Between the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the East–West Pakistan struggle: a challenge to the conventional wisdom

Abstract

How to create a peacemaking change in the Israeli–Palestinian struggle? The consensus solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is a ‘two-state solution’, which means separation between two major identity groups. This paper points to the necessity to shift the emphasis in the peacemaking discussion. Instead of manufacturing solutions in a peacemaking laboratory, it would be better to focus on finding the social conditions that have the potential to create an effective peacemaking process. This paper suggests establishing a major Israeli–Palestinian public negotiating congress that has the potential to create a peacemaking revolution. The vision is based on the multi-party talks that had been conducted in Apartheid South Africa and Northern Ireland during the ‘troubles’ and the Minds of Peace Experiment – a small-scale Israeli–Palestinian public negotiating congress – that has been conducted in various locations around the world.