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The Intifada of 2000-2001 has demonstrated the end of an era of diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The style of peacemaking of the Olso Accords has been called into question by the facts on the ground. Elite forms of peacemaking that do not embrace the basic needs of average people on all sides are bound to fail. The complete neglect of deeper cultural and religious systems in the peace process is now apparent, as is the role that this neglect has played in the failure of the process.
Building on his earlier book, Between Eden and Armageddon, Gopin provides a detailed blueprint of how the religious traditions in question can become a principal asset in the search for peace and justice. He demonstrates how religious people can be the critical missing link in peacemaking, and how the incorporation of their values and symbols can unleash a new dynamic that directly addresses basic issues of ethics, justice, and peace. Gopin's analysis of the theoretical, theological, and political planes shows us what has been achieved thus far, as well as what must be done next in order to ensure effective final settlement negotiations and secure, sovereign, democratic countries for both peoples.
Chapter Abstracts:
Part I: Analysis
In 1993, when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sealed the Oslo peace agreement, it was heralded as the beginning of a new era in the Middle East peace process. Instead, violence on both sides has continued to plague the region. The brutal facts on the ground have called into question the style of diplomacy that saw its greatest triumph with the Oslo Accords. This book asserts that the failure of the peace process stems in large part from its complete neglect of cultural and religious factors; attempted solutions have ignored the basic needs and values of average people. The author argues for a far greater integration of the religious communities of the region into peace-building efforts. Drawing on his own personal experience with religion-based peace initiatives in Israel and Palestine, he writes of the individuals and groups that are already attempting such reconciliations.
He offers a detailed prescription for future negotiations using methods specifically designed to undermine the appeal of religious extremists by subtly incorporating religious values and symbols into the procedures of official and unofficial diplomacy, believing that a combination of secular and religious methods of peacemaking will yield a rich and creative model for conflict resolution. Any effort at peacemaking that fails to take into account the deep religious feelings of Muslims, Jews, and Christians is destined to fail. Only by including religion in the peace process can we move past fragile and superficial agreements and toward a deep and lasting solution. The book is arranged in two parts – Analysis, and Practical applications.
Chapter 1- The Interaction Between Religion and Culture in Peace and Conflict, Pg. 3
This introductory chapter highlights the role of culture and religion (which, for purposes of this book is treated as a subset of cultural phenomena) in conflict generation and peacemaking. The importance of cross-religious study is also emphasized, particularly in the case of religions with very complex origins such as the Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) in which interrelatedness betrays the causes of rivalry and historical conflict, and the chapter also uncovers places for conflict resolution and peacemaking by discovering points of convergence. The aim of the book is to discover the deeper roots of the Middle East conflict and to apply them to the challenges and possibilities for future Palestine–Israel relations.
Chapter 2 -Family Myths and Cultural Conflict, Pg. 7
Starts with an analysis of the Abrahamic family myth (or metaphor) as treated by the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), showing how it sets the stage for mythically based conflict. It goes on to discuss the use of metaphor and cultural constructs as a framework for meetings and peace negotiations between Israelis and Arabs, and then addresses street or other public encounters, and wonders whether the alienating constructs of modern city life (and Western suburban life) have a role to play in the origin of violence. The last part of the chapter wraps these approaches together in a discussion of the possibilities for Arab/Jewish reconciliation in general, and Israeli/Palestinian reconciliation, in particular.
Chapter 3- Political and Mythic Interdependencies, Pg. 37
It is argued that the rational processes of political negotiation and diplomacy can never progress very far without taking account of the (cultural) myths underlying the attitudes of all parties (and intervenors) involved. Such myths are often expressed in terms of some idealized self-image, together with a demonized mythic construct of the “other.” These arguments are illustrated by addressing the contemporary examples of the coup against Milosevic in Serbia, and peacemaking processes in which the author has been involved in Israel/Palestine. The latter covers the work of Rabbi Frohman in Israel, attempts to get the US Administration under Clinton involved in a Jewish–Muslim dialog, and steps toward the Jerusalem Religious Peace Agreement (the Islamic/Jewish treaty).
Chapter 4- Patterns of Abrahamic Incrimination, Pg. 58
Begins with a discussion of the processes of “othering” (the need to distinguish and exclude) and incrimination that are adopted both by religions and as a basic human psychological trait. “Othering” and incrimination comprise a constant source of conflict generation in human intercourse and have been particularly damaging in the history of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity). The various options of religious traditions within the evolutionary process of confrontation with the “other” are then listed and further discussed. These are continued incrimination; increased incrimination; denial of incrimination and apologetics as a moderation of othering; hard rejection of past interpretations and an end to othering; soft rejection of the past, and historical contextualization; and pious transformation of old cognitive constructs as an end to othering – remythification. The latter is discussed in the context of the Jerusalem Religious Peace Agreement (the Islamic/Jewish treaty).
