Teaching nursing in a situation of conflict: encounters between Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli nursing students

Purpose: This research examines the ways Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli nursing students, who study together in one group in an academic school of nursing situated in northern Israel, perceive each other and the relationships among them. Design: The study is based on semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students. The cohort consists of 46 students, 20 of whom participated in the study. Findings: The students perceive themselves as divided into two separate groups according to nationality. Cooperation between the groups related to their study duties is described as generally satisfying, but little expressive communication and scarce social relations occur across these two groups. Students provided their perceptions of 'the others' to explain this social distance. Implications: We discuss the challenges of the situation for nursing educators and some strategies for coping with these challenges.