Local Mediation with Religious Actors in Israel-Palestine
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CSS Analyses in Security Policy No. 281, April 2021 Local Mediation with Religious Actors in Israel-Palestine Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have failed thus far, for numerous reasons. One specific challenge has been how to address the concerns of religious actors. Local mediators’ engagement with religious actors highlight some ways forward, with insights relevant beyond the specific Israeli-Palestinian context. By Simon J. A. Mason The religious-secular divide that crosses the Israeli-Palestinian divide is not the only or main reason for blockage of Israeli-Pales- tinian peace talks. There are many reasons for the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to date, including the power asymme- try between Palestinians and Israelis, and the US’ favoring of Israel. Another factor has been the lack of a common objective for peace talks, acceptable to a majority of Israelis and Palestinians. There has also not been a consensus so far on the minimal pa- rameters an agreement would have to ful- fill, such as those related to the civil and political rights for people who see their home in the territory situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Nevertheless, the specific challenges of the religious-secular divide and how to engage Gate to the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif. Ammar Awad / Reuters with religiously motivated political actors, needs to be addressed. Non-liberal religious actors tend to be a minority in their societ- ies. Yet, through alliances with secular, na- tionalist political parties, their influence can such as those related to areas in the West Accords allegedly said that they would put expand beyond their communities. Many Bank during the Oslo process in the 1990s the Imams in the mosques, shut and lock peace processes, especially those in the and the Gaza Strip in 2005. On the Pales- the doors, and throw away the key. Yet, reli- 1990s, primarily involved secular elites from tinian side, the cleavage between secular gious communities and their Rabbis, both sides. The assassination of Israel Prime and religious political actors has been as Imams, and Priests will neither be silenced Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by a na- deep, illustrated by tensions between the nor locked away. tional religious Israeli Jew opposed to the secular-based Palestinian Liberation Orga- Oslo Accords nourished a major rift be- nization (PLO) and the Islamic-based Local mediators from the Israeli-Palestin- tween the secular left and the religious right Hamas, with its objective of a more Islamic ian context highlight insightful ways to en- within Israel. This rift emerged against the Palestinian society. A secular Palestinian gage with religious-political actors, such as backdrop of Israeli territorial compromises, who participated in the informal Geneva exploring flexibility between religious © 2021 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich 1
CSS Analyses in Security Policy No. 281, April 2021
They stay away from accessing the Temple
Swiss Peace Promotion in Israel-Palestine
Mount / Haram al-Sharif, Judaism’s holiest
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) supports peace promotion in Israel and the site, believing that the Temple has to be
Occupied Palestinian Territories that seeks to reflect the legitimate interests of both Israelis and built someday by God, not by humans, and
Palestinians, and complies with international law. In this context, Switzerland also supports that entry to it is forbidden until then. If
different local mediators and peacebuilders working with religious-political actors and secular ones
on both sides, including from the Herbert Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation they live in the settlements in the West
and the NGO Siach Shalom (Talking Peace). Bank (in religious terms, Judea and Sa-
maria), it is generally for economic rather
than religious reasons, as housing is subsi-
dized. Indeed, ultra-orthodox rabbinic au-
thorities habitually rule that territorial
concessions are permissible in order to save
worldviews and politics, visioning, and fo- making stories, are not deterministic in the lives of Jews: the sanctity of life has pri-
cusing on practical actions. Furthermore, prescribing political action. Moreover, a fo- macy over the sanctity of the land. Thus, for
focusing on peace talks at times prevents us cus on worldviews and narratives does not some Rabbis, there is religious legitimacy
from seeing what is being done at the local replace the need to analyze more tangible to hand over territories if this move brings
level to avoid crises from escalating. The economic, political, legal, and security con- true peace.
