November 27, 2007

Three Quick Questions … about peace processes

Israeli and Palestinian leaders, along with delegates from 46 countries and international organizations, are meeting today with President Bush at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for peace talks. John Darby, professor of comparative ethnic studies at the Kroc Institute and an expert in peace processes, addressed the challenges and possibilities of peace processes in the Middle East and in his native Ireland.

How does the situation in the Middle East compare to Northern Ireland?

In each case you have two groups who claim the same territory and whose conflicts go back generations. What is different about the Middle East conflict, however, is the region’s strategic importance and the central role played by the international community and neighboring powers; this was not the case in Northern Ireland. For today’s peace talks, President Bush has taken the very unusual step of bringing into the process other countries in the region and from outside it. So this lends a new level of complexity to the process that is very interesting.

Is there hope for success at these talks?

In any peace process, it’s very difficult to reach an agreement. Most take a long time to implement, and many collapse within five years following an agreement.  In this case, one obstacle might be that not all of the parties in the conflict are at the table. Without Hamas and representatives of Iran, for example, it’s difficult to see how it will succeed. In Northern Ireland, there were seven attempts between 1972 and 1994 to achieve peace before Sinn Fein came to the table, and all of them failed. It was only after all of the ‘fighters,’ so to speak, were represented, that an agreement was reached.  If we want to achieve lasting peace, we must insist that those who have been selected by their communities to represent them are fully accepted as peace negotiators. When a country or a group has elected leaders, even if you don’t like them, they must be involved.

How do these talks compare to previous talks at Camp David?

It’s intriguing how different they are at the beginning. The Camp David talks began with much disagreement and ended with the shaking of hands. Here we have the reverse -- with nearly everyone who is invited to the process committed to a peaceful two-state solution right from the start. Can they deliver on that good will and produce an agreement? If you don’t include representatives of all the groups involved in the conflict, it’s difficult to see how it can work in the long term, but the dynamics of a peace process often produces unexpected alliances and outcomes. Just a year ago, who could have imagined that the Reverend Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness would agree to act as First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland?
More about John Darby …

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