Listening to the Language and the Voices of Terrorists
Noa Zanolli
What is terrorism telling us? What are terrorists saying with their horrific deeds? What grievance do these voices express—justified or not?   1 Comment

The Dirty, Risky Business of Negotiation: Ideology and the Risk of Appeasement
Robert Benjamin
Fighting has the edge over negotiation as the first inclination of most people when faced with conflict. Our human brain chemistry lubricates the preference for warfare and the use of force, while negotiation, by contrast, requires a willed, determined and conscious effort.   1 Comment

The Guerrilla vs. The Humanist Negotiator
Robert Benjamin
This provocative article discusses and contrasts a hard-edged approach to negotiation with the recalcitrant Iranian administration that is in stark contrast to the more prevalent view of negotiation as a humanistic and rational enterprise. This goes to the heart of how negotiation and mediation are practiced, not just on a geopolitical level, but in all dispute contexts.

Like it or Not, the United States and Iran are Partners: Seven Principles for Moving Forward Negotiations
Bill Lincoln, Robert Benjamin, Polly Davis and Seth Kane
There is a point to be made and not to be forgotten: Conflict adversaries such as the United States and Iran are indeed the partners which each other needs and seeks if they are to prevent, manage and resolve dysfunctional conflict. While the nuclear issue is seemingly the focal point of the conflict, in reality it is the overall US-Iranian relationship that must be addressed if stability and real security is to be achieved in the region.   5 Comments

Mediation Gaining Momentum in Israel
Keith Seat

Mediation in Israel has developed momentum over the last year, since the Justice Minister approved implementation of a mandatory court-annexed mediation program to begin in March 2008. The pilot program in the magistrate courts of three cities will require parties in civil cases above a certain size to participate in a mediation session prior to going to trial. The court is proceeding carefully with the mandatory program, and is seeking to learn from mediation programs in courts around the world, noting that there are substantial differences in approach between common law jurisdictions (such as the U.S. and U.K.) and civil law jurisdictions (such as Continental Europe).

The Jerusalem Post (December 5, 2007)

Conflict, Mourning And Aesthetics (What Happens When History Does Not Pass?)
Dorit Cypis
Aesthetics, the philosophy of questioning the integrity of form, offers brilliant tools for how to see, question, disassemble, reform, reframe, speculate and unknow. Aesthetics thrives on conceptual, formal, structural, perceptual and experiential conflict, needing to undo in order to see anew, displace in order to revise meaning, obscure in order to seduce, rupture in order to reveal the sublime....all this intentionally in the name of change. Aesthetics does not distinguish in value between chaos and order, form and formlessness, meaning and nonsense and as such can easily find its way around and between the disruptions, internal and external, psychological and political, of conflict.

Muslim Scholars Reaching Out - Can The Mediation Community Not Be Involved?
Leo Hura
In great conflicts opportunities for peace are often missed and considerable and unnecessary violence follows. A recent letter from Muslim Religious to Christian leaders and scholars may be a current opportunity needing our ‘services’.

Seeking Common Ground, Muslim Leaders Reach Out to Christians
Keith Seat

An open letter from 138 leading Muslims to worldwide Christian leaders calls for cooperation to create peace and understanding, by emphasizing the common foundation between Muslims and Christians (and Jews) based on key shared commandments of love of one God and love of neighbor. The 29-page letter dated October 13 seeks more than “polite ecumenical dialogue” between religious leaders, because the future and perhaps survival of the world is at stake, and concludes by urging peace and harmony, with mutual respect and goodwill. The Islamic unity shown in the letter is notable, with influential signatories from the Sunni, Shi’a, Salafi and Sufi traditions. While the letter appears to present opportunities for dialogue and interaction, no specific response or next steps are proposed.

Common Ground News Service; Open Letter from Muslim Religious Leaders (October 13, 2007)

Middle East Envoy and Chief Clinton Peace Advisor Gives 12-Steps for Effective Negotiations
Victoria Pynchon

The negotiator's equivalent of "don't make a federal case out of it" is "what do you think you're doing, brokering a negotiated peace in the Middle East?"

Well (thanks -- again! -- to Geoff Sharp) we bring you negotiation tips from a guy who has brokered Middle East peace treaties -- Dennis Ross (Diplomacy: Talking Sense)  former Middle East envoy and chief peace negotiator for both the Clinton and Bush senior administrations.