following attempts to contribute to a better cerns of all actors. Rather, the purpose of
understanding of religiously motivated po- trying to understand worldviews and nar- By contrast, in the national religious per-
litical actors in the Israeli-Palestinian con- ratives is to see how they interact with spective, a predominant idea is that re-
text and to explore how local mediators en- more tangible issues and to explore the demption comes from political action by
gage with them to address short-term flexibility between worldviews, narratives, human beings (even by secular Jews, as
crises, as well as prepare for longer-term and specific choices of political action. Ac- when they built the state of Israel in 1948)
prospects of peace. These experiences do tor groups entail multiple worldviews, nar- as part of God’s plan regarding the future
not only give hope for peace in this context, ratives, and diverse political objectives. It is of the Jews. Religion and politics are inter-
but are also insightful for other conflicts important to understand the nuances, some twined, with the religious reading of the
involving both secular and religiously mo- of which are summarized here, albeit su- Torah leading to political action. In rela-
tivated political actors. perficially. tion to Palestinians, politics tend to be an-
tagonistic, as some of the followers of Rab-
Understanding the ‘Other’ Jewish Actors bi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865 – 1935) see
One insight from local mediators in the According to Israel’s Central Bureau of it as their religious duty to actively work
Israeli-Palestinian context is the need for Statistics (ICBS) 2020 records, the popula- towards creating the conditions that would
all people, and in particular mediators, to tion of Israel (approximately 9.2 million) enable full redemption, such as by settling
try to understand and respect the ‘other’s’ can be divided into 74 per cent Jewish, 21 the land or making the state Jewish. Na-
worldviews, narratives and more tangible per cent Arab/Palestinian, and 5 per cent tional religious settlers in the West Bank
needs and concerns in a non-judgmental other. Jewish Israelis are not a homogenous are often there also for religious reasons.
group. The majority of the Jew- The belief that the Temple Mount / Haram
Visioning is a very powerful ish Israeli political parties are al-Sharif is the site where the Third Jewish
tool for opening up conversations secular-based. Of the Jewish Is-
raeli actors, the worldviews of
Temple will be rebuilt in the future (at the
present site of the Dome of the Rock), ani-
and interactions. two communities, the ultra-or- mates the attitudes of many in the national
thodox (approximately 12 per religious community. Some national reli-
manner. One possible understanding of cent of Israel’s population) and national re- gious Jews demonstrate this by visibly
worldview is that it entails ‘shared under- ligious (approximately 12 per cent of Israel’s praying on the Temple Mount / Haram al-
standings of reality orienting social and po- population), strongly shape political behav- Sharif, which Palestinians see as a provoca-
litical life’, related to what are seen as the ior. Yet, they do so in very different ways. tion. The national religious’ alliance with
most important matters of life and death the Jewish secular right means they have
(see further readings on page 4). No actor is The ultra-orthodox have traditionally political influence far beyond their com-
neutral when it comes to worldviews, be stayed out of national politics and viewed munity, especially on questions of settle-
these religious – for example related to the state critically. In this worldview, re- ment policies.
Halacha ( Jewish law) or Shar’ia (Islamic demption and peace come from prayer, re-
law) – or non-religious, for instance related ligious study, and living according to the Palestinian Actors
to humanism or communism. It is gener- laws of the Torah. The primary purpose of About half of the world’s Palestinian popu-
ally easier to address conflicts if actors are engaging in politics is to protect their se- lation live as refugees in Jordan and other
embedded in similar worldviews, as it is cluded way of life, their distinct education countries, while the other half live in Israel
easier to understand each other and assess system, avoid intermarriages, uphold their proper (approximately 2 million), accord-
what is seen as a legitimate outcome of a gender norms, maintain social welfare, and ing to the ICBS in 2020, and the West
mediation process. For actors that have dif- avoid secularization in military service. Bank (approximately 3 million) and Gaza
ferent worldviews understanding others’ Ultra-orthodox women have on average six strip (approximately 2 million), according
concerns is often more challenging and the children. This means that the community is to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statis-
criteria for assessing whether the outcome growing demographically, and potentially tics in 2020. A small elite benefits from the
is legitimate are likely to differ. Yet, world- also politically. The ultra-orthodox hold no status quo, but the large majority of Pales-
views and their narratives, that is meaning unified position in relation to Palestinians. tinians are marginalized in all fields of life.
© 2021 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich 2CSS Analyses in Security Policy No. 281, April 2021
Amongst other things, they lack freedom
Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif / Al-Aqsa Mosque
of movement, jobs, education, and health
care. What unites most Palestinians is the
struggle for civil rights in Israel, ending Is-
raeli occupation in the West Bank – in-
cluding East Jerusalem –, ending the
blockade of Gaza, gaining full self-deter-
mination, and the right of the Palestinians
to return. Moreover, Palestinians deem one
of their national missions to be defending
the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third most
holy site, after Mecca and Medina. Due to
its paramount national importance for
them and its importance to Muslims
worldwide, they consider it unthinkable to
relinquish it in a peace agreement.
