NEGOTIATE WHAT?:

Northern Ireland lessons (Rami G. Khouri, 10/20/06, Jordan Times)

Several important points about the Northern Ireland process stand out. For one thing, it is working, and needs to be studied to grasp precisely why that is the case. It has not been fully implemented, but the region is no longer convulsed by political violence and terror. Any agreement that achieves that through negotiations deserves closer scrutiny.

It appears to be working primarily because of three reasons. First, it brought into the negotiating process all the key parties who were deemed to be legitimate in the eyes of their own communities, regardless of how other communities saw them. So Sinn Fein represented the IRA, regardless of the Unionists' revulsion for the IRA. The fact of being inclusive was an important element for success.

Second, the parties recognised that they would achieve, through peaceful negotiations, important gains that could not be achieved through continued militancy. Diplomacy that succeeded and offered a vision of a better future spurred a greater willingness to persist on the path of peaceful negotiations, and so all sides committed to peaceful resolution of their conflict.

Third, the external mediator — the United States — was at once persistent, patient and impartial. It did not take sides, but worked tirelessly to bridge gaps between the parties and offer mechanisms to restore confidence when it was shaken.

None of these elements exists today in the Arab-Israeli situation, and so it is not surprising that our region of the world witnesses destructive wars while Northern Ireland joins the ranks of the world’s wealthy societies. The sad irony is that as the Northern Ireland situation resumes its momentum towards a permanent settlement, its historic lessons for the Arabs and Israelis are ignored, even though many of the broad dynamics of the two conflicts seem so similar.

For example, Israel and the United States refuse to deal with a Palestinian government led by Hamas, which was democratically elected. Yet in Northern Ireland, the British and the United States had no problem dealing with the IRA, which used terror for many years. Their decision to engage the IRA through Sinn Fein proved wise and productive, because the IRA soon got out of the terror business and decommissioned its arms. That experience suggests that focusing on the substance of the political goals that one desires from a negotiation is more important than allowing oneself to get hung up on whom one should talk to or not talk to.

Even better, Israel and the U.S. can force the substance upon Hamas even without negotiation.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 26, 2006 4:01 PM