(Ross' new book:  Statecraft and How to Restore America's Standing in the World, right)

Here, Ross gives us a twelve step list for effective negotiations (please go to the article itself for the detail; it's well worth the read):

1. Know what you want, know what you can live with.
2. Know everything there is to know about the decision maker(s) on the other side. 
3. Build a relationship of trust with the key decision maker. 
4. Keep in mind the other side's need for an explanation.
5. To gain the hardest concessions, prove you understand what is important to the other side. 
6. Tough Love is also required. 
7. Employ the good-cop, bad-cop approach carefully. 
8. Understand the value and limitations of deadlines. 
9. Take only calculated risks. 
10. Never lie, never bluff 
11. Don't paper over differences. 
12. Summarize agreements at the end of every meeting.

ADR and the Talmud
Jay H Isenberg
The article is a description and celebration of the parallels between the ADR process and that of Talmudic study. Both are characterized by intense investigation and interpretation of the material while immersed in the duties of study and/or facilitation and evaluation. The author goes on to challenge the "grip of the Orthodoxy" as the gatekeepers to entry into these processes and advocates for a more inclusive and expansive approach to conflict prevention and resolution in the construction industry.   2 Comments

Mediation Consistent with Tenets of Koran, According to U.S. Judge

U.S. Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace stated recently in Pakistan that he believes use of mediation is consistent with the requirements of the Koran. Discussing difficulties facing judiciaries around the world, Judge Wallace emphasized mediation and its success in most of the 50-60 countries in which he has worked. Judge Wallace noted the potential for mediation in Pakistan and praised Pakistan’s Supreme Court Justice Jillani for his promotion of alternative dispute resolution.

Pakistan Link (August 14, 2006)

Should We Negotiate with Hamas? Interview with Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami
Robert Benjamin
The prevalent view about negotiation with Hamas is to take a tough stance. This is an interview with former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami who thinks otherwise. He thinks we can do business with Hamas and we can negotiate. Here are Mr. Ben-Ami's pertinent comments drawn from a debate between him and another expert on the Israeli-Palestinian history, Norman Finkelstein, sponsored by Democracy Now, and moderated by Amy Goodman on February 14, 2006.   1 Comment

Does Israel Need A National Program of Healing and Reconciliation?
Jonathan W. Reitman
The recent disengagement from Gaza was traumatic for Israeli society. It deepend divisions in a society already deeply polarized. It served to escalate the harshness of public discourse in a country already riven by derisive rhetoric. This article examines those divisions and proposes a National Program of Healing and Reconciliation for Israel, which just might have a dramatic impact on Palestinian society as well.   1 Comment

The Middle East: Separating The People From The Problem
Meg Anderson To deal with “people problems” generally, Fisher and Ury council acknowledging the emotions, allowing people to let off steam, and not reacting to emotional outbursts. But what happens when the emotions are so vitriolic that the outbursts are literally murderous? What happens when a pattern of violence is established that is so dire, and so long standing, that factions form on both sides who will kill their own leadership before they will permit any negotiation with their despised enemy to succeed? How is conflict transformation possible in this climate of perpetual animosity and outright warfare?   3 Comments

The Iraq War and Mediation?
John Willis
In the recent letter, a citizen has raised several important points regarding the war in Iraq. Noting that the U.S. essentially is fighting the war alone, without allies, this person suggested that “mediation is the only channel which will allow the U.S. to gain support with former allies and end this daily slaughter of human life.” Let’s follow the order of the elements mentioned in turn: mediation, support of former allies, and ending the war.   3 Comments

Mediating Evil, War, and Terrorism: The Politics of Conflict
Kenneth Cloke
We require improved understanding, not only of the conflict in politics, but the politics in conflict. As our world shrinks and our problems can no longer be solved except internationally, we need ways of revealing, even in seemingly ordinary, interpersonal conflicts, the larger issues that connect us across boundaries, and methods for resolving political conflicts that are sweeping, strategic, interest-based, and transformational. A clear, unambiguous reason for doing so occurred on September 11, 2001.

A Firsthand View of the Middle East: Lessons Of Mediation Provide Insight
Jeffrey I. Abrams
At the end of last year, I visited Kuwait, Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan as part of a 50-person U.S. delegation to the Middle East led by former Ambassador Dennis Ross. Over a period of 10 days, our delegation met with a king, three prime ministers, and a host of high-ranking government and military officials to discuss the major topics of the day, including Israeli-Palestinian relations. As we met with leaders such as King Abdullah of Jordan, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, and Prime Minister Abu Ala of the Palestinian Authority, I was struck by how much my experience as a professional mediator affected my perspective about the seemingly irresolvable dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.   3 Comments

Framing GABI as GRIT in the Middle East
Joshua N. Weiss
In the past few months much has transpired in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. Most of it has continued to be destructive, frustrating, and down right depressing for all involved. So, what does it all mean? Without being coy, it depends on where you sit and why you sit there...in short, it depends on framing.