Palestinians are not a homogenous group:
they include secular-based leftists, secular-
based nationalists (Fatah), and Islamic-
based parties, such as Hamas, as well as
Northern and Southern Branch in Israel.
The majority of Palestinians are Muslim,
but there are also Christian, Druze, Jewish,
and Samaritans. Most secular Palestinians
– who can be religious, though this does
not directly affect their political choices – solution to the actors’ religious concerns. plicitly state they have no further claims,
refer to international law such as UN Secu- Explorations of flexibility require creating such as negotiated at the Camp David
rity Council Resolutions and human rights, environments in which it is possible to lis- Summit in 2000 and the Annapolis process
leading to political actions focused on civil ten to diversity peacefully, even if it may be of 2007 – 2008. This pursuit can cause a
rights, the two-state solution, and ending painful. One approach, developed by the backlash amongst those religious actors
Israeli occupation. By contrast, in some un- NGO Siach Shalom, is to go beyond the who see their ultimate dream being made
derstandings of Islamic-based parties, the specifics of the conflict into the even bigger impossible by such an agreement. Instead,
land of Palestine is deemed a form of Is- picture of what peace is in each worldview. one idea is to work towards a long-lasting
lamic waqf (endowment) consecrated for Visioning is a very powerful tool for open- (rather than permanent) agreement that al-
future Muslim generations until Judgment ing up conversations and interactions that lows for peaceful co-existence and fulfills
Day. Accordingly, land seized by Israel inevitably address specifics of the conflict the core aspirations of all sides, yet which
from the Palestinians cannot legitimately as well. Intra-group preparatory meetings also leaves space for future generations to
belong to Israel. prior to meetings with actors holding dif- deal with religious-political goals that cur-
ferent worldviews is often necessary. Vi- rently seem incompatible. A process lead-
Exploring Hermeneutic Flexibility sioning within and involving different ing to such an agreement would require a
Even if held by a minority, certain actors’ communities is also one way to prepare for common objective and consensus on mini-
readings of Judaism and Islam see each a possible common objective for Israeli- mal parameters. A related idea is to make
party’s control of the land between the Palestinian peace talks. the preamble of a peace agreement thin, al-
Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River as lowing for heterogeneous actors to justify
being necessary for religious reasons – in- Local mediators often work in mediation the agreement in disparate ways so that it
dependently of other political, economic, teams that include Jewish secular, Jewish would cohere with their worldviews. Along
or security factors. Yet, the religions of all religious, Palestinian secular, and Palestin- with the above-mentioned ideas, Ofer Za-
actors also entail ideas for peaceful co-exis- ian religious mediators. This enhances their lzberg, from the Herbert Kelman Institute,
tence. The Jewish idea of ‘unity of oppo- understanding of, and outreach to, actors suggests negotiating an agreement in a
sites’, for example, maintains that all people from different worldviews. It also increases manner allowing for developing different
– be they Jews or Arabs – are creations of their impartiality, legitimacy, and accept- ‘victory speeches’: members of different
the divine. Similarly, God says in the ability. Local mediators working with the constituencies need to be able to root the
Qur’an: “Now, indeed, we have conferred other side need to build trust with them, agreement in their respective communities’
dignity on the children of Adam” (Surah while also being careful to avoid being seen worldviews and narratives (see further
17:70). The scriptures also show that both within their own camps as compromised as readings on page 4).
