Can restorative justice principles heal the divide between Israel & Palestine?

The history of the Middle East – and especially between Palestinians and Jews – abounds with blame, recrimination, retaliation, and an ever-escalating cycle of mistrust and violence.

There is indeed plenty of justifiable blame to go around on all sides, but as we blame and blame and blame, attack and attack and attack, react and react and severely overreact while all the time expecting different results, we are certainly left with the insanity perpetuating ever-increasing tensions, violence, death, and the reality of an ever-widening breakout of war and destruction.

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The fact is that both Palestinians and Jews are indigenous to what we call “The Middle East,” and Jews (Israelites) have existed there continually from when the area was known as “the land of Canaan” from around 1250 B.C.E. Palestinians and Jews are distant cousins. Yes, it is also true that most Jews who reside in what today is called “Israel” arrived during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries C.E.

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Demanding that Jews evacuate the area or that Palestinians simply assimilate into other regional Arabic or Persian nations is as unrealistic as it would be to demand that everyone without at least 50% indigenous heritage abandon “the Americas” and return to the land of their ancestral heritage.

But what if we could take a step back for a time and view the condition of perpetual conflict from a 30,000-foot view? What if we tried to observe the larger picture? What if we could think and act outside the box in different ways to break this vicious and deadly cycle?

Even for those of us who do not believe in the Christian testaments, we can at least see them as a cautionary tale and take warning in our attempts to avoid the Christian Biblical prophecy of the end of days, of Armageddon erupting in the Middle East and bringing the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Daniel 11:40: “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.”  

Past negotiations have attained limited progress (The Oslo Accords, The Camp David Accords, The Abraham Accords) in forestalling total destruction, though some of that progress has been reversed.  

How can we somehow slow and stop the perennial cycle of acrimony, violence, and war? How can we ascend the cycle of liberation, friendship, and peaceful coexistence?

For the skeptics, I remind us of the words of John Lennon:

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Unlike Lennon, however, this new paradigm does not ask us to “imagine there’s no countries…And no religion, too.” But in keeping with Lennon’s dream, living in safe and secure countries and having the power to believe in any or no god(s) can provide us with “Nothing to kill or die for.”

The first step from our 30,000-foot perch is to suspend blame – just for a little while. In doing so, we are not forgetting the histories and the traumas, but rather, we are engaging in an emotional ceasefire.

The engine powering our cycle of liberation, friendship, and peace is fueled by the concept of what has come to be called “Restorative Justice” or “Restorative Practice,” though it has been called by other names for centuries in conflict resolution and mediation on the micro-individual and macro-national and international levels. Practitioners enumerate five essential principles:

Relationship: The assumption is that Restorative Justice practices are needed because relationships have been harmed or severed in several ways. The goal, therefore, is to repair the damage while giving those who are responsible for the harm the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends.

Respect: This principle sets up the conditions for a safe experience for everyone involved in the process. It involves listening with open-mindedness and empathy to others’ perspectives without necessarily having to agree. It does, however, require that all involved act in ways that help the process proceed safely for everyone.

Responsibility: This refers to how each participant takes responsibility and accountability for their part in the relationship by truthfully and openly looking within themselves and showing vulnerability in the Restorative Justice process.

Repair: The principle first refers to the acknowledgment that all of the harm may not be possible to repair, but those who have done harm shall attempt to correct or heal as much of the hurt and damage as possible. This principle has the potential to resolve feelings of anger and end the impulsive cycle of exacting revenge.

Reintegration: This fifth principle refers to how the community on the micro level and the community of nations on the macro level permit those who have done harm after accepting responsibility to integrate back into the community as a trusted member.  

Some critical questions remain on the uses of restorative justice principles and processes:

1. How can we employ restorative practices when none of the sides are willing to negotiate in good faith and are determined, instead, to control, dominate, and defeat others? How can we get the process started?

2. Can Restorative Practices be employed following the hostilities in the Middle East, like, for example, the model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the fall of apartheid in South Africa?

I wonder if a form of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been organized following World War I, rather than the extreme measures dictated under the Treaty of Versailles to punish Germany, we might have been able to prevent World War II.

That question is for another day, but for today in the Middle East, we must use a different paradigm before any more lives are taken.

Let the healing begin.

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