Summary
The 1998 Northern Ireland settlement Falk uses in Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope as the counter-model for mediation: a peace process that, in his account, depended on the perceived neutrality of the third party — the United States acting as honest broker — in contrast to the United States’ avowed partisanship in Israel–Palestine.
Details
- In Northern Ireland and the Israel–Palestine “Peace Process”, December 22, 2013, Falk writes that his Belfast visit during negotiations about unresolved problems between unionist and republican (or nationalist) parties struck him with “the process’s absolute dependence for any kind of credibility upon the unblemished perceived neutrality of the mediating third party”; relying on Ireland or Britain would have been totally unacceptable and ridiculed. “In the background of such a reflection is the constructive role played by the United States more than a decade ago when it actively encouraged a process of reconciliation through the antagonists’ historic abandonment of violence. That peace process was based on the justly celebrated Good Friday Agreement, which brought the people of Northern Ireland a welcome measure of relief from the so-called “Time of Troubles” even if the underlying antagonisms remain poignantly alive in the everyday realities of Belfast” (PDF p.203).
- Falk notes George Mitchell as “the distinguished American political figure principally associated with developing the proposals that produced the Good Friday Agreement”, and the present Belfast phase presided over by Richard Haass, former State Department official and president of the Council on Foreign Relations; in that setting the U.S. government “is seen as an honest broker” (PDF p.204).
- His lesson: “Third-party intermediation only works if it is perceived to be nonpartisan by both sides”, and “Perhaps in the aftermath of a Palestinian victory in the legitimacy struggle, a framework for constructive diplomacy similar to that achieved in Northern Ireland could be devised, but its credibility would depend on nonpartisan intermediation” (PDF p.208-209).
- In the Cairo speech, the Northern Ireland parallel returns: “It was only when the British made this switch” — turning from military dominance to diplomacy, compromise and respect for law and rights — “that the conflict in Northern Ireland changed from being “irreconcilable” to becoming “negotiable,” and a substantial peace followed” (PDF p.220).
Related pages
Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope, Barack Obama, Legitimacy struggle