SEEDS of PEACE: Really?

One of the aims of this blog is to engage with the readership. We are fortunate enough (?) to live at a ‘transition point’ in the history of our planet. We are NOT biologically equipped by evolution to deal with the complexity of the issues which confront us. Indeed the opposite is true so we will need to depend on ‘culture’ to get us through. (By culture I refer to the accumulated wisdom, experience, technology and knowledge of our species. In an ironic sense our culture has brought us to this point, and this blog in its small way is part of that culture and the solution.)

In particular, when writing about a specific situation it is always good to hear from and engage with someone DIRECTLY involved. We are especially fortunate on this occasion to receive substantial input from a highly intelligent and thoughtful Israeli. And, above all, from someone who brings to the issues a personal integrity and acute sensitivity to the plight of those caught up in an intractable and painful conflict.

It also helps that she is a much beloved family member so I have kept some of the personal touches and lightly edited it to ensure anonymity and clarity. It is a longish read so put time aside or  deal with it in instalments.

I follow up this exchange with a COMMENTARY which I hope places the discussion in a broader context. Your comments are an integral part of this engagement and I look forward to hearing from you

From: T; Sent: Friday, September 15, 2017 2:33 PM To: Mike Berger

Subject: Impressions from JJ’s camp

Hi Mike and S

I’ve been very bad and have not yet responded to your probe a while ago, apropos your thoughts about a visit here. I will discuss it with Michael and get back to you on that.

In the meantime, I’m forwarding you a email I wrote to an American friend.

It’s about a month long summer camp J J (aged 15) was chosen to participate in, with an organisation called Seeds of Peace. It’s a long story, which we can elaborate on when we next meet. The camp is a meeting of around 180 15-year olds from both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict, all hand picked and brought together in Maine, USA, to advance peace.

I thought you might find it interesting.

Xxxxxx

———- Forwarded message ———-

from T to Mike

 J J has now been back for over a week and has almost finished telling us all about it, which he’s doing in installments. Because we couldn’t really talk during the camp, he wrote a diary for us every night where basically he “told” us everything he went through. So that now, he can go through it and elaborate on stuff in detail, rather than just giving us his general impressions.

He came back on a high, having had the time of his life. He made good friends with lots of kids, some from Israel (Jewish, Druze, Arab) and some from “Palestine”, Gaza, Jordan etc. The camp has been going for 25 years and they know their stuff. It’s well oiled. The timetable is full and varied, there’s discipline and order so the kids all know the boundaries and stick to them and the lakeside camp site is great. The older Seeds that come as peer support or counselors are very warm and welcoming and it all seems to run like a Swiss clock.

JJ had 3 groups, all mixed (about a third Israeli and the rest not): his bunk group, his table group (all meals) and his dialogue group with whom he had daily 2 hour sessions, daily team building and trust building activities. So he got to meet and befriend lots of kids. Lots of the activities were sports, including lots of water sports which was so exciting for him. He’s very sporty so it suited him fine. And teambuilding was group and pair challenges which required serious cooperation and motivation, and also trust (for example: he and the Gazan boy were paired up, one of them blindfolded and the other had to lead him across a high rope course up in the treetops! that only happened into the second week in camp, once relationships had become established, otherwise someone might have found himself freefalling!!!)

The dialogues were the heart of the conflict-associated activities. JJ was in a group of 16 with about 5 Israelis, 5 Palestinians or other Arab countries, and the rest Americans and Brits (who divided about half-half as far as their political sympathies). All 15 year olds. So numberwise it was pretty balanced for him. There were 2 (older) facilitators who didn’t intervene in the contents, but made sure the conversation was civil (most of the time), and did stop them running ahead when they felt something emotional warranted time and attention (basically, encouraging empathy and focused listening specially when tough things were shared, I think more often by Palestinians)

I was very worried that JJ would return radical left, as some kids do. Some things in the preparation process worried me and made me think there might be a sort of mild brainwashing process going on. We don’t really know much about Seeds of Peace, and reading their website doesn’t tell you what the underlying agendas are, if any. And I tried to get more information about the organization and the camp, but didn’t get very far. Not many people have heard about it. The one boy who’s parents we know, who was on this camp last year, did return radical (totally adopted the Palestinian perspective and came back pretty anti Israel) so that was a worry too.

So what I really wanted to write on my post was that thank goodness, JJ is back and hasn’t grown horns (or turned into a Palestinian), he’s my good old JJ and I’m more relieved than I can say!

