount of traumatic experiences, and their personal resources on their self-esteem and neuroticism . The sample is a follow-up group of 64 i, Palestinian children of 11-12 years of age, living in theGaza Strip , The results showed that the level of neuroticism 'was significantly lower after the peace treaty than before . Participation in peace treaty festivities revealed a "healing" function in showing that exposure to traumatic experiences was related to a high level of neuroticism and low level of selfesteem only among children who refused to participatate in the festivities . Traumatic experiences, however , significantly predicted high neuroticism and low self-esteem still after the peace treaty and one-year follow-up. Yet, creativity and Intifada activity promoted children's well-being : the more creative the children were, the more their neurotic symptoms decreased due to the treaty and the higher self-esteem they had after the treaty . The more actively children participated in the Intifada, the more their self-esteem increased due to the treaty .