GI holds a two-day conference entitled "An Agreement Within a Year" |
On January 13th and 14th, Geneva Initiative held a conference of experts entitled: "An Agreement within a Year," which assessed the central elements that must be considered for the parties to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, the deadline set at the Annapolis Conference. For detailed materials prepared for and further to the conference, click here. Over the course of two days Israeli and Palestinian speakers addressed some 250 conference participants on different issues related to the negotiations process. Among the issues discussed: the division of responsibility between the negotiators and the political leaders; the level of involvement of the security establishment; the contribution of back-channel and Track II efforts; the influence of public opinion; the role of the U.S. and the American Jewish constituency, and more.
On the evening of the first day, participants were addressed by key-note speaker President Shimon Peres, who stressed the importance of reaching a peace agreement and the role played by time in the process.
Other speakers over the two-days included Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, Rob Malley of the International Crisis Group, Geneva Initiative co-architect Yossi Beilin, Palestinian Minister Ashraf El Ajrami, and Palestinian analyst and pollster Khalil Shikaki. For transcriptions of speakers' remarks made in English, please click here.
Conference speakers presented the desired structure for negotiations management headed by the prime minister, a ministerial team, a political negotiating team chair and a negotiations administration, through which all input will be conveyed to the political echelon. An emphasis was placed on the necessity for a backchannel, without which an agreement cannot be reached. Additionally, the need for the decision-makers to clarify their goals to the professional echelon was highlighted. The speakers agreed that leaders must avoid conveying a vague and ambiguous message that would be open to interpretation by the professional echelon, thus jeopardizing the negotiations. This was viewed as especially important when considering the army and the defense establishment, bodies that must receive clear instructions from the political echelon. Additionally, military bodies should be included in the technical negotiations with their Palestinian counterparts, but political negotiations must be left in the hands of civilian negotiators.
Relevant bodies must act to change situation on the ground, in order to decrease the gap between the discussions around the negotiating table and day-to-day reality. Too wide a gap may diminish faith in the process and foil attempts to bring about its success. Further, participants discussed the need to conduct additional negotiation tracks with other Arab players in the region. In this context, negotiations with Syria may in fact benefit the Palestinian track, as they would make it more difficult for bodies such as Hamas and Hezbollah to oppose the process while Syria is conducting a continuous dialogue with Israel.
Additional emphasis was placed on the opportunity present in 2008 being Bush's last year in the White House and on the need to clarify the Israeli government's policy and goals to the U.S. Jewish community. Issues covered also included the public and media aspects of the process, and in this context, speakers stressed the need to modify the terminology used by leaders in times of negotiations so as to change the parameters of public discourse from a zero-sum game to a situation in which both sides win and a recognition that leaders must pay less attention to the occasional public opinion poll and understand that any political agreement reached would obtain majority support. The conference received extensive press coverage, including prime-time news coverage on Channel 10 and on the Knesset Channel. Additionally, the conference was mentioned widely in other media, including three major radio stations, seven daily newspapers, and at least five major news websites.
Following his closing remarks on January 14th, MK Beilin gave an interview on Israel's top news magazine show, London & Kirshenbaum, in which he presented several of the conferences conclusions and explained that while all core issues have been discussed in the past, the leaders have avoided the moment of truth whenever it presented itself. Beilin said it was wrong to believe that Israelis and Palestinians must sort out their internal process before attempting to reach a peace agreement, saying in such a mindset, peace would never be reached. He also discussed the notion of a shelf agreement, which could be reached within a year and implemented soon after.
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