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

02/27/2008
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.

Was A Terror Suspect, Now A Mediator [Plus More News]
Jeff Thompson 03/30/2009
Pakistan is using ex-terror suspect Hyarbyar Marri as a mediator between the terror outfit which kidnapped UN official John Solecki and the government to get the American citizen released. Marri, recently acquitted of terrorism charges in the UK, was approached by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry to use his influence with the kidnappers, Dawn reports.

Obama's Negotiation with Iran
Joshua N. Weiss 02/23/2009
In this podcast Josh discusses US President Barack Obama's decision to negotiate with Iran.

Listening to the Language and the Voices of Terrorists
Noa Zanolli 09/01/2008
What is terrorism telling us? What are terrorists saying with their horrific deeds? What grievance do these voices express—justified or not?

Support dissent or the terrorists win: thoughts on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war
Diane J. Levin 03/24/2008
[Note to readers: Mediation Channel is not a political blog, so I don’t typically use it as a vehicle for expressing my political views. Sometimes though I must when an issue implicates the work I do or when it has affected me or my family directly, as it did when I wrote “When the political gets personal: what the Military Commissions Act of 2006 means to one mediator and her family“. Today marks another one of those times when I must speak up. That shouldn’t be...

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt
Joshua N. Weiss 01/08/2008
In this podcast Josh talks about the positives and negatives of denial in the context of negotiation — a realm where it can have a significant impact. MP3 File

Peace After Gaza
Nir Pearlson 01/21/2009
The historic, strategic, and cultural positions of Palestine and Israel make it impossible to achieve a Mid-East solution without committed and intensive outside involvement. The new American leadership under President Obama, who exemplifies the power of hope over fear, is positioned as no prior leadership to move Israel and Palestine into negotiating and achieving peace.

The Dirty, Risky Business of Negotiation: Ideology and the Risk of Appeasement
Robert Benjamin 06/10/2008
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.

The Guerrilla vs. The Humanist Negotiator
Robert Benjamin 03/09/2008
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.

Conflict, Mourning And Aesthetics (What Happens When History Does Not Pass?)
Dorit Cypis 01/21/2008
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.

Negotiators And Snipers: On Strategies For Managing Piracy On The High Seas---And Elsewhere
Robert Benjamin 05/13/2009
Few international incidents end with the successful finality and clarity as did the rescue of the Maerske ship Captain, Richard Phillips, from the clutches of Somali pirates in mid April. Three clean kill shots by U.S.Navy snipers settled the stand-off. Most people in the Western world felt relieved and good about the outcome. Maybe assassination was warranted. Clearly, piracy cannot be tolerated. However, the pursuit of both negotiation and assassination strategies at the same time is troublesome and may be costly in the longer term. If negotiation appears to be merely a pretext for snipers' to act, then will the trust essential for successful negotiations be lost in future negotiations?

Middle East Envoy and Chief Clinton Peace Advisor Gives 12-Steps for Effective Negotiations
Victoria Pynchon 09/23/2007
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: ...

Should We Negotiate with Hamas? Interview with Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami
Robert Benjamin 03/05/2006
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.

Muslim Scholars Reaching Out - Can The Mediation Community Not Be Involved?
Leo Hura 11/06/2007
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’.

ADR and the Talmud
Jay H Isenberg 04/30/2007
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.