Chapter 5- Conflict, Injury, and Transformation, Pg. 92
Addresses the role of memories of personal and collective injury – the scars of conflict and violence – in retarding peacemaking processes. The important role of organized religion in this kind of “perpetuated mourning,” and its role in conflict generation and avoidance, and self-examination and self-judgment, is discussed. It is noted that systems of coping with ultimate loss must become part of any conflict resolution between enemies, and that although each community involved must accomplish this separately, peacemakers should coordinate the process. Two things are needed to disengage a group from the need to be violent: manufactured injury (often based on the political ambitions of leaders) must be separated from actual injury; and manufactured injuries that are rooted in weak internal self-conceptions must be replaced by a strong sense of self that does not need injury to survive. In the case of the Israel/Palestine conflict, these processes are as important for Jews in relation to the Holocaust as for Palestinians in relation to the loss of their country in 1948.
Part II: Practical Applications
Chapter 6- Patterns of Abrahamic Reconciliation: Act, Ritual, and Symbol as Transformation, Pg. 103
One of the central challenges facing cultural and religious peacemaking is the self-imposed wall around ethnic and religious identities, particularly in terms of the deliberate circumscription of their prosocial moral structures and meaning systems. Among the ethical resources within Abrahamic traditions for peacemaking and conflict resolution, one of the most important in terms of building prosocial relationships is the way that individuals and communities cope with moral failure of the individual. Understanding this is vital for intercultural work because here the outsider group is often the object of the failed relationship; potentially at least, such a relationship could be transformed by means of the traditional process of acknowledging sin and ultimately receiving forgiveness. The various parameters and uses of forgiveness and reconciliation in the traditions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are examined at length, and it is concluded that there is potential in all three of these religions for the use of reconciliation in the processes of conflict resolution.
Chapter 7- The Use of the Word and Its Limits: Dialogue as Peacemaking, Pg. 144
The discussion argues that words and dialog must not be the only path of reconciliation that is explored in conflict resolution – nonverbal cues, symbols, and deeds are also important. Other problems with dialogic encounters are also addressed – the disempowering of the less educated, the favoring of the more verbal and aggressive, and the unsatisfactory nature of interactions in larger groups. Shared education and study, and other informal contacts are discussed as the means toward mutual understanding and conflict resolution. Examples are given from the conflict and from the Falklands War (which is described in terms of a Protestant/Catholic communication failure).
Chapter 8 - Ritual Civility , Moral Practices of Interpersonal Exchange, and Symbolic Communications- Pg. 160
Abrahamic and cultural processes of change have been neglected by elite diplomacy and conflict resolution efforts in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict (although possibly only at a conscious level). However, cultural and religious habits can be very helpful in peacemaking processes, and are expressed in two kinds of human engagements – informal and formal or ritualistic; such nonrational interactions are a necessary catalyst of rational negotiations. The power of symbol and metaphor is also a strong factor in interreligious encounters. This is investigated first by looking at the most elemental level of the encounter – the human face – and then at two other key ingredients of empathetic psychology – silence (listening) and humility. An examination is then made of symbolic and moral gestures, symbolic communication, and rituals. Numerous illustrative examples of these points are given from the author's experiences in Israel and Palestine.
Chapter 9- De-escalation Plans and General Steps Toward a New Relationship
It is suggested that obsession with the mind and personality of key leaders in a conflict situation is a deflection from the real work of conflict prevention and resolution, since the overwhelming, unrecognized and feared power actually rest with the moods and instincts of the majority of the people embroiled in the conflict. In this context, the chapter focuses on cultural shifts in the Israeli/Palestinian communities that are the key to determining possible elite concessions, compromises, and creative problem solving. Before this, however, the author gives his opinion on what went wrong between Arafat and Barak in the summer of 2000, and led to the resulting spiral of violence; the opinion includes cross-cultural considerations, and personality and political issues. The cultural conflict de-escalation plan for Israel and Palestine presented next makes some very explicit recommendations for de-escalating the violent confrontations as of winter 2002, with specific attention to culture and religion. The chapter ends with some general recommendations for the future.
Chapter 10- Specific Steps Towards a New Relationship
Like the last chapter, this one focuses on cultural shifts in the Israeli/Palestinian communities that are the key to determining a new relationship between them. This is contextualized by summarizing insights from the previous chapters in a phrase: myth matters. The author advocates a turning of conflict prevention and resolution methodologies toward a synergistic and humble engagement with the lived uses of ritual already in place in peacemaking in the region. In addition, he seeks a creative investigation and experimentation with the vast reservoir of Abrahamic uses of ritual to heal, establish basic patterns of civility, transform broken relationships, mourn, repent, end war, and make peace. The recommendations presented are given under the headings of Education and Training, Myth, Ritual, and Ceremony, Land Attachments, The Poor, Study as Peacebuilding, Social Contract and Covenants, Trust Building, Self-examination and the Move From Barrier To Bridge, and Recommendations To Officials.
Notes, Pg. 229
Bibliography, Pg. 255
Index, Pg. 261