 In the dialogues JJ encountered enormous hostility towards Israel. The Palestinian kids seem to have been nurtured on Israel-hate. These are things we read about every now and again in the papers but I usually brush off, because you really can’t believe everything the papers say, and because I haven’t wanted to believe it. JJ says these kids “know” facts about the history of the conflict which are absolutely not true. Not arguable, not perspectives, simply not true. That didn’t do much towards him adopting their perspective – actually the opposite. For example, they “know” and say that Israel was the one who attacked the Arab countries in our war of Independence. Now, it’s not that Israel has never attacked anyone. But in 1948 Israel was 0 years old, had just been given on a platter her statehood by the UN, didn’t have a proper military, had just lost 6 million Jews to the Holocaust and the survivors were arriving at it’s shores traumatized and starved, etc etc – in short, was in no state to start a regional war against 5 or 6 Arab countries. So although JJ and his friends pointed out these logical arguments, the Arab kids in spite of not really being able to argue it, would not accept that the truth was different from what they’ve been indoctrinated to “know”, just like if you tell me the sun does NOT appear in the sky at midday, I will tell you you are wrong. And there were other examples. The Gazan boy’s mother has cancer (a tragedy in itself, no doubt) because “of all the chemical warfare used by Israel on Gaza throughout the years”. And JJ, although he does not know everything about the conflict and the region, knows that we don’t. But again, there’s no dialogue on these “facts”, they are 100% sure of them.

Those “facts” reminded me of the time about a year ago, while discussing with my 2 chars a recent knifing by 2 really young Palestinian boys (they were 12 and 13, cousins, and they murdered someone and injured another in Jerusalem, the older boy was then shot dead during the incident by security forces and the other wounded and taken to hospital. I was berating, was deeply upset about these 2 boys who should have been kept at home by their parents and not allowed to go murder people…My 2 cleaning women (Arab Israelis from Kfar Kasem, our neighboring town) told me that the Arabs commit terror acts because they are burningly furious as a result of the fact that Israeli soldiers systematically rape Arab/Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza and have been doing this over the years. Why don’t we read about THAT in the papers? Because it’s too shameful, so it’s kept secret (although they all know about it), it’s an unspeakable violation and attack on their honor. So these neighbors of mine “know” that our soldiers (N, D and their friends) are serial rapists and commit these atrocities against the Palestinians ALL THE TIME. By the way after they went home I googled that, and the only thing I managed to come up with was a research done by a radically leftist doctoral student in Tel Aviv University, who researched why israeli soldiers do NOT rape during conflict – her answer was that they are racist, therefore don’t relate to Palestinian women as human beings worthy of their rape!!!!) I brushed that conversation aside, persuaded myself that these ladies specifically probably belonged to some local extremist mosque, which under no circumstances represented the majority. Well, it seems I am naive, and very wrong.

Israel, says JJ, is consistently demonized. When Arab leaders say in the media that the Zionist aggressor is changing the status quo and wants to claim/annex the Temple Mount (after Arabs murder 3 Israeli policemen patrolling there, and Israel tries to place magnometers to prevent arms being brought into the Temple Mount, a security measure accepted in Mecca, in the Vatican and all over other religious sites), the Palestinians, and maybe the whole Arab world, really believe them (the Arab leaders presumambly). I personally don’t tend to believe what leaders say, they all have political agendas. And when I hear Arab leaders leaders talking that nonsense I figure their people can’t take them seriously, they know the facts, just like I do. But it transpires, via JJ’s direct talks with these people, that the demagogy works! Masses of people believe this stuff, their kids are raised on it, and the result is horrific.

Another observation was that the Palestinians perceive themselves 100% as victims. In no way do they take any responsibility to any part of their suffering. Granted, Israel is an occupying force. And yes, they suffer severe impingement on their freedoms. But their view of terrorism? No such thing in their dictionary. “Resistance fighters”. No difference whatsoever in their eyes between civilians killed by mistake (collateral damage) during conflict in Gaza, and Jewish grandparents and an uncle murdered while eating their Shabbat dinner with their family on Friday night, by a Palestinian with a knife who infiltrated a settlement and burst in on them. (These were things discussed directly in JJ’s dialogues). Therefore it’s difficult for them to see any responsibility on their part. That all rang an uncomfortably  familiar bell for me – people have been saying for years that the Arab world and UNRA have been keeping the Palestinians as the needy, victimized, displaced people who are 3rd generation already but still exactly as they were 3 generations ago. (Instead of rehabilitating them, giving them passports and a life, like any other victims of displacement at war, including loads and loads of Jews!!! Imagine if all the surviving German Jews descendants would still be claiming their ancestors homes on the Kudamm and all over Schoneberg etc, not to mention other war victims)

