A yearslong emphasis on military aid has not been effective. Let’s change course.
BY JOSEPH DE RIVERA, PRESS HERALD,
Antisemitism, prejudice toward Muslims, and the brutality manifested by some Jewish settlers and Hamas terrorists must not distract us from the fact that most Jews and Palestinians want peace. In fact, the Alliance for Middle Eastern Peace details over a hundred organizations in which Israelis and Palestinians have been working together to create the conditions for peace with justice.
The international community has promised land for both Jews and Palestinians. This can only be fulfilled if the United States and the United Nations insist that Israeli and Palestinian leaders agree on the boundaries of two sovereign states.
A step toward such insistence was taken on Wednesday, when Maine’s Sen. Angus King joined 22 other senators in asking President Biden some important questions about sending an additional $10 billion to the Israeli government.
After noting the need to hold Hamas accountable for its brutal attacks, the need to support Israeli defense, obtain the release of hostages and insure humanitarian aid, the senators inquired if the Israeli government supports the conditions necessary to ultimately achieve a two-state solution. Along these lines, the senators asked the president to obtain public assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that his government immediately stop escalating extremist settler violence directed against unprotected Palestinians, and assurances from Palestinian President Abbas that his government will take steps to quell any violence against Israelis.
Such questions and requests represent a step forward in suggesting that funding should be conditioned on a viable and achievable military plan that supports a long-term vision for peace and security in the form of a two-state solution.
However, any focus on a military plan ignores the fact that political leaders can only negotiate a solution with public support. Years of killing and injustice have created deep wounds and a hatred between many Israelis and Palestinians that needs to be addressed for any solution to be negotiated. Hence, our senators must also call for funding that promotes public advocacy for a just peace.
This sort of advocacy can be produced by expanding the use of the interactive problem-solving workshops that have been successfully used to unify small groups of Israelis and Palestinians .
These workshops are designed to allow participants to share their underlying pains, fears and needs. They must be held in neutral settings and facilitated by a neutral third party who can model the respectful listening and acceptance of the hostility that is bound to be expressed by both parties. Without the accepting presence of the facilitator, the hostility that is expressed provokes defensiveness and results in an unproductive cycle of rage. However, when hostility is accepted by a facilitator, it appears to enable injured parties to express the pain that underlies their hostility. These feeling, do not provoke a defensive hostility. Rather, they evoke sympathy and lead to the expression of compassion. Participants are then in a position to begin to care about the needs of others so trust can be developed, underlying needs can be expressed and rational problem solving can occur.
Although political leaders are usually hindered by the demands of their position, workshops can easily work with opinion leaders. However, to achieve an overall change in public opinion, participants must share their changed ideas and feelings with compatriots who will view any consideration of the feelings and interests of the “enemy” as either foolhardy or traitorous. Hence, a real change requires enough workshops to change attitudes throughout a community.
Of course, such workshops cost money. Participants must be transported to neutral settings, housed and fed, and facilitators must be trained, transported and sustained. A single workshop may easily cost as much as $25,000 dollars.
Each year, the United States gives over $3 billion in military aid to Israel and over $1 billion to Egypt. The emphasis on military aid has not proven effective. Interactive problem-solving workshops decrease hostility, increase trust and may develop the grounds for a two-state solution. One billion dollars would fund 40,000 such workshops.
