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"Religion as a Barrier to Compromise in the Israeli-
Palestinian Conflict"
- Yitzhak Reiter argues that religion
constitutes a barrier in the following conditions:
• When religion sanctions war and control over land and
territories considered holy, forbidding any negotiation
over these lands.
• When religion disseminates religious discourse to the
general public, including people who are not religious,
thus entrenching it in their identity and their own discourse.
• When religious movements have political power, constitute
a deciding factor, and take advantage of this to bolster
their ideas and their implementation.
• When religious movements attempt to thwart the process
by force (terrorist attacks and political assassinations).
• When religion is used to recruit "fighters" for the cause
from outside the disputed territory.
"The Time Factor as a Barrier to Resolution of the Israeli-
Palestinian Conflict"
- Dan Zakay and Dida Fleisig discuss
the concept and perception of time throughout negotiations
and the peace process. Time carries a different significance
for each of the parties, and the conceptualization of time
influences processes of deliberation and negotiation. Time
is a subjective concept, differing from person to person and
among various groups, particularly in cases of rival forces.
Concerned that dragging out the process may prove
detrimental to its interests, time may affect one party in a
certain way, while differently affecting a party that believes
that its opponent's attempt to rush the process is designed
to corner them into concessions. This party may then try to
utilize the urgency of their opponent to reach an agreement "at
any cost", thus extorting concessions and gaining additional
benefits for itself.
"Strategic Decisions Taken During the Israeli-Palestinian
Peace Process as Barriers to Resolving the Conflict"
–
Ephraim Lavie and Henry Fishman discuss the differing views
of the opposing parties regarding what strategic decisions
are required to secure peace. Israel maintains that the conflict
(and deliberations) should focus on the outcomes of 1967,
and while the Palestinians discuss this issue (and the division
of Jerusalem), their main focus is still on the refugee problem,
a point that brings negotiations back to the 1947-1949 War
(which flies in the face of Israeli consensus). This discrepancy
raises the question of whether the two parties are ready to
make strategic decisions, or are they still mired in tactical
considerations? The approach in Oslo was to begin with the
easier issues and progressively graduate to more divisive
matters, an approach that, while logical, still left both parties
far from strategic decrees.
"The Geopolitical Environment as a Barrier to Resolution
of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"
- Kobi Michael describes
how the regional and geopolitical environment hinders both
Israelis and Palestinians. The current political structure of
Israeli leadership must overcome the following factors: its
basic ideological stance, the positions of parties that comprise
its coalition, internal disputes and differing approaches among
the parties, as well as fears (real or imagined) and images
prevalent among the Israeli public (its constituency). Under
the leadership of the PA, the Palestinians must deal with: the
division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the general
ideological dispute with the Hamas, and specifically their
control of daily life in Gaza, and the dispute with the PLO in
Tunisia (Kaddoumi), often serving as the mouthpiece for the
Palestinian diaspora on the "right of return". Public opinion
in Gaza, although not an electoral factor such as that of
the Israeli constituency (at least in the sense of a Western
democracy), may have significant impact on decision making
and constitute a barrier, even producing violence – certainly
in a problematic economic climate or when trust in their
leadership is lacking.
"The Place of International Law in a Future Settlement of
the Conflict"
– Robbie Sabel examines the role of international
law in conflict settlements. Primarily, it is the Palestinians that
make use of international law to justify their arguments, most
particularly in their narrative as it pertains to specific issues:
refugees, Jewish settlements, and agreements regarding
Jerusalem. This reliance on international law may draw the
ICJ (International Court of Justice) into the conflict. This
situation may prove a barrier to progress in a peace process
managed through negotiations.
The more one reviews this list of barriers, the more it seems
there is no dichotomous distinction, with barriers often
overlapping. This is particularly true in issues of religion,
culture, narratives and symbols, as they are elements that
appear in combination in almost all types of barriers.
Dr. Kobi Michael points to three types/"clusters" of barriers.
7
• Strategic
• Psychological
• Organizational
Michael emphasizes that the first two barrier clusters, both
representing contrasts and clashes between the two parties,
have already been extensively researched. However, the
issue of organizational barriers has not been addressed
as comprehensively, and Michael believes this issue must
be investigated further, specifically the role of intelligence
organizations, chiefly the ISA (Israel Security Agency) as a
contributive and even deciding factor in the process. The
tools available to the ISA are based on the establishment
of (often intimate) contacts with Palestinian security forces,
which are even more important in non-democratic countries
(such as those of the Arab world) than in the Western world.
So, the question regarding the ISA remains – did it constitute
a hindering or contributive factor to peace?
7 From a talk conducted on April 3, 2001 in the Institute for National
Security Studies, Tel Aviv.