One Key to Middle East Peace: How a Dispute Resolution System Could Handle Conflicts Arising from Dismantlement of Settlements in West Bank & Gaza
Jonathan W. Reitman
Every Middle East observer notes that a successful settlement relocation process is one of the keys to transforming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus it seems wise to anticipate how our Dispute Resolution system design principles might apply to these conflicts.   3 Comments

Bridging the Gap: Proposals and Precedents for Third Party Involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Tom Smith
This briefing paper will discuss past examples of dispute resolution mechanisms in the Middle East, demonstrating how accumulated experiences in the region already provide useful tools for the international community in helping resolve this conflict. Five different roles for a third party in situations of conflict will be examined and examples of their application in the region will be provided. The relevance of these roles for use in the present context will then be discussed, and the political obstacles to their implementation considered.   3 Comments

A Middle East Union: A Two-Stage Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Jeff Halper
Since the 1980s the Palestinian leadership, most Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, the Israeli peace movement and a growing majority of Israelis have advocated a two-state solution to their interminable conflict. There exists yet another option, far less elegant, much more difficult to present in a sound-byte. That is an evolutionary “two-stage” conception in which two states, Palestine and Israel, eventually join in a bi-national federation that in time will include Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and ultimately Egypt and other countries of the Middle East – a Middle East Union. A win-win approach, it rests on the balance between national sovereignty and the freedom to live and work regionally that underpins the European Union.   7 Comments

Reframing Solutions To Middle East Conflicts
Paul Wahrhaftig “Ho hum, here we go again,” I was thinking as I sat at a dining-room table with a group of Palestinians and Israelis discussing the prospects for peace in their respective homelands. The animated discussion centered on trying to persuade each other that a single state solution is better or more attainable than a two state solution, or visa versa. One participant began to poll the group on this question. “Would a Palestinian State along side of Israel be attainable or desirable? Would a single secular state encompassing both populations be better?”

Is Negotiation Still the Solution in the Middle East?
Manie Spoelstra
After the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a prominent Hamas leader, on March 22nd, (aged about 66) at the hand of the Israel military and the resultant further escalation of violence, one can rightfully pose the question: “Does negotiation still provide any solution in this crisis”?   9 Comments

Incrementaled to Death: Peacemaking in the Middle East
Joshua N. Weiss
This article challenges the recurrent approach to peacemaking in the Middle East conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. It suggests that the slow incremental approach, while designed to build trust between the parties, does not do that due to spoilers and has been tried and failed. This will happen again because neither population sees any progress on the core of the conflict. An alternative, more radical approach, employed in other conflicts is suggested to break this ineffective approach in this specific conflict.   6 Comments

Interview with Bill Lincoln
Ana Schofield
Bill is a source of inspiration for many and is undoubtedly one of the ‘unsung heroes’ of this profession. Bill, at 62, has spent much of his life dealing with the complexities of conflict. His courage to go into dangerous situations is found where peace and justice are absent. Bill places his words and actions where his heart lies and risks his life for his beliefs. While he may be afraid, he goes ‘on anyway’. How many people today are willing to face fear with the courage of a warrior armed with words instead of weapons?   4 Comments

Where Is The Wisdom?
Stewart Levine
A chilling wind is blowing. As I write it is sending shivers of fear through my body. These shivers make me profoundly aware of the terror our founding fathers had suffered, and why they held freedom of expression as bedrock for the democratic union they conceived.

Why Has Negotiation Gotten a Bad Name?
Joshua N. Weiss
You can't negotiate with terrorists! You can't negotiate with rogue states like Iraq and North Korea that would be rewarding their threatening and bad behavior! You wouldn't negotiate with Hitler would you look what happened to Chamberlain!   5 Comments

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences
US Senator Robert Byrd We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war. Senate Floor Speech delivered on Wednesday, February 12, 2003.   7 Comments

A Wish For The Future
John Paul Lederach
I have a wish for a gift given from our generation to our great grandchildren, from the adults of this decade to the children of the end of this Century: Let this be the decade remembered as the time when the beginning of the end of human warfare happened.   7 Comments

Conflict Transformation in an Age of Terrorism
Ronald S. Kraybill
America has invested lavishly and narrowly in hammers. As a consequence, the mightiest nation in history responds simplistically to a problem of vast complexity. Rather than examine the full extent of the evil mess created by decades of destructive interaction between ourselves and others, we choose responses that under-estimate the gravity of our situation. We satisfy our need to act, but our children will bear the cost, for the problems will grow far worse on the long-term.   5 Comments

West Marin women strip for peace

November 2002

By Ivan Gale

West Marin women bared their bodies on Tuesday in Point Reyes Station for a photo protesting America's plans for armed conflict with Iraq.