And it goes on and on. You get the gist. There WAS a lot of talk about the Palestinian suffering which got a lot of attention and empathy. But my boy wasn’t shaken to the core, he didn’t hear things that really surprised him, because over the years I have continuously spoken to my kids about the Palestinians’ plight, and often have pointed out the Palestinian point of view when incidents have happened. Of course I’ve never condoned terrorism against us, but have often showed my kids how unhappy, unfair, desperate the plight is of many people on that side of the barrier. And my perspective has always been that the vast majority wants peace just like we do, they simply want to live their life, to have a life worth living.

 Well, it seems I wasn’t quite right on that count. When it came to discussing the possibility of an agreement, of peace, there JJ WAS surprised. Whereas the Israeli kids talked about a 2 state solution as being the necessary compromise and the way to peace, the Palestinians said no, the only solution acceptable to them would be a 1 state solution, called Palestine. Their view of a huge compromise would be allowing the Jews to stay here and live in Palestine. A 2 state solution? Not acceptable. If it happens, they will continue their “resistance” until the fair, 1 state solution is achieved. In spite of these being 15 year olds, I find that very enlightening and very important information. Lots of Israeli right wingers have been saying this for years (about the Palestinian view) and I’ve been in denial. About 6 months ago I encountered an article which summarized a LOT of polls taken in the West Bank and Gaza by Palestinian research centers, which said more or less the same thing as JJ’s group. As usual, I disqualified the magazine it appeared in as right wing and therefore biased, and put the article in a remote gmail file. Last week I retrieved that article to reread, in view of JJ’s insights. Well, I’m afraid to say, it said exactly (in a long winded and tedious way), what the Arabs in JJ’s group had said.

 I have had to rethink my whole political outlook with all this new input. I have to go back and think about all the stuff my right wing friends and family members have been throwing at me over the years. Some of it, maybe lots of it is correct, much more than I would have imagined. Not having had the opportunity to have my own conversations with Palestinians, I made up a picture of how they think, how they feel, what they want, which suited my equalistic, liberal, democratic and western way of thinking. But I had no idea. There ARE different Palestinians, they don’t all think the same. But the children, the youngsters going out on these knifings, the violent rioters, the 20 and 30 year oldsthe terrorists, have all been through the systematic and institutionalized Israel-hate education. And it does not look good, not at all. It’s deep rooted, it’s there to stay, and God alone knows how we will ever find a way to live at peace with these people. I can’t think of one.

So that’s my synopsis of JJ’s camp experience. I have been seriously jolted out of my naive and uninformed stance, and at the moment am feeling pretty hopeless about our prospects. Of course, it’s the complete opposite of what this camp is trying to achieve. I suppose time will tell. We still have to watch and see how JJ will be affected in the long run. Seeds of Peace encourage a continuous attachment to the organization – they invite Seeds (JJ’s now a Seed) to participate in further programs and keep up their connections with friends from the other side of the conflict. We will be watching JJ to see how active he chooses to be, at some stage we might have to point out to him that ongoing close connections with Palestinians might jeopardize his chances to do quite a few of the sought after things available in his upcoming military service. And he’ll have to decide how to handle it.

For right now it’s great to have him back, … and see how he’s handled this huge challenge and opportunity in a mature and balanced way which shows his inner strength and his sensitivity. I’m really proud of him, as you can see (:

Have a great weekend, send love to Jim, and we’ll be in touch. xxxxxx

 

On Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Mike Berger wrote:

Hi T

What a delightful pleasure to receive your thoughtful letter. …

Now to your letter. It raises so many ‘big’ questions and issues: how and why do people change perspectives – or further entrench themselves in previously held positions? How do you change an entire culture? The nature of political conflict in the 21st century? Good and evil in politics – is there such a thing and, if so, what is its role? And of course many others.

Take N Korea for instance. Thoughtful observers are intensely ‘surprised’ by the level of popular acquiescence (even enthusiasm) within N Korea for that dictatorship. Often people say it is coerced and fake but I strongly suspect that is at least partly false. Rather what it does demonstrate is the power of information and socialisation techniques in shaping a culture. This gives totalitarian entities a potentially huge advantage in confronting open societies, like Western democracies. Of course democracies have their own advantages and the next century (I mean the rest of this one) will be an arena where these two cultures confront each other. I hope humanity (and democracy) survives this battle.

