EIGHT STEPS TO ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE
Mubarak Awad
Chairman, Non-Violence International
National Director, National Youth Advocate Program
Abdul Aziz Said
Mohammed Said Farsi Professor of Islamic Peace
Director of Center for Global Peace
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains intractable, despite the best efforts of the Clinton Administration.
Traditional techniques of conflict resolution, using engineering, mechanistic, isolated approaches to
problem solving are not suitable for nonmaterial, identity-based conflicts. Beliefs, values and behavior of
conflicting parties are at stake. The fundamental concessions that are needed for peace will emerge, not
through technical agreements, but only in a transformed political and psychological environment. IsraeliPalestinian peace is achievable but only at a price: both sides must undergo a change of mind.
The present impasse in the peace process is fundamentally a crisis of mind and spirit. If Israelis and
Palestinians cannot change some deeply ingrained habits of thinking about one another, a crisis will be
recreated in short order. Only a new shared vision will suffice.
Why vision? To avoid drift. To avoid self-centeredness. To help mobilize the best imagination and
energy of followers and leaders. To widen and deepen the sense of mutual responsibility. In the absence
of vision, pandering replaces leadership, mood replaces action, and charisma replaces creativity.
Self-evidently, not all Israelis and Palestinian are accepting of the other, or open to the reality that they
are each other’s neighbors. The irredentists among both groups insist that no real change has taken place
in the context of their relationship. There are Palestinians and Israelis who recognize that the relationship
between the two parties has changed, but they are incapable of acting on their conclusions. Palestinians
and Israelis have no other viable choice but to live beside each other. The security of the Israelis and the
dignity of the Palestinians go hand in hand.
The only workable instrument for establishing a Palestinian-Israeli peace is the development of a broad
consensus. The strategy of consensus calls for Israelis and Palestinians to strengthen their mutual
dependencies and cooperative linkages. Both parties must willingly exploit existing tendencies towards
their interdependence. Israeli security, from this perspective, is achieved less by placing the Palestinians
at a power disadvantage than by circumscribing Israel’s freedom to and incentives for undertaking hostile
actions. Adoption of an interdependent strategy carries with it an implied willingness to downgrade
sovereign freedom of action as a defining characteristic of security. Enhanced Israeli security requires
improved Palestinian security. Both sides achieve common security.
The process of consensus underscores the obsolescence of the habitual competitive practice in the IsraeliPalestinian relationship. It is a model based on the assumption that the pursuit of self-interest leads to the
betterment of both sides. Consensus requires a cooperative model of Israeli-Palestinian relationship that
focuses on the benefits of stable peace for both. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians can achieve stable peace
alone. In fact, both sides have to make sacrifices.
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Given present realities, the Israelis cannot be defeated militarily; yet, they cannot win politically. The
loss of the ability to force a verdict by armed conflict imposes a limitation on the practice of IsraeliPalestinian statecraft. But it is a limitation that leaves room for vigor, imagination and skill in framing
and executing reconciliation and coexistence between both parties.
STEP ONE: APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS
Israelis and Palestinians should begin their own process of truth and reconciliation now. Apology and
forgiveness are central ingredients. Apology was a key to peace in South Africa and is being currently
practiced by the Catholic Church, Germany and Poland who are seeking forgiveness from the Jews.
Israelis should extend an apology to the Palestinians for Israeli abuse of Palestinian basic human rights.
Palestinians should apologize to the Israelis for Palestinian acts of violence against civilian Jews. Both
must forgive, and accept apology graciously.
STEP TWO: RECOGNITION AND ACCEPTANCE
Palestinians and Arabs have to accept Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinians must recognize the Jewish
historical, religious and emotional connection to the Temple Mount. This is consistent with Islamic
traditions. While it is true that in times of decline in Islamic history Muslims violated precepts of
coexistence, the religion of Islam clearly acknowledges and respects the rights of Jews, as well as
Christians. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are not inherently hegemonic. However, in the context of
power politics, Jews, Christians and Muslims have and do justify hegemonic practices. In keeping with
the Islamic tradition and precepts, the Palestinians should accept Jewish identity.
Arabs also need to acknowledge the tragedy of the Holocaust—to listen to the Jewish story of pain and
empathize with the historical memory of the Jewish people. The Arabs must acknowledge that the Jewish
people have a historical connection to the Old City of Jerusalem and accept Israel into full membership in
the Middle East region. Israel must be included in Arab maps, sports, and regional gatherings.