Participants using solely their bodies spelled out 'PEACE" as a light rain fell.

Portrait photographer and Light correspondent Art Rogers captured the moment from high atop a ladder using a homemade tripod standing about 15-feet above Love Field near the Green Bridge.

Participant Cynthia Clarkson of Point Reyes Station told The Light she hoped the photo will have a strong impact in America and abroad.

"I'm hoping it gets distributed so that the message gets across that women in America want peace," said Clarkson. "I want to do everything I can to stop the war that's impending."

Marshall resident Donna Sheehan, who organized the group called "Unreasonable Women" for the photo, said she's been pondering for four years a way women can "be heard on a very deep level."

Decades since last protest

Other participants said it had been decades, in many cases since the 1960s, since they've been in a protest.

Sheehan said the group first got the idea from a similar protest in Nigeria this past year. Sheehan said women fighting corporate exploitation stood nude in a vigil that lasted several days outside of Nigeria's parliament.

"[The Nigerian women] shamed the men and won their cause," she said.

As the women circled together and readied for their cause Sheehan lauded the group for showing their courage. "Would you be willing to stand [naked] in front of the White House?" Sheehan said amidst cheers from the participants.

Making peace

"America is destroying the world in its pursuit of resources," said Melinda Leithold. "It's thoughtless and feelingless."

As the women anxiously eyed gathering rainclouds, photographer Rogers moved them into position, posing each from his perch atop his ladder.

Afterward, organizer Sheehan said the day had proved to be a beautiful and powerful experience for all involved. "I think it's going to a make a mark in the political and art world," she said.

A Call to the Conflict Resolution Community
Bridget Moix
The need for voices which can articulate, with experience and professional knowledge, the dangers of spiraling cycles of violence, of an "us vs. them" approach to the world, of seeking security for oneself through war against another, has never been greater. More than anything, policymakers in the U.S. and internationally need to be convinced that effective alternatives for dealing with entrenched and spiraling conflict do exist, that face-saving ways out of the corners we find ourselves in can be found, that our own security is linked inextricably to the security of our global neighbors and even our so-called global enemies. The conflict resolution field has the experience, the knowledge, and the compassion that is critically needed in the current political debate. If only it will raise its voice.   8 Comments

The Wall and 'Supply Side Security'
Ronald S. Kraybill
It's time to move past "do-we-or-don't we shell Saddam" to the stuff burning holes in our hearts. Let's name what we're really after. Isn't it security, to know that when we say good-bye to our families in the morning we'll live to say hello again over the dinner table at night? To know that our kids get to have grandkids someday?   3 Comments

U.S. Mediator? – A Misnomer in the Middle East Conflict
Patrick Chapman
Patrick Chapman analyzes the recent U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East conflict and assesses why the U.S. government is not a Mediator in the conflict. Chapman also addresses the human issue in the Middle East conflict, encouraging both realists and idealists to be introspective and action oriented.

Mediation for Pakistan and India - Putin Likely to Serve
James Melamed
If one puts together a couple of news reports, it seems that mediation, perhaps with Russian President Putin as mediator, may come to play a prominent role in the resolution of the standoff between Pakistan and India.

The Loss of Civic Connectedness
W. Steve Lee
An increasing number of people are expressing concern over the loss of civic connectedness in America. Voting, volunteerism, and participation in professional and community associations, it seems, are in decline. Experts, such as noted scholar Robert D. Putnam, warn that our stock of social capital - the fabric of our connections with each other - has plummeted, bankrupting our lives and communities.   1 Comment

Occupation, Terrorism Devastate Two Peoples
Nir Pearlson
The Weeping will last for generations to come, and what are we to tell our offspring? I was born and raised in Israel, where I served in an elite unit in the Israeli Defense Forces. When my comrades and I were trained to be soldiers, we knew that our army was essential for protecting our homes and families. We also still believed that our army was guided by the principle of "tohar ha'neshek." It translates into English as "purity of arms," and refers to the moral understanding that any weapon must be used solely as a means of defense in preventing the destruction of oneself, one's family and one's nation.   1 Comment

Should We Negotiate With Terrorists – A Counterpoint
Darrell Puls
Washington Mediation Association President Cris Currie writes on the Mediate.com website that we should be willing to negotiate with all, including terrorists. I bring a different perspective to this discourse, and I differ with Mr. Currie.   7 Comments

Poll Shows Importance of Outreach Discussions with Muslim Nations
Mediate.com In a poll released by Mediate.com (www.mediate.com) on December 21, 2001, the public seems to recognize that the U.S. long term best interests are served by outreach discussions with Muslim nations.

