Hussein Agha, Shai
Feldman, Ahmad Khalidi, Zeev
Schiff.
Track II Diplomacy :
Lessons from the Middle East
(Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press, 2003, 225 pp.)
Agha, Feldman,
Khalidi, and Schiff have written a valuable book
on non-official meetings between Israelis and
Palestinians. The authors, three academics
of strategic studies and a senior journalist of
military affairs have participated in some of
these discussions and have interviewed others,
as well as government policy makers. Two
authors, Agha and Khalidi are Palestinians, both
at St. Antony's College at Oxford; two authors,
Feldman and Schiff are Israeli. This book
is an important contribution to the study of
Track II efforts and will be of help in planning
such efforts outside the Middle East as
well.
The authors define the scope of
their study: "Track II talks are discussions
held by non-officials of conflicting parties in
an attempt to clarify outstanding disputes and
to explore the options for resolving them in
setting or circumstances that are less sensitive
than those associated with official
negotiations. The non-officials involved
usually include scholars, senior journalists,
former government officials, and former military
officers. Government and other officials,
acting in an informal capacity, sometimes also
participate in such talks alongside the
non-officials involved…
"A number of
Track II venues have been hosted by third-party
governments. Most Track II talks, however,
have been hosted by non-official institutions
such as universities, research institutions, and
dedicated non-governmental organizations
(NGOs)…
" Track II talks can also be
defined by what they are not: neither academic
conferences nor secret diplomacy conducted by
government representatives…Track II talks are
convened specifically to foster informal
interaction among participants regarding the
political issues dividing their nations and to
find ways of reducing the conflict between
them…
" The purposes of Track II talks
vary, but they are all related to reducing
tensions or facilitating the resolution of a
conflict. At a minimum, Track II talks are
aimed at an exchange of views, perceptions, and
information between the parties to improve each
side's understanding of the other's positions
and policies. Such talks may also help
participants familiarize themselves with one
another, increasing their understanding of the
human dimensions of the struggle in which they
are engaged. By informing their respective
publics, elites, and governments of the
perceptions and insights they have gained,
participants may indirectly contribute to the
formation of new national political priorities
and policies."
The authors divide Track
II talks into two - 'soft' and 'hard'.
Soft talks are awareness building. They
often begin by personalizing the experiences of
conflict - an effort to explore personal
concepts and impressions - to see the face of
the enemy. In 'hard' Track II talks "use
is made of the informal standing of Track II
participants to initiate talks on sensitive
issues that cannot be dealt with in formal
settings or between parties that have not yet
recognized each other and hence cannot engage
one another in official negotiations. The
objective in these cases is to reach a political
agreement or understanding that will be
acceptable to the conflicting
parties."
Thus, as the authors point out
"While Track II talks need not necessarily be
linked to concurrent Track I negotiations,
participants in the former must have some
relations with officials in their countries'
decision-making circles for such talks to be
effective. The exercise would be pointless
if leaders and officials who can affect the
course of national policy were not made aware of
the information and impressions gained in these
talks."
Thus, the authors are concerned
with the 'feedback' from Track II talks.
In their analysis they look at three key
agents; 'sponsors', 'mentors', and national
'leaders'. The sponsors are the outside
academic institutions, government or NGO which
organizes the meetings. There can be a
combination of the three - an NGO is the
official sponsor but there may be government
funds to cover some of the expenses or to
provide security. Academic institutions
can provide research and expertise. As the
authors write "Parties in conflict who have been
divided by a long history of violence are
generally incapable of managing Track II
meetings on their own. Third-party
sponsorship is usually required to initiate and
sustain such talks. In the political
environment of the early 1990s, it was highly
unlikely that Israelis and Palestinians could
have engaged in sustained talks without the
umbrella of a third-party sponsor. It was
even less likely that Israelis and Syrians could
hold such meetings outside a framework created
by a 'neutral' sponsor."
Mentors are
political leaders of the parties in conflict but
not at the highest level who facilitate the
talks but who do not necessarily participate in
them. As the authors note "The Middle East
experience suggests that effective mentors may
need to meet three requirements beyond access to
the top leaders: a belief that Track II talks
may be a useful tool for conflict resolution;
sufficient time and energy to initiate,
navigate, and orchestrate such talks, or at
least to monitor these talks on a regular basis;
and a readiness to 'enlarge the envelope' by
encouraging Track II talks without necessarily
obtaining their leaders' prior approval for the
talks - or at least not initially, when the
results of the talks are far from
certain."
The major part of the book are
six case studies of Middle East Track II talks
held in the 1990s: "the Israeli-Palestinian
talks held in 1992-1993 in Norway, leading to
the Oslo accords; Palestinian-Israeli talks held
in the early 1990s under the auspices of
the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences
(AAAS); the Stockholm talks -
Palestinian-Israeli discussions convened in
1994-1995 by the government of Sweden in an
attempt to bridge the gap between the parties'
positions with respect to the main 'final
status' issues; the talks held in 1995-1996
between Israeli settlers in the West Bank and
representatives of the Palestinian Authority;
meetings held in 1992-1994 between Israelis and
Syrians, under the auspices of Search for Common
Ground; and arms control and regional
security-related talks - Arab-Israeli
discussions that were convened throughout the
1990s by numerous research centers and other
non-governmental organizations in an attempt to
explore the issues related to arms control and
regional security in the Middle East."
As
the authors conclude "The Middle East experience
between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s
suggests that Track II talks can offer
considerable scope for citizen or private
diplomacy. In most of the examples
reviewed, Track II venues were set up at the
initiative of private individuals acting outside
-if not without- their government's
consent. Track II talks thus appear to
arise and be effective when determined
participants see a real need. Much depends
on the calibre and dedication of these
initiators and on their relationships with their
leaderships. Citizen diplomacy cannot
flourish without a special relationship built on
mutual trust between participants, mentors, and
leaders…
"Israelis and Palestinians are
unlikely to exit the cycle of violence without
considerable further Track II efforts. For
if negotiations are to be renewed, a new
understanding must be created about the purpose
of such talks and their ultimate outcome, and it
is difficult to imagine how such an
understanding can be rebuilt except through
Track II channels given the prevailing
circumstances. Finally, it appears that
major new Track II efforts may be needed to
diminish the likelihood and impact of any future
miscommunication and misunderstanding between
the two sides. For while Track II talks
may not guarantee perfect understanding, the
absence of such talks is almost sure to pave the
way to further crises and breakdowns."
René
Wadlow is the editor of the online journal of
world politics www.transnational-perspectives.org
and the representative to the United Nations,
Geneva, of the Association of World
Citizens.
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