Briefly on a personal note. On retiring from my academic/professional career I threw myself very enthusiastically into the study of evolutionary psychology and its many cognate disciplines – a long list. I was then part of UCT in an honourary capacity and in the approximately 5 years I was engaged in this I did achieve some kind of academic reputation… For various personal reasons I moved away from the field in about 2003. Also by then I had become frustrated by it’s inability to directly contribute meaningfully to issues of practical everyday politics.

To cut a much longer story short I have come back to this fundamental question, I think with deeper insight. I’m trying to find a way of continuing to address this constructively in the time I have left. One way is by writing a blog in which issues of direct political importance can be addressed. I would like to be able to use your letter (suitably edited to remove all names and unduly personal parts) and our subsequent correspondence to raise some issuesq … Eg.

• Are JJ’s observations to be taken at face value or are they also influenced by his own socialisation?
• What about the Palestinian kids: to what extent is their intransigent position influenced by the Arab/Muslim culture of clan/religious loyalty – and the knowledge that they will be returning back to Palestinian society? In other words maybe real doubts about their previous perceptions of political reality were kept hidden or suppresssed. Will these doubts re-emerge later under suitable conditions?
• Similar kinds of questions can also be asked of the Israeli kids, though to a different extent.
• Do the Palestinian kids reflect the full spectrum of views within Palestinian society? I am aware of the polls you mention and they do show small pockets of ‘disbelievers’ – or potential disbelievers.
• What can Israel do to change Palestinian perceptions – especially given the political reality that most of the political elites within that society benefit from maintaining the status quo?
• What can Israel do to change world perceptions, bearing in mind that similar dynamics apply to some extent?
• How important are perceptions versus hard power issues?

I have some views on these and related issues which can be addressed over time. What your letter has done very powerfully is to show the real pain and confusion engendered by the clash of reality with strongly held moral and ideological stances. It is in the resolution of these dialectics that deeper insight is possible and your letter together with JJ’s acute observations have provided a very useful dose of ‘reality’ to those comfortably embedded in overly ideological and moralistic views.

with much love (and congratulations) Mike

Reply from T in Israel

Hi Mike. Well, THAT has given me food for thought! (: Yes, you can definitely use our correspondence of you want to. I’ll be happy for JJ’s experiences and impressions to continue to have some impact. So far he doesn’t seem to be very keen on continuing as an active Seed, maybe partly because of his own disillusionment from his personal encounters at the camp, so your blog might turn his insights towards a different alley.

As for the practical issues you refer to:

JJ has definitely absorbed specific messages and values in this house and his experience of the camp was in that context. I did a lot of thinking about the very different way JJ responded and felt towards the Palestinian plight, as described very emotionally by the Palestinian kids in his groups, from the way the older boy (who’d participated a year before) had, i.e. had returned from the camp radical and even anti Israel. I had worried about him already having a (pro…)Palestinian bias even before having been exposed to the (real) sob stories he was going to hear at camp, and imagined that the distance between his starting point and where that boy had landed up was quite small. Well, it didn’t work that way. Rather than fall off his chair in shock and distress at the stories he was hearing, he was not surprised – he’d heard these things or similar before, at home, and they had been acknowledged and discussed. I’m not sure if this is standard practice in typical Israeli homes – I suspect not, not the communications going on and not the lefty leanings. What WAS new to him was the “facts” presented, “facts” which he knows to be wrong (in spite of his understanding of perspectives in history). And he responded to those by defending what he believes to be the truth, and, as a result, his country. That, alongside empathy for the kids who had or were going through hardships (not simple to reconcile). So if anything, he returned closer to the right wing or nationalist approach. 

About the Palestinian kids staying loyal, and keeping in line with the Palestinian viewpoint, that could well be. What did happen, which JJ learned at a post camp Seeds meeting of Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem a few weeks ago, is that the Palestinian kids had/have to justify to their communities their participating in what could be perceived as a “normalization with Israel” activity which is unacceptable there. This was done by continuously representing and defending the Palestinian viewpoint, and explaining this to the people back home after the camp. So yes, you have a very valid point there. I’m not sure how much of their behaviour is out of loyalty and how much out of fear.

