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Settling Ethno-Political Conflicts by Negotiations

(Ha'aretz) Steven Klein - The settling of ethno-political conflicts by negotiations, in which the core issue is self-determination, is anything but inevitable. According to a study by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, there have been nearly 370 episodes of armed ethnic conflict since 1946. More than 150 involved non-state actors seeking self-determination. A mere eight ended in a peace agreement that addressed the final status of the territory in question. There is a whole slew of cease-fires that have left conflicts frozen or that collapsed in the wake of renewed violence without ever progressing to the stage of resolving core issues, from Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea to South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Moldova. Given the lack of sufficient historical evidence that ethno-political rivals can resolve core issues at the negotiating table, particularly when neither side faces military catastrophe, there is no reason to conclude that a negotiated Palestinian state is inevitable.
2010-12-17 08:44:36
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