Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the First Intifada (1987–1993) and the Second Intifada (2000–2005) of the Palestinian people against Israel’s occupation, the calls against normalization of relations, and extreme views on both sides of the divide—all have created added challenges for those involved in peacebuilding efforts in Israel and Palestine. While such activities have produced some progress, ranging from joint coexistence to shared society, peace moves have remained limited.
Countless national and international initiatives have attempted to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute peacefully. National interests, territorial imperatives, security concerns, psychological barriers, religious dogmas, and ideological proclivities continue to block opportunities for finding an acceptable ←2 | 3→solution to the majority in both national communities. Forward steps taken toward peace are invariably thrust backward to agony and tragedy.
A Personal Connection and Commitment
We differ in our reaction to the ongoing tragedy and trauma. We usually find ourselves siding with the beneficial and the familiar. We sometimes promote and assist allies or “co-religionists” in ways that objectify, disempower, and demonize “the other.” “Might becomes right” and sacred texts are used to turn God into an exclusionary figure, sanctifying the unholy as holy, the inhumane as humane, and the unacceptable as permissible.
What has evolved in Arab-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian relations has generated serious concerns for millions of people. It has not only divided Arabs from Jews and Israelis from Palestinians, but also generated fissures in each of these communities. It has deep personal and professional meaning for me as well. I think of my family and friends who live in harm’s way on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide. I think of all the innocents who are losing loved ones and who are caring for those who are adversely affected.
My parents were negatively impacted by all the conflict cycles and wars between Arabs and Jews/Palestinians and Israeli Jews during the 20th and 21st centuries. As a child during the Six-Day War, I looked death in the eye. After the war’s first two days, my family escaped the area of the Jordanian-Israeli border in Jerusalem. In the heat of battle, an older brother and I were separated from the rest of the family and became internally displaced, at least temporarily, until we were reunited a few days later (Sarsar, 2018, pp. 10–15).
As a student of history and political science, I learnt further that war excludes and dehumanizes as it creates loss, misery, and a cycle of revenge; while peace includes and enlivens as it builds dignity and community. This simple fact has put me on a path in support of peacemaking and peacebuilding. My doctoral dissertation addressed the change in Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat’s foreign policy change toward Israel. In spring 1993, I co-founded Project Understanding in Monmouth County, New Jersey, which consisted of Arab Americans (Muslims and Christians) and Jewish Americans, to promote dialogue and peaceful coexistence. In 2006, I was a member of the American Task Force on Palestine delegation that visited with heads of state in each of Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. I authored and secured a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence grant to bring to Monmouth University in spring 2007 Israeli Jewish psychologist Dan Bar-On and Palestinian educator Sami Adwan to ←3 | 4→teach and be a resource to the students, faculty, and the larger community. I co-produced the video, “Crossing the Border: Peace Building under Fire,” which highlighted the cooperation Bar-On and Adwan while they sojourned at Monmouth. Also, in 2007, I founded the Monmouth Dialogue Project (MDP) that organized monthly meetings, fieldtrips, and connections to similar organizations and groups. In 2009, members of MDP organized the first conference of facilitators of Arab-Jewish and Jewish-Christian-Muslim sustained dialogue groups in the United States, Canada, Israel, and Palestine. My firm commitment to peace and peacebuilding continues regardless of the ups and downs in Israeli-Palestinian relations and infuses my teaching, learning, scholarship, and service.
Why must children experience violence or lose their lives before they have a chance to grow? Why must adults be subjected to aggression and aggress against others in order to feel free and secure? Why must the innocent face Hell in order to enter the gates of Heaven? Why must peace be crucified so that it can be resurrected again? When will blind commitment to this cause or that master stop in order for peace with justice for all to materialize? Why not invest human energy and ingenuity in the future of our children and grandchildren instead of developing the weapons, military tactics, and strategies to oppress or terrorize another?
What we say and do will have serious repercussions on intensifying or reducing tensions. Irrespective of our beliefs, biases, and loyalties, our message must be one: the cycle of violence must stop. Terrorism, collective punishment, and the slaughter of innocents can never be justified. We are obligated to struggle against aggression no matter who commits it. Our praise must be balanced with our criticism, and criticism ought not be placed solely at the doorstep of strangers, but also directed toward those for whom we truly care. The truth is to enable people to heal the wounds of belligerence and ignorance and to hope for a better tomorrow.
Hence, there is an urgent need to develop responsive and responsible leaders who are willing to adopt and practice a culture of peace, one that does not define peace as cessation of hostility only, but also the implementation of peace agreements and the advancement of social justice; one that does not depend on power, but on values that promote the common good; and one that does not reduce security and stability, but also expands cooperation and opportunities. This requires a paradigm shift, as is indicated in Figure I.1, which can be fostered through intentional thinking and behaviors, all directed toward peace, mainly in vision, resources, personal commitment, ←4 | 5→institutional empowerment, meaningful education and programs, and partnerships. The goal is to properly align values and perceptions on one hand with attitudes and preference on the other in order to influence actions for producing peace, not war.
Understanding Peacebuilding
Historically, there has been a variety of peace leaders. These are usually divided into two categories: peacemakers and peacebuilders (Sarsar, 2005). Although working within a similar environment, each group follows “a different set of values and modus operandi, based on interest and ideological predilections, ←5 | 6→policy parameters or principles, power positions, locus of activities, and reservoirs of resources” (Sarsar, 2005, p. 70). Top-down peacemakers, who mostly draw on instruments of power and coercion, include government officials, military strategists, and diplomats. Bottom-up peacebuilders, who normally have influence on the minds and hearts of others through ideas and work in small communities, include artists, doctors, journalists, and teachers. While peacemakers concern themselves with the termination of hostilities and the initial phases of post-conflict periods, peacebuilders’ actions target peace promotion for the longer term.
Figure I.1: Paradigm Shift Toward Peace
Although peacemaking and peacebuilding have historically operated in separate spheres, with little or no structural and process synergy between them, they are two sides of the same coin. Both are necessary for the successful resolution of protracted conflicts and the creation of a sustainable culture of peace. Therefore, there is a need for synergy or even integration between them as peacemaking does not automatically translate into peacebuilding. When the ink on a peace agreement has dried, real peace will not automatically ensue. That is why the populations on both sides of a protracted conflict must engage in psychological and social transformation so that peace agreements are successful. Otherwise, unfulfilled expectations and a de-legitimatization of the peace process will occur, often producing worse conditions.
Given the book’s focus, the emphasis for the rest of this introductory chapter is on peacebuilding. What is its definition? What sort of general activities do peacebuilders undertake? How
