150 Israeli and Palestinian University and High School Students Negotiate Peace in Largest Ever Israeli-Palestinian Congress of Students in the Region
Organized by Leon Charney Resolution Center, in cooperation with the University of Haifa and Minds of Peace
Tzili Charney: “My initiative is basically to bring students to the table. I want them to realize their responsibilities, to be part of the discussion.”
The Leon Charney Resolution Center today (February 25) organized the largest ever Israeli-Palestinian congress of students to be held in the region - in a peace negotiations format. 100 Israeli and Palestinian university students and 50 Israeli and Palestinian high school students sat around tables to negotiate trust-building measures and solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Congress, held in cooperation with the University of Haifa and Minds of Peace at the Students House in the University of Haifa, was facilitated by Dr. Sapir Handelman, winner of the Peter Baker award in Peace and Conflict Studies, who leads Israeli-Palestinian public negotiating congress assemblies in the USA, as well as in Israel and the PA. According to Handleman, the Haifa Congress “is an important step towards the establishment of a major Israeli-Palestinian Public Negotiating Congress – a powerful peacemaking institution that will operate over a period of time. The Congress is designed to involve the people in the peacemaking efforts and motivate the leadership, on both sides, to conclude agreements.”
Tzili Charney, the founder of the Leon Charney Resolution Center which organized the congress, explained the importance of facilitating dialogue and discussion between Israeli and Palestinian students. “My initiative is basically to bring students to the table. I respect the young ones, I want them to know that we are for them and we consider them as partners. I want them to realize their responsibilities, to be part of the discussion.”
According to sociology student Alaa Amro from Hebron, 23, who participated in the negotiations and was visiting Haifa for the first time, the Israeli and Palestinian students agreed on the importance of finding a solution, but the issue is how. “If we expand our horizons and expand these types of conversations, we can find peace, because we are talking about the young generation. We are the leaders for the future, we can learn from past mistakes and we can create a better future for both sides. We have dreams and hopes for the future and being in such an environment helps us reach these dreams.”
The Israelis and Palestinian students, all from different fields of study and holding different political views, discussed, debated and negotiated trust-building measures and solutions to the conflict. The participants included 50 University of Haifa students and 50 students from West Bank cities, including Ramallah and Hebron, as well as 25 Israeli 11th graders from Ort Binyamina and 25 Palestinian 11th graders from several locations throughout the West Bank.
Their assignment was to conclude two agreements by the end of the day. The first agreement related to Trust Building Measures and the second related to a conclusive peace pact. Participants were given two ground rules for the negotiations: not to demean others and not to enter into a historical debate about the origin of the conflict and the past. The students were encouraged to focus upon improving the present situation, to visualize a peaceful future, to draft language that works for both parties, to think about creative ideas that can progress the negotiations and to make demands by peaceful means.
This Israeli-Palestinian congress of students came just days after the Leon Charney Resolution Center marathon “peace talks” at the Eastern Mediterranean International Boarding School (EMIS) at Kfar Hayarok (Feb 20/21), with the participation of 90 Israeli, Palestinian and 11th EMIS students from 21 countries (including, among others, Rwanda, Indonesia, Poland, USA, Guatemala, Brazil, China, Vietnam, Armenia, Italy, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hungary). At the end of those negotiations, facilitated by Dr. Sapir Handleman and moderated by Professor Peter Jones, an expert in conflict resolution from the University of Ottawa and, and Brigadier General (ret) Israela Oron, former Commander of the IDF Women’s Corps, the 11th graders reached and signed a “peace agreement”.
Background
The Leon Charney Resolution Center is dedicated to the history and future of negotiations, peace and learning. The late Leon Charney (1938-2016), a prominent lawyer, author, broadcaster and former advisor to, among others, President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Ezer Weizman, played an important role in the Camp David Peace Accords, which led to the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Charney, who dedicated a major part of his life to back-channel diplomacy, understood that the road to peace and stability required peacemaking activities in multiple dimensions. Tzili Charney established the center in her husband’s honor in order to encourage, develop, and initiate peacemaking activities that can create the foundation for a better world.
Dr. Sapir Handelman, who will be facilitating the negotiations, taught at Tel Aviv University, was a postdoctoral fellow and an associate at Harvard University. He is a former Lentz Fellow in Peace and Conflict Resolution Research at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Wayne State University, where he was a visiting professor at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. He developed and leads the Minds of Peace Experiment – an Israeli-Palestinian public negotiating congress – in major universities throughout the US, Canada, and in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Minds of Peace is an NGO registered in the USA and Israel. Dr. Sapir Handelman founded the organization based on his concepts of conflict resolution in intractable conflicts. The purpose of Minds of Peace is to bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians by using a method called “Popular Negotiations”. Under this method, a negotiating session is held between Israelis and Palestinians who come from all walks of life. The negotiations are held in open space, to allow the ordinary public to witness the entire process. In the process, the negotiators formulate the kind of agreement they wish to see for an end to the conflict.
The agreement reached serves a dual purpose. When presented to public opinion, it serves to demonstrate that ordinary individuals can reach an agreement where politicians have failed. When presented to politicians on both sides, it serves to pressure them into reaching an agreement.
Photos credit Gil Nechustan
