The animosity between the hebrews and samaritans was earned. They hated each other and acted like it. They hurt each other.
There are two analogies many Americans gravitate to in an attempt to discuss this. One is the infamous Hatfields and McCoys: two family rivals that bedevil the mind like Shakespeare’s famous feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Another is the late unpleasantness in Ireland. All of it, full of violence, hatred, and righteous ideology.
Besides the obvious, what all of these examples reveal is a tendency toward time blindness. A sense that things have always been this way, that it goes back to the beginning, and will never not be.
Unless, of course, they compromise. Realize their mistakes.
Except that none of this is true. The people have the same great great grandfather. It’s his well. We are all family. Our demand to be right has little to do with making things right.