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| Amber
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11/25/05 |
| Land For Peace |
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A key component of successful mediations is the assurance that the parties will abide by any agreement reached. Where one party has repeatedly shown bad faith in fulfilling its part of its agreement, should the other one keep making more and more fruitless concessions in hopes that the breaching party will eventually honor its agreement? Where is the incentive for it to do so, when the concessions keep coming?
You state that it would be a "crying shame" if the party decided to insist on a show of enforcement before making yet more concessions, to the point of giving away enough to make the two parties equal. In litigation negotations, do you insist that as a starting point the insurance company give half of its wealth to the plaintiff, before they can begin discussing his claims fairly?
As for Fatima's concern with justice, as sad as it is to be deprived of your chosen home because you are not Jewish, it is even more sad to have your children targetted and deliberately killed because you are, wouldn't you say? If giving back every people whose ancestors ever lost a war or were otherwise relocated the land they are "entitled" was, as you say, simple and a matter of justice, our maps over every global mile not covered in ice caps would look very different. |
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| fatima
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03/23/05 |
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As a palestinian, the problem seems so simple to me. I was deprived from my home and heritage because I am not jewish, that is not fair. The solution is through justice, without playing games. |
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| Jonathan Reitman,
Brunswick ME |
jreitman@blazenetme.net
03/17/05 |
| Good questions |
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Having spent the past four summers in the Middle East teaching Negotiation, Mediation & Conflict Management to Israelis and Palestinians, I think you've put your arms around one of the thorniest problems: How to restore a balance of power.
You pose the central question succinctly: "...how far towards a true balance of power and a restoration of Palestinian rights is Israel really willing to go voluntarily?"
There are of course no easy answers. My sense, though, is that (perhaps ironically) it is ISRAEL that needs reassurance here. Israelis are skittish and distrustful of the "reality" of the willingness of Palestinians to forgo violence and return to a state of normalcy. And yet they desparately want that.
So the answer to your question, I think, is that Israel will go only as far toward relinquishing power (and thereby restoring some "balance of power") as it can go while providing safety for its people.
The NEXT, and even more difficult question is: what must happen in order for Israel to feel safe enough to give up power and control OVER Palestinians, thereby allowing it to tear down the physical and metaphorical "separation barriers" it has constructed.
Thought provoking article. Thanks. |
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