| Chapter 2: | From Confl ict Protraction to Peace Actualization in Palestinian-Israeli Relations |
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so that peace agreements can be successfully implemented. Otherwise, unfulfilled expectations and a delegitimization of the peace process will occur, often producing worse conditions.
There have been multiple attempts and scenarios to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but the road has been rocky at best. While some believe there has been a move away from exclusivist policies toward more accommodationist ones, the Palestinians and Israelis continue to hold varying definitions of peace, informed largely by their cultural perceptions and political expectations (Mishal & Morag, 2002), as well as by the power asymmetry between them; this is made more complicated by competing local, regional, and international interests. The Palestinian goal is statehood; Israel seeks its citizens' security. Both are not easy to reconcile.
If the Palestinians (and other Arabs) and the Israelis are to accommodate each other, they must do so from a common understanding of peace, which can be reached in both intragroup and intergroup settings, not only at the formal governmental levels but also in informal nongovernmental contexts. The latter includes people-to-people diplomacy (Moses & Shneyer, 2009) and educational initiatives in which each national community learns the other's historical narrative.2
If extremists and radicals and if divergent opinions and contradictions within each national community have stood in the way of peace, the lack of harmonization between peacemakers at the highest levels and peace builders at the grassroots levels can also explain the lack of peace progress. Hence, peacemaking and peace building must be orchestrated, preferably in a safe domain of peace actualization.
In this chapter, I will examine the characteristics and roles played by Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and peace builders. The middle-liners in both groupings are highlighted as essential for creating common peace strategies. I propose a theoretical but practically possible safe space where both middle-line peacemakers and peace builders can become peace actualizers. If peace is to be actualized, more peacemakers and peace builders must move toward the middle, and those in the middle must move to the center of the peace culture.