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The End of the "Peace Process"?

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Tal Becker - For some time now, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have had more to do with diplomatic talking points than with genuine progress toward agreement. The talks in Jordan in January and February seem to have had more to do with each side trying to avoid blame for failure than with creating conditions for success. If it is not dead, then the "peace process" lives on largely as pseudo-diplomatic theater - a stage where the differences between the parties are acted out, not a framework for resolving them. There is a common and at least partly misleading conception that the contours of a deal are well known and what is lacking is the political will to sign on to it. In reality, the work that remains to translate broad notions into a blueprint for action is substantial, and ironing out the details of an agreement is not (as many assume) a mere technicality. In the past, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have tended toward "constructively" ambiguous formulations that spared their political patrons overly difficult or politically dangerous decisions. But this ambiguity has a destructive quality as well, in that it allows misunderstandings between the sides to be perpetuated and sows the seed for future conflict. An agreement that seeks to genuinely end the conflict needs to be clear and unambiguous. The writer, a former lead negotiator for the Israeli government, is an international associate of The Washington Institute.
2012-03-13 00:00:00
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