The Israeli kids were chosen from all over the country. First the middle schools produced 4 or 5 candidates and then those candidates went through a series of rigorous test meetings. Good English was a must and those who couldn’t communicate freely were weeded out in the first round. Out of a couple of thousand, 50 were chosen to go. The process was a cooperation between our Ministry of Education and Seeds of Peace Israel. On the other hand, we don’t know how the non Israeli Seeds were chosen but we do know that the process is much less organised and coordinated, to the extent that the sample might be very unrepresentative. For instance I’ve heard that at least some of the Arab kids (like the ones from Jordan) come from an expensive private school in Amman. I would also think that kids from Gaza would take this camp opportunity with 2 hands, regardless of their interest or political leanings, being in general a very underprivileged population (as opposed to the Israelis, who had to show some interest and knowledge in the conflict, social and empathic abilities, the emotional resources to withstand the battering they always undergo by the Palestinians etc etc). Just to illustrate – R was also chosen by their school to test for the camp but he knew from the start that he didn’t want to go. He hasn’t got a burning desire to travel no matter what, and he had his reasons for not being drawn to this camp. So he passed. So – I suppose one should be careful with generalizations from what JJ learned at the camp, however powerfully the messages came across.

My very good American-Israeli friend living now in Massachusetts said “oh well it’s clear, someone must change the education “there” so they aren’t brainwashed with all this Israel-hate!”. Really? Who?!

I feel very despondent about our ability to have much impact on that. Before the camp, I was adamant that we should get out of the occupied territories, full stop. Everything can be dealt with from that stance. Now I am much less positive that leaving the territories will ever be able to bring calm. In the meantime though, on a more tactical level, I would suggest to Israel (as I would have before this camp) to make the Palestinians’ lives in Gaza and the West Bank as good as possible so it becomes hard to continue to view Israel as this all-bad monster. But when balancing our security and the well being of Palestinian people, it will never be possible to really, substantially, change their levels of well being. There have been VERY liberal commanders in the IDF responsible for the West Bank, who have done their utmost to balance these things to the advantage of the well being. (Like the previous guy, …). And even they haven’t managed to make that difference.

And the “Palestinians” living in Kfar Kasem which is… inside the green line – they have Israeli ID cards and supposedly equal rights and opportunities (well, we know that’s not 100% true, but they definitely have way, way more opportunities than their West Bank contemporaries).They don’t show the hate the kids at camp were expressing but they are the ones from whom I learned about the rapist IDF soldiers. And they are producing more and more ISIS volunteers and just ordinary terrorists (recent attacks have originated in Um El Fahem and other Israeli Arab towns). I heard a sermon given at the funeral of the guys who did the recent attack on the Temple Mount (the one which caused the huge flare up there with the magnometers): they were pronounced shahids and the people were encouraged to continue fighting for El Kuds…

That’s it for now.

Wishing you and S a smooth and successful transition, and a happy, healthy and fruitful new year. We’ll be in touch about your trip.

Love to you both, T

Commentary

I hope readers will appreciate the painful psychological adjustments having to deal with facts and opinions that contradict one’s own deeply held preferences and beliefs. It takes courage and integrity and is no easy task. Nor are the answers easy but surely that is what we need as a species at this difficult time in our history.

Readers will of course make up their own minds about some of the specific issues raised in this correspondence. I am assuming a certain degree of unanimity on the following point:

1. Palestinians are the target of considerable, systematic?, false propaganda concerning the motivations and behaviour of Israelis. Furthermore, most will agree that this material contains significant anti-Semitic content, overt or covert, and thus promotes bias against Jews in general. This claim is supported by impartial polls as well as scrutiny of the content of Palestinian media and sermons by important Islamic religious figures.

In fact, one could widen this claim to include Arab-Muslim society more broadly even though notable exceptions occur. This too is supported by impartial empirical evidence of deep and pervasive anti-Semitism within Arab-Muslim society and amongst Muslims more widely.

Question: to what extent is Israel guilty of the same in reverse?

Certainly some high profile religious figures (and others) have made outrightly anti-Arab and anti-Islamic public statements. Internet threads on pro-Israeli sites and articles are rife with outright Arab-Muslim bigotry. It can be argued that the very structure and purpose of Israeli society places Arabs and Muslims (especially Arab-Muslims) in an inferior, despised and mistrusted positions and that the exceptions do not disprove the rule.

My take: yes, the claim of Israeli bigotry is true BUT it is mitigated by the openness of Israeli society to other points of view, Israel’s  broad commitment to the norms of Western democracies when it comes to tolerance and diversity and to the dominant cultural norms within the West in Jewish society generally and in some more enlightened religious teachings.

Secondly, bigotry is not institutionalised in Israel and is not part of the law though discrimination still persists.

Thus while Arabs and Muslims in Israel are at something of a disadvantage (can it be quantified?),  it does not amount to the systematic propagation of hatred as is prevalent in many of Israel’s neighbours.

