SCGME Project Update

After nearly a year of working with the Palestinian Ministry of Justice, the Conflict Resolution Group (CRG) launched two court-annexed Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) pilot programs, one in the West Bank and one in Gaza. These programs will allow appropriate civil cases filed in the courts to be referred to mediation or arbitration. The programs will thus relieve the Palestinian court system of its large case backlog while offering Palestinians mechanisms for resolving their disputes in a faster, more efficient, and more empowering manner than litigation.

During the month of October, the CRG - with its team of Palestinian and American ADR experts - carried out the final preparations for launching the pilot programs. The Group conducted two workshops for mediators and arbitrators, preparing more than 45 women and men from the West Bank and Gaza to serve as neutrals in the new programs. The CRG also conducted two community outreach workshops, which garnered support for the ADR programs among community members in the West Bank and Gaza and answered questions that they had about how the programs will operate. Finally, the CRG team made a presentation to all of the Palestinian judges in order to get their support and encourage them to play an active role in the ADR programs.

During October, the CRG also trained and hired staff to administer these programs, established physical office spaces in Ramallah and Gaza City, and formally launched the court-annexed ADR centers. The centers started to receive case referrals from the courts, and call on their cadre of neutrals to resolve them, in December 1999. CRG has developed a comprehensive computerized case tracking and evaluation system that will be used to monitor, analyze, and evaluate the success and effectiveness of these pilot programs.

In November, the Civil Society Working Group covened a regional conference in Malta, in partnership with the Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies, to discuss ‘New Challenges Facing Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa.’ Twenty-five participants from NGOs and INGOs in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and the US met to present papers and discuss two key themes: (1) Sanctions: Human Rights Tool or Human Rights Violation?; and (2) Defending the Human Rights of the Other (focusing on four categories: women, refugees, religious and ethnic minorities, and extremists). Future activities will continue through sub-groups on refugees and sanctions.

A citizens’ handbook has been completed and published in the Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza project for use by Palestinian citizens and NGOs. It describes the rights presented in the Draft Law (1997), the Basic Law, the Palestinian Constitution (1987), and international covenants. Drawings by Palestinian artists were included to visually portray the rights being discussed. Workshops were recently held in Nablus, Gaza, and Hebron to introduce the handbook and educate communities in promoting rights and responsibilities.

The Media Working Group announced the first winners of the Common Ground Awards for Journalism in the Middle East at the Search for Common Ground Awards Ceremony held in Washington, DC in December. These yearly awards celebrate articles that promote common ground in the Middle East, particularly in the Arab-Israeli context. Three distinguished panels of judges selected the winning articles from the approximately 100 submissions.

Ethan Bronner of The New York Times was the recipient of the English-language award. The winners of the Arabic-language award were Hazem Saghiyeh and Saleh Bashir of Al-Hayat, and the Hebrew-language award winner was Dalia Karpel of Ha’aretz newspaper (see Update Feature for more details).

The Vision 2020 newspaper series was completed in December and preparations are underway to publish the articles as a book. Because of its popularity, the Media Working Group is now responding to requests from two other sources to follow this series with a selection of official voices from the peace process states and an essay contest by youth to be featured in youth supplements or youth publications.

The Security Working Group (SWG) continues to pursue funding for its sub-groups and to organize the agenda for meetings in the coming year. The Israel-Palestine Final Status sub-group brings together a small number of Israeli and Palestinian participants to formulate a road map towards final status negotiations, delving specifically into the steps required to reach agreement on border and population issues. The sub-group met in December 1999 and made some progress in these areas. The Gulf Security Group will continue to explore possibilities for rapprochement between Iran and the Arab states of the Gulf. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Group is examining areas of common ground between the respective positions of the participants while attempting to further clarify the factors underlying their areas of disagreement.

Meetings in 2000 will focus on possible confidence-building measures for the creation of regional arrangements to manage and work toward the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. Participants will also continue to focus attention on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the future of Iraq.