Should We Negotiate with Terrorists?
Cris Currie
While it may seem that those of us in the field of conflict resolution have had little to say since September 11, 2001, professional negotiators have not been silent on the subject of terrorism. Roger Fisher addressed this very question in the second edition of Getting To Yes, and in January of 1992, the Negotiation Journal published a special issue called Reflections on the War in the Persian Gulf. The insights found in these publications are just as valid in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack as they were for the terrorism of the 1980s and early 90s.   9 Comments

Statement Against Employment Discrimination in the Aftermath of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks
EEOC, Department of Labor and the Department of Justice, U.S. We continue to receive reports of incidents of harassment, discrimination, and violence in the workplace against individuals who are, or are perceived to be, Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, or Sikh. As leaders within the principal federal agencies responsible for enforcing the laws against discrimination in employment, we are issuing this joint statement to reaffirm the federal government's commitment to the civil rights of all working people in our fight against terrorism.

Two Geopolitical Worldviews Compete for the Steering Wheel
Thomas Jordan
The discussions in the media about the terror attacks in the USA make painfully clear that the commentators and decision-makers react to the events in such different ways that meaningful communication is very difficult. However, the outcomes of these discussions are critically important to us all, because the reactions of the West to terrorism will have far-reaching consequences for the course of events in the global society in the coming years.   1 Comment

Quo Vadis? Reframing Terror from the Perspective of Conflict Resolution
John Paul Lederach
The events on September 11, 2001 that overtook our daily lives and reoriented our national and global priorities pose significant challenges for our newly emerging century. They leave us with the question -- Quo vadis -- where are we headed? Where we are going and how we get there depends a great deal on how we define the nature of our journey, its challenges, and ultimately its proposed destination. We might best understand our destination as a horizon, visible as a guidepost but never removing the need for continued journey.   2 Comments

How Should We Respond To Terrorism?
Michael McCabe
Some years ago I wrote a paper, entitled “I used to know all the answers. Now, I know some of the questions.” The question that introduces this reflection is one that I never expected to ask. But it must be asked if we are to learn anything from the events of September 11th.   1 Comment

Understanding the Incomprehensible: Identity, Security and Terrorism
Camilo Azcarate
The field that studies conflict as a social phenomenon is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, during the last 50 years the work of social scientist has greatly advanced our understanding of the problem. Today, we have a better understanding of the creation and development of such conflicts and we have developed social tools and methods necessary to analyze and address them. The purpose of this paper is to review some of them and to apply this knowledge to the events of September 11.

National Tragedy Brings out the Best in Litigators & Litigants
Deborah Rothman
The barbaric terrorist attacks of September 11 have brought out the courage, patriotism and selflessness in millions of Americans. It will be interesting to see what effect those tragic events will have on litigators and litigants. A few early returns are most promising.

Some Questions to Consider in Responding to Terrorism
Kenneth Cloke
"How easy it is to kill someone you don’t have to mourn because you never dared to imagine him alive." This is the essence of terrorism, but it is also the essence of war. Indeed, isn’t terrorism simply a form of warfare directed at civilians? Isn’t every war, regardless of its’ declared military aims, an assault on innocent civilians?

The Sources Of Conflict Are Found In The History Of The Relationship
Bob Delaney
The recent terrorist attack on the World Trade Center has forced me to evaluate the thinking that has gone on in regards to resolving the dispute. Of course the dispute in this case has taken on proportions that have been unknown in recent times. War is the ultimate result of poor dispute resolution.

Black and Red, White & Blue: What Choices Do We Have to the Attacks on America?
Paula Young
Forgive me if I join the call for a peaceful dialogue and justice through international criminal law. As a mediator and trial attorney, I have faith in the integrity and success of both processes. Forgive me if I chose to wear black in respect for the missing and dead, but chose not to wear a flag in support of a call to war. Forgive me if I ask for the courage to look for a skillful resolution that does not involve violence.   2 Comments

The Script For September 11-The Real Movie
Robert Benjamin
On that Tuesday morning, I woke up to NPR and heard the words, ....plane....World Trade Center....Pentagon....crash... terrorists..., and like most people, could not quite comprehend what was happening nor the catastrophic enormity of the event. It felt like I came in late to a movie— a bad movie.