Intergroup relations involve encounters of social representation of various objects and events that either support and reinforce each other in mutually collaborative terms, or conflict and clash over divergent objectifications and aspirations. Recent decades have seen conflicts between groups drawing on Islamist ideologies to advance emancipatory aspirations and their opponents resisting the Islamification of politics and public life. Our studies on the root of this antipathy towards the Arab community in Malta is based in an Islamophobic essentialisation of Arabs that represents them as potentially dangerous due to their cultural exposure that contrasts with taciturn European ways. However, despite the widespread antipathy levelled at the Arab group, the Maltese nevertheless express a stronger preference for positive relations that promote integration than other non-inclusive arrangements. Paradoxically, the same is true for the Arab community, suggesting positive contact that ought to translate into a lessening of prejudice over time which we found not to be the case. Further inquiry revealed that a misunderstanding on the part of the Maltese with regard to the Arab community’s integration intentions, based in part in misrepresentations of Muslim culture. We conclude that studies of social representations may pave the way for conciliatory projects to take root.