### abstract ###
this is a first study on attachment to national and sacred land and land as a protected value
a measure of attachment to the land of israel is developed and administered to two groups  jewish college students in israel and the united states
levels of land attachment are high and not significantly different in the two groups  with a great deal of variation
land may become more important through being inhabited by a group over centuries
this is a positive contagion effect  and is opposed in some cases by negative contagion produced when the  enemies  live on the land for some period of time
we demonstrate a significant correlation of positive contagion sensitivity with attachment to the land of israel
unlike many other cases of the interaction of positive and negative contagion  negative contagion does not overwhelm positive contagion in the domain of land attachment
we also present evidence for linkages between political positions  religiosity  importance of israel  arab aversion  and vulnerability of israel with attachment to land  but these do not fully account for the contagion effects
a number of significant differences between israelis and americans are described
### introduction ###
people often care deeply about their personal land  for example  the land which their family has owned and lived on for decades to centuries
this may be linked through evolution to territorial defense
but people also seem to care about land that is relevant to their group  rather than their own person or family
this land  attachment  may be considered in two distinct ways  an attachment to  place   that is  specific locations of particular historical significance  and attachment to  space   a more abstract type of attachment to a larger parcel of land that has some sociopolitical significance  such as the land defined by the borders of a country  CITATION
the  place  attachment  sacred land  probably has a history of thousands of years  whereas the attachment to land as  space  is much more recent
national land is the newest aspect of land  since nations and states are relatively new inventions in human history  CITATION
as nations and states developed  borders came to define territories  and were defended and expanded
the personal land attachment  system  may have been extended to sacred land  and later to national land  by a process of cultural preadaptation  CITATION
land is often thought of as untradable  which would not be the case if it was just a source of resources
the french word terroir captures a broader perspective  and refers to the land including its human capital and cultural history
none of these strong attachments has been systematically studied by psychologists
land plays a central role in many current political and ethnopolitical conflicts  including northern ireland  iraq  taiwan  palestine israel and sri lanka
states very rarely give up land voluntarily  even if that land is inhabited by people who are despised by  and despise  the host country
this fact is emphasized by lustick  CITATION   as he explores three of the very few cases in which a country  voluntarily  gave up land in the  NUMBER  century
the concept of protected values  CITATION  is relevant to land attachment
protected values are those  unfungible  values or entities which people resist trading for anything
it is morally offensive for at least some people to even consider exchanging one's children  one's religion  and one's land  such potential exchanges have also been described as  taboo tradeoffs  involving sacred values  CITATION
land may also be considered part of the person's or nation's extended self  and hence have a particularly close relation to the person or nation  CITATION
finally  land is perhaps the most important manifestation of the symbolic value of property in reinforcing group identity  CITATION
in this exploratory study  we develop a measure of attachment to national land space and sacred land place  in the context of the attachment to the land of israel by israeli and american jews
as we developed this measure  we came to realize that the space place distinction  may be difficult to instantiate and differentiate
although we believe it is worth attention as one analyzes relationships to land  in the present study we have employed a single composite measurement of attachment to the land of israel
the focus of this paper  in addition to measuring degree of attachment to land and individual and cultural differences in this variable  is to explore one interesting potential determinant of land attachment  and that is contagion beliefs
contagion beliefs are based on the sympathetic magical law of contagion   once in contact  always in contact   CITATION
when two objects are in physical contact  they pass  essences  between them  such that basic properties of each are embedded in the other
this process  originally believed to be present only in the minds of people in traditional cultures  is now recognized as a universal part of adult thinking  CITATION
contagion effects are typically permanent  and can be accomplished with minimal physical contact
the transfer of  essence  that psychologically characterizes contagion effects can be mentally represented in at least two ways  CITATION
in one conception  the essence is material  and can be eliminated by physical processes
in the other  the essence is spiritual  and is resistant to erasure by physical processes
negative contagion is much more common and more potent than positive contagion  CITATION
many people do not show positive contagion  whereas everyone shows negative contagion
furthermore  for individuals who experience both  a combination of the two e g   a food touched by a cockroach and one's favorite personal memento  or a sweater worn by adolph hitler and mother teresa almost invariably results in a strong negative outcome
when a group has lived and died on a particular area of land for years  decades  or centuries  one can imagine that their essence is passed into the land
this could form the base for a land attachment based on positive contagion
on the other hand  if  one's land  was occupied by the  enemy  for some period of time or if it was conquered from the  enemy   there could be a strong negative contagion effect
it appears that land may be one of the rare cases where positive contagion may trump negative contagion  at least there are many examples in the world of groups very attached to land that they think was once theirs  but which has been occupied by the  enemy  for centuries
in this study  we explore the relation between attachment to the land of israel and measures contagion
we also consider some other aspects of land attachment  including its relationship to political views about israel  religiosity  the personal importance of israel  aversion to arabs  views on the vulnerability of israel  and attachment to personal land
we examine attachment to the  land of israel  for jewish college students in both israel and the united states
there have been important studies on the land disputes in israel-palestine  particularly from the perspective of history and political science  CITATION   intergroup attitudes  CITATION  and acceptable and unacceptable tradeoffs  CITATION
land is central to this particular conflict  with both sides considering the land to be  theirs
  in many cases  the contested land is predominantly populated by members of the opposing group
issues of claim over sacred land - that is  sites with biblical or historical significance such as the temple mount - come into conflict as well
personal land attachment is also relevant to and confounded with national land attachment in israel-palestine
it is customary for palestinians who were displaced to wear the key from their former homes in order to remember their specific villages and the land on which they lived  CITATION
there is evidence that for many arabs and jews  national land or particular sites in israel constitute sacred  and hence protected values  CITATION
although american jews do not live in israel  as part of the jewish diaspora  they often have strong feelings about the land of israel
as a major force in the support of israel functioning like many other diaspora  understanding the degree and nature of this type of land attachment is of relevance to understanding ethnopolitical conflict
