Largely because of my association with bitterlemons, my incoming email box receives daily messages from a wide variety of people and institutions that are involved, or purport to be involved, in advancing the cause of peace between Israelis and Arabs. Some are noble, lofty and radically ambitious: ‘the recent Petra Conference, which brought together Nobel Laureates and leaders in politics, business and other specialized fields of industry … to promote peace and fight poverty, disease and other ills plaguing our world today. The goal set by the conference [was] ‘to build a better world.” Some reflect huge organizational and fund-raising efforts and a populist inclination: ‘Well over 2,000 young Palestinians and Israelis have gone through an intensive leadership immersion course and gone on to participate in monthly activities to organize and mobilize their communities. While the challenges to achieve our bold vision are very serious, OneVoice is growing stronger every day. OneVoice Youth Ambassadors of the International Education Program have inspired tens of thousands of college students across the US, Canada and the United Kingdom; student leaders are now starting to form chapters across 60 campuses, as they forge rare partnerships that transcend nationalities, religions and ethnicities.’ Some seek to create virtual peace realities: ‘It seems that one of the first peaceful dialogues to follow the Second Lebanon War comes out of the music scene. Two heavy metal bands, one Israeli and the other Lebanese, met online and joined forces to perform a new song – Everything We Are.’ Some are really trite: ‘to celebrate the one year anniversary of our newsletter, we are giving away a free Abraham’s Vision baseball cap to the person who sends us the 12th email in response to this newsletter with the words ‘free hat’ written in the body of the email.’ Most represent initiatives by third parties, in other words persons or organizations that are neither Israeli nor Arab (though they may be Israeli or Arab expatriates). They all appear to be sincere in their dedication to the cause. And whatever else they may or may not accomplish, they appear to do no harm. They may not necessarily make matters better, but they don’t make them worse. Yet we are talking about a great deal of money and energy, and extremely little to show for it. I don’t believe third-party civil society resources of this scope were ever applied to the Indian-Pakistani tensions, the Northern Ireland troubles or the Cyprus dilemma – yet those conflict situations appear to be in considerably better shape than ours. For some of the Americans and Europeans involved in these initiatives, one senses between the lines of their frequent press releases that their activities are directed at the nagging consciences of spectators who are consumed by the drama and suffering in Israel and Palestine and desperately require an avenue through which to act out their anguish. Others may simply be seeking attention. Each new organization that mounts the stage of Israel-Arab peacemaking appears to have its own special gimmick, its own discovery of the missing ingredient that will bring peace. Almost all require a warm and fuzzy consensus on the part of Arabs and Jews in order to succeed. None have really made much peace lately. There are of course other, constructive third-party actors who bring Israelis and Palestinians together to talk about serious matters that could conceivably impact a peace process. And there are Israeli and Palestinian, and sometimes Israeli-Palestinian, non-governmental organizations that do genuinely important deeds at both the material and the humanitarian levels, often with vital support from the European Union, the United States, Ford, Soros or other foundations. Those other third-party initiatives that appear to operate in never-never land would do well to apply their energies and resources to supporting them. Bitterlemons does something radically different. It does not seek consensus. It proffers no ‘bitterlemons peace plan.’ It conscientiously recruits all points of view, from Israeli settlers to Hamas. It believes it can contribute two components of Arab-Israel understanding that must be in place well before peace and reconciliation can be achieved: better knowledge of the issues and of all the parties’ point of view, and a readiness to discuss our differences in a civilized manner. With respect, we don’t belong to any forums of Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations. We operate on a different, and for us, a more significant level.
Yossi Alpherwas director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University and an adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. This commentary first appeared at bitterlemons.org, an online newsletter dealing with Israeli-Palestinian issues.