Jews and Muslims are literally from the a result of contact with the ‘other’.
same family, decedents of Abraham. Focusing on Practical Action
Multiple ‘Victory Speeches’ Another approach local mediators have
Many local mediators have thus explored One method local mediators have used is used is to focus on managing conflicts re-
the flexibility between religious worldviews to avoid talking about final status agree- lated to daily questions of co-existence. For
and political actions. Accordingly, full ex- ments, which seek to end the conflict once example, different local mediators were in-
clusive political sovereignty is not the only and for all, by demanding the parties to ex- volved in addressing a crisis in 2017 involv-
© 2021 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich 3CSS Analyses in Security Policy No. 281, April 2021
gious peace initiative, so they had strong peace agreement, but can also imply sup-
Further Reading
preexisting trust with the Israeli police. porting small steps toward peace. These may
Abbas Aroua, “Transforming Religious-Politi- Further mediation was needed in the last be unspectacular, but necessary for people to
cal Conflicts: Decoding-Recoding Positions stages of the same crisis, when Israeli au- continue to co-exist more or less peacefully
and Goals”, Politorbis 52, 2011.
thorities planned to keep the gate at which in the short term. Without this, long-term
CARIM (CSS ETH Zürich and Swiss FDFA), the deaths occurred temporarily closed, prospects for peace may also decrease.
University of Vancouver, Seton Hall fearing some Palestinians would conduct
University, Mediating Conflicts between
victory celebrations there. Islamic world- As long as ‘peace’ is equated with secular-
Groups with Different Worldviews:
Approaches and Methods, see CSS website. view sanctifies the mosque’s wholeness, and ization, it will be rejected by some religious
this partial measure was seen as violating actors in the Israeli-Palestinian context.
Dekha Ib Abdi, Simon Mason, Mediation and
the mosque’s integrity. Masses started to ac- This has been the premise behind the work
Governance in Fragile Contexts: Small Steps
to Peace, Lynne Rienner 2019. cumulate at all the gates. At this point, the of Siach Shalom. Religious actors may be
understandings reached so far were about to open to peace and supportive of practical
Ofer Zalzberg, “Beyond Liberal Peacemaking: unravel and the threat of riots grew. A Pal- steps towards peaceful co-existence, as long
Lessons from Israeli-Palestinian Diplomatic
Peacemaking”, Review of Middle East Studies, estinian mediator explained the problem to as such steps make sense in their respective
53(1), 2019. a Jewish mediator, who contacted a senior religious worldviews and narrative framing
adviser to Israel’s prime minister. The gate of the situation. Such efforts must also
was opened with Muslim authorities ensur- make sense in secular worldviews and
ing celebrations would not take place at the framings; and it must consider tangible se-
gate. There are many such crisis mediations curity, economic, legal, and political needs
taking place on an ongoing basis. Incidents of all actors; or else they will not be viable.
ing installation of metal detectors at the can flare up if appropriate steps are not tak- Thus, space for dialogue is needed within
gates to the Haram al-Sharif / Temple en. Efforts that respect the parties’ world- and between both Israeli and Palestinian
Mount. After two Israeli police guards were views and needs, taken jointly by Jews and societies, involving actors with religious
shot at the site, Israeli authorities had in- Palestinians, help to avoid escalation, and and non-religious worldviews. Local me-
stalled these for security reasons to prevent can sometimes even be leveraged for lon- diators can facilitate respectful relations
this from reoccurring. Yet, this had led to ger-term policy changes. across different communities and develop
large-scale mobilization by Palestinian visions of peace that make sense according
worshippers who saw this move as signaling Supporting Space for Dialogue to different secular and religious under-
a violation of an Islamic prohibition regard- International actors can play a role in sup- standings of reality.
ing non-Muslim control over the mosque porting local mediators, who can work
and change in the historic status quo of the across conflict divides. This also requires
place. They, therefore, refused to enter the self-reflection on the side of the donor, to
mosque, instead holding mass prayers work with actors who may have very differ- For more on Mediation and Peace Promotion,
around its gates. Through local mediation ent worldviews. It requires building trust see CSS core theme page.
efforts, as well as the involvement of the with local mediators, which takes time. Ex-
Jordanian authorities, the metal detectors amples of such work supported by the Swiss
were removed and inconspicuous security Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Simon J A Mason is Head of the Mediation
measures were placed further away from the (FDFA) is summarized in the box on page Support Team at the Center for Security Studies
holy site. The mediators, including religious 2. For citizens of donor countries, there is a (CSS) at ETH Zürich, working in the Culture and
leaders from Mosaica and Adam Center, need for understanding that peace promo- Religion in Mediation program (CARIM, a CSS ETH
had been engaged for many years in a reli- tion does not only mean working for a final Zürich and Swiss FDFA initiative).
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