Editorial

Recommendations for Middle East Peace Building in the Current Environment: An NGO Perspective

Amid escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, actors both within and beyond these two societies remain committed to improving regional relations. While the language of hate, mistrust, and blame dominates, and the cycle of violent action and reaction continues, outside parties remain engaged in the search for ways to manage and move beyond the current conflict.

Many of these outside parties have been working to draw appropriate lessons from the past year's events, identifying the most important areas for action, and moving forward cautiously yet effectively. Through a series of discussions in Washington, representatives from a number of NGOs, governments, and foundations involved in peace-building work in the Middle East have developed the following list of priorities for their work in the region.

Maintaining Networks and Communication
The formal and informal networks of partners and relationships - which are among the main assets of peace-building work - have been put under enormous strain since last September because of increasing anger, frustration, and miscommunication, as well as restrictions on mobility and contact. Consequently, a great deal of time and effort has been spent facilitating communication between various Israeli, Palestinian, and other Arab partners to ensure that established relationships survive this difficult period. Maintaining these networks is essential during this time of crisis both for preserving a spirit of cooperation in the search for mutually acceptable solutions and avoiding further escalation.

In the current environment, outside NGOs with credibility on both sides of the conflict provide some of the only forums in which Israelis and Arabs can meet and maintain constructive dialogue. Sustaining this contact may further enable the people in the region to learn from past mistakes and to develop the structures and mechanisms that will favor a peaceful resolution to the conflict when the time is ripe.

Ensuring the Safety and Security of Peacemakers
Mounting pressure on both Israelis and Palestinians to avoid or cease joint activities with members of the other community has been a major constraint on the efforts of those individuals on both sides who are working toward a lasting peace. While many Israelis have lost credibility or influence in their community, Palestinians and other Arabs are continuing this work at great personal risk as governmental and civil society institutions throughout the Arab world have officially called for an end to any cooperation with Israelis. A major priority, therefore, is to ensure the physical and psychological well being of those who are promoting diplomatic and nonviolent solutions to the conflict by trying to minimize risks, respect their constraints, and provide them with ongoing support.

Public Opinion and the Media
A key element of peace building work is the ability to effectively convey a new vision for the future. In this time of coarsened public discourse, it is imperative to target public opinion in the Middle East and internationally to promote the vision and goals of peace building, and to more widely disseminate the diverse perspectives of both Israelis and Arabs. Many observers believe that one of the weaknesses of the Arab-Israeli peace process has been the failure of political leaders to prepare their populations for accepting compromise; instead, those leaders have mainly reinforced inflexibility on contentious issues.

The media, meanwhile, has often played a negative role by inciting people toward further violence, propagating dehumanizing stereotypes of the "enemy," circulating misinformation about events and their causes, and supporting misperceptions about the motives, intentions, and rationale of the other. These practices make it increasingly difficult for the parties to return to productive dialogue.

A top priority in the current situation, therefore, is to focus on activities that can influence public opinion through the media, contribute toward understanding the perspectives of people on the other side, promote rationality in public debate, and support peaceful efforts toward resolving the issues in the conflict.

Designing Mechanisms for Negotiation
Designing specific proposals and mechanisms - both for ending the current violence and resolving the most contentious issues - is another important priority for the coming months. While several proposals have been circulated for ending the violence, no political framework for resuming negotiations has yet been implemented by the two sides. It is therefore essential to support the development of concrete proposals that can provide the leaders with an opportunity to break the cycle of violence and return to the negotiating table.

Such a breakthrough is only part of the solution, however, since it would leave the most difficult issues unresolved. Although the negotiations at Camp David and Taba broke many taboos in terms of tackling some of the most divisive issues, the negotiators were not prepared to discuss concrete proposals. A top priority is therefore to support Track II efforts to bring the parties together at various levels to develop, explore, and debate various ideas for resolving contentious issues so that the next time the negotiators meet, they and their constituencies will be better prepared to reach an agreement.

Capacity Building and Dialogue
The current crisis has shown the necessity of helping to increase capacities on the economic, social, and civil levels among Palestinians as an integral part of the peace-building process. This element is essential in addressing the wide range of inequalities between the Israelis and Palestinians, the failure of many cooperative activities to fully incorporate Palestinian perspectives, and the weak participation of Palestinian civil society organizations in the peace-building process. The destruction suffered by the Palestinian economy and infrastructure during the past several months has intensified the inequalities between the two sides and will continue to hamper efforts at dialogue and cooperation. Building these capacities will remain essential to establishing lasting dialogue and viable forms of cooperation between the two sides.

Jewish-Arab Relations Inside Israel
The events of the past year have brought latent tensions to the fore within Israel and fueled the breakdown of relations between the country's Jewish and Palestinian citizens. In order to work toward coexistence based on mutual respect and equality under the law, it is essential to address the fundamental issues of Palestinian identity and equal access to resources for all citizens. Prior to the outbreak of violence in September 2000, relations inside the green line were given less priority than cross-green line relations by much of the international community, but now more organizations have joined those already committed to putting energy into such work and see it as a priority, both inside and outside Israel. In addition, since Palestinian Israelis express solidarity with their brethren inside the green line and see themselves as connected in terms of identity, they (Palestinian Israelis) believe that issues of identity and status are linked and should be addressed simultaneously.

Partnership and Flexibility
Many NGO activities have focused on building long-term processes for reconciliation, resolving the conflict, and strengthening various aspects of civil societies. However, the instability and escalation of hostilities since September 2000 have forced NGOs to respond to the new circumstances, and to seize opportunities for action.

While the goals of many NGOs, governments, and foundations remain unchanged, they have adapted their tactics to suit the difficult environment for peace building at present. This reality necessitates closer communication and partnership between donors and NGOs, as well as increased flexibility, so that they can work together to carefully examine what works and what doesn't in this challenging situation.

Bulletin of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East Summer 2001 Copyright 2004 Search for Common Groun