At the same time, Israelis have to accept that there is a Palestinian people—not merely “West Bankers”—
and acknowledge the historical memory of the Palestinians. The Israelis should stop referring to
Palestinian land as Judea and Samaria and recognize the Palestinian’s just claim to their land. Israelis, too,
must undergo a process of soul-searching and come to terms with a past that includes acts of repression
and dehumanization. Israel must also see itself as a Middle Eastern country. Israel is projecting itself in
the region as a superior Western country, oblivious to its actual geography—an attitude that rekindles
Arab resentment of Western colonialism and continued hegemonic behavior.
STEP THREE: NON-ADVERSARIAL RELATIONSHIP
The Israelis need to abandon the practice of exploiting inter-Arab tensions. In international forums, Israel
needs to refrain from voting against Arab states. In Arab countries, in public discourse, Israel should be
treated as a neighbor rather than an enemy. Israelis and Arabs need to move away from the adversarial
posture that both have adopted toward one another in the region and the international arena, toward a
cooperative relationship.
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STEP FOUR: SHARING PROGRESS
There cannot be peace without economic prosperity. Prosperity must be shared. Opportunities for
economic growth will ensure that both Israelis and Palestinians are too busy to hate. Mutual prosperity
will provide a basis for overcoming mistrust, paranoia, and defensiveness. Israeli society and industry are
technologically sophisticated, but Israel has not demonstrated willingness to help Palestinians. Israelis
should pursue policies that promote Israeli investment in Palestine and development of the Palestinian
economy. Encouraged by the Palestinians, Arab countries must end the economic boycott of Israel and
promote trade and commercial transactions.
STEP FIVE: RIGHTS OF PEOPLE NOT STATES
Israelis and Palestinians need to recognize the rights of each other’s people. Israel should acknowledge
its role in creating the plight of Palestinian refugees. Palestinian refugees should be given the choice to
live where they want. Jewish settlers should be granted similar rights to settle in the West Bank.
Palestinians should also be compensated for the property that they lost as Jews are now being
compensated in Eastern Europe for the same. The same applies to the compensation of Jews who lost
property in Arab countries.
If Israel were to accept the return of Palestinian refugees, only a small percentage of the refugees would
return. It is generally agreed that a significant number of Palestinian refugees would remain in Jordan,
Lebanon and Syria if the governments of these countries were given incentives and were willing to
integrate them into their societies.
STEP SIX: MUTUAL RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE
Judaism, Christianity and Islam need to acknowledge one another. Israel needs to recognize the
legitimacy of Islam, rather than view Islam as the enemy, and move away from a clash of civilizations, to
a dialogue of civilizations posture. Muslims need to acknowledge that Judaism has a deep historical
connection to the Old City of Jerusalem. By recognizing each other’s narrative, Jews, Christians and
Muslims prevent the discourse of their respective fundamentalisms from becoming an instrument of
foreign policy, as is presently the case.
STEP SEVEN: EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION FOR PEACE
Both Palestinians and Israelis need to change curricula, textbooks and other learning sources to accept the
concept of the new truth. Israelis and Arabs who do not know one another are the most aggressive
towards one another, because the other has no face. This results in de-humanization. Both sides need to
move towards re-humanization and empowerment. Israeli and Palestinian youth have more in common
than their grandparents did. By confronting their differences, they will discover their similarities, as some
are already doing.
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STEP EIGHT: JERUSALEM
The final step is possible only when the previous steps are realized. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have
equal rights in Jerusalem. Every religious group should acknowledge the right of every other religious
group. We need to take politics out of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Old City, whose walls shelter the holy places for three religions, should be administered by a council
representing the respective religious communities. Its inhabitants should have the choice of Israeli or
Palestinian citizenship. The council should have a rotating leadership. Security in the Old City should be
shared between Israelis and Palestinians.
Capitals could be located outside the Old City. Israelis and Palestinians can locate their capitals in
metropolitan (greater) West and East Jerusalem—Jerusalem minus the Old City. Borders within
metropolitan Jerusalem could disappear. They are illusory. Its inhabitants should be given the choice of
Israeli or Palestinian citizenship. Embassies could be located anywhere in greater Jerusalem and serve
both Israelis and Palestinians. Finally, we would suggest that were the Arab world to unequivocally and
sincerely recognize the right of Israel to exist as a brother nation in the Middle East, the symbolic capital
of Jerusalem as the key national identity marker for Israelis would diminish.
This is not idle dreaming. The journey toward peace requires a great awakening.
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