Thus, there remains a clear difference between the prejudice and discrimination within Israel and the outright hatred and intractable rejection being nurtured within the Arab-Muslim territories. This is demonstrated by the much greater willingness of Israel to find a compromise which does not constitute a significant security threat, by the open opposition to Israeli policies expressed within the Israeli political debate and to the public criticism of Israeli attitudes by Jewish  groups within Israel and outside.

 2. Strategic Issues: ‘Seeds of Peace’ is part of a wider strategy which supports the idea that bottom up initiatives are a way of creating potential solutions to apparently intractable problem. This based on claimed successful strategies which helped solve similar kinds of ethno-religious conflicts elsewhere, eg Ireland. Such ideas will find support within left-centrist opinion both inside and outside Israel.

 Question: Is this strategy relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? It could be argued it actually UNDERMINES a peaceful solution because in the clan-honour  Arab-Muslim culture such initiatives are seen as a sign of weakness and opportunities for propaganda. The Palestinian authorities make sure that the Arab kids joining such initiatives are properly primed. That is less easy to do with adults but in the long haul authoritarian societies can control information better than open democratic societies which gives them an advantage in conflict situations. Thus, if the conflict is allowed to drag on, the staying power of the Arab-Muslim culture is superior to Western-oriented Israel with its concern for human rights, its abrasive domestic politics, its multiple centres of power and its materialistic wealthy lifestyle. Thus Israel would be better served by presenting an ‘intractable’ united front and make Palestinians pay a price for their behaviour until outright ‘victory, is obtained and Israel can largely dictate terms (possibly then magnanimity would pay strategic dividends).

 My take: I really don’t know enough of the details to make a clear choice but I don’t think Israel can maintain its open democratic character if it suppresses such initiatives. Thus despite the risks of such encounters I would support them with due caution as to security . I believe that Israeli society is tougher and more resilient and innovative than sometimes given credit for, that such initiatives yield diplomatic gains and that these encounters may yield longer-term dividends not visible at the time.

 3. Question: What about T’s suggestion that Israel should assist in improving the material living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza? Is that Israel’s responsibility? Surely the Palestinians having made their bed should lie upon it? Will Israeli aid simply go to an elite and encourage greater intractability? It can easily be depicted as a pathetic attempt at bribery or appeasement? What about the claim that ‘Arabs only understand force’? Is that any different to anyone else?

 My take: Firstly, I don’t think Israel should actively worsen the lives of ordinary Palestinians. That is a form of collective punishment and it would not be effective. If the PA collapsed, Israel would face either Hamas or total chaos which would offer fertile opportunities for other extremists like Iran or Isis-type forces. Israel is a small country and it couldn’t stand the diplomatic blowback that the USA and other large Western powers could resist.

 But what about active assistance? What if any advantages could that offer? I would support that in the context of a systematic strategy of ‘reconciliation with terms’. Such efforts must be made within the general principle of reciprocity even if Israel is prepared to wait a while for that to manifest itself. It could afford ‘a wait and see’ policy and such a policy would also come with diplomatic advantages. In short this cannot just be a sop to public opinion in Israel or the rest of the World or a slapdash kite-flying exercise, but must part of a comprehensive multi-pronged strategy with stringent  monitoring, marketing and clear objectives and endpoints.

 FINALLY (whew)

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is taking place within a largely lawless, self-interested and extremely complex regional and global system at a time of great uncertainty and turbulence. The main characteristics of our time include:

1. An existential conflict between democratic and authoritarian systems of various kinds
2. A crisis within democracy as the faultlines around identity, inequality, ideology and power come to a head
3. The massive turbulence engendered by failed or failing societies, extremist movements and the consequent population movements which threaten Western stability
4. Massive ecological challenges around population growth, water, climate change, pollution, loss of species diversity etc
5. The lack of useful knowledge on how to practically initiate and regulate the necessary adaptive behavioural changes required in response to these threats in the context of the accelerating pace and impact of technology, the supremacy of the short-term interests of powerful elites and the complex interaction between all these phenomena.

 We are approaching the mid-century crisis predicted by James Martin in his book ‘The Meaning of the 21st Century‘. If we don’t find a way of managing local conflicts while negotiating the white-water cultural-political-ecological currents just around the bend in the river if history it may not  much matter what we do locally. At least let’s not make the big picture worse.This is a topic with many dimensions which I wish to explore further in future.

 Looking forward to your opinions and comments!!

 Mike