Debate on the Arab Israeli conflict

The Middle East peace process is a charade

21 Sep 2010

Why Now?

In the good old days, the only process that peace came out of was called war. That’s history according to Edward Luttwak, anyway. These days, Scandinavian diplomats and superannuated British Prime Ministers, all looking for a moral make-over, invent a process that does nothing except stand in the way of peace. Peace happens on the ground, between people, when they are fed up with war and want to cut a deal. The peace process, with its language of rights and its notion of entitlements, creates a space for illusions that only delays peace.

You don’t have to eat the whole hog of Luttwakian “realism” to wonder whether there is too much of a disconnect between those negotiating peace and the people they purportedly represent for the process to ever deliver peace. Mustafa Barghouthi and Shlomo Ben-Ami seem to agree on that. But then they are not in power in any more.

Hope is plausible too: the stars are all aligned, and, not only that, according to Martin Indyk, Jonathan Paris and Manuel Hassassian this is for the first time since 1948.

Watch the insiders debate the history that is unfolding before us. You’ll get the closest thing to a feeling for what it must be like sitting in on those negotiations – with disagreements amongst the same side as important as disagreements between parties – and you’ll understand the fine balance that we’re in right now.

Event information:

This event took place at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster on 21st September 2010. Highlights of the debate will be available on this page soon, and full video for our Premium Members will follow soon after.

Arguing in favour of the motion are Shlomo Ben-Ami, Mustafa Barghouthi, and Edward Luttwak.

Shlomo Ben-Ami believes that there is a very serious asymmetry in the positions of the two parties. Whenever Zionism is faced with the choice of more land without a Jewish majority or less land with Jewish hegemony, they choose the latter.

Mustafa Barghouthi states that the talks are taking place between unequal sides. Israel is strong and Palestine is weak; in the absence of any serious international pressure on Israel, the peace process has become the substitute for peace.

Edward Luttwak says that throughout history it has been war itself that has brought peace, not Swedish diplomats, US senators and former British prime ministers. The peace process perpetuates the illusion of peace.

Arguing against the motion are Manuel Hassassian, Jonathan Paris, and Martin Indyk.

Manuel Hassassian concedes that, for some Palestinians, the very idea of making peace with the perpetrators of so much Palestinian bloodshed and misery is hard to fathom, but that without peace, their suffering will only be prolonged.

Jonathan Paris is “cautiously optimistic” that, this time round, the peace process has a chance. Among his reasons he lists the threat of Iran, the slowed rate of settlement building under Netanyahu’s government, and the popular support for the peace process among Israelis and Palestinians.

Martin Indyk agrees with Luttwak that peace has to come out of the “education of war”, but he says that this is exactly what is happening. He points to certain encouraging new factors in the case for peace, most tellingly an uncharacteristic willingness in right-wing Netanyahu to support the process.

First vote: 407 For, 315 Don't know, 332 Against

Final vote: 543 For, 521 Against, 40 Don't know

The motion is carried by 22 votes.

Speakers for the motion

Mustafa Barghouti

Palestinian democracy activist and member of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. He was a presidential candidate in 2005
Shlomo Ben-Ami

Israeli politician and historian. He was Foreign Minister at the time of the negotiations at Camp David
Edward Luttwak

Historian and military strategist. Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, and of the F&M Institute of the Japan Ministry of Finance.

Chair

Richard Lindley

Journalist and former Panorama reporter

Speakers against the motion

Manuel Hassassian

Palestinian General Delegate to the UK
Martin Indyk

Former US ambassador to Israel and author of 'Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East'
Jonathan Paris

London-based Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Adjunct Fellow at Legatum Institute, where he recently authored "Prospects for Iran."