Ex IRA Leader turned Politician Jerry Adams, talks about George Mitchells visit to the Middle East

Jerry Adams

Courtesy of the Guardian


George Mitchell and the Middle East


The senator will need all the skill and patience he brought to the Northern Irish peace process. But Hamas must be at the table
In the crowds of Washington's Union Station last week, I bumped into George Mitchell. We were both in the city for Barack Obama's inauguration, but at that point there was only speculation that George might be made US special envoy for the Middle East – it wasn't until I returned to Ireland that the appointment was confirmed.

President Obama in his inaugural address signalled a new direction for US foreign policy. The posting of George Mitchell and the referencing of his very significant role in the Irish peace process hint at a more focused engagement by the US in seeking to secure a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian people.

But as George and I both know from our separate but related experience in Northern Ireland, making peace is a difficult, exhausting and, at times, hugely frustrating process.

George Mitchell had been a very successful and influential Senate majority leader for the Democrats. He was known as someone who could broker a deal between opposing groups.

In January 1995, he became President Clinton's secretary of state on economic initiatives in Ireland and, later that year, he was appointed to chair the International Body on Arms Decommissioning. The report produced by this group in January 1996 contained six broad principles of democracy and non-violence, which became known as the Mitchell Principles.

But it is as the chair of the all-party negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement that George is best known in Ireland and elsewhere. Initially, the Unionists and the British government opposed his appointment. Neither wanted an independent person holding down such a key position.

When eventually George Mitchell made it to Castle Buildings in Belfast where the negotiations were to take place, the Unionists kept him waiting in a side room for two days while they debated whether he should be allowed into the room. And thereafter, they embarked on a constant campaign of challenging the ground rules and structure of the talks as a way of undermining him.

There was more to come. In late 1996, several London and Dublin newspapers carried headline stories alleging that Martha Pope, George Mitchell's chief aide, was having an affair with one of our senior negotiators, Gerry Kelly. The story was rubbish, but it had been deliberately planted by anonymous "security sources" to damage George Mitchell.

So, between interminable negotiations, almost weekly crises, dirty-tricks efforts from British securocrats and endless filibustering by the Unionists; not to mention the mindnumbing detail of a peace agreement, George Mitchell had his work cut out.

He patiently plotted a course through all of this. He brought to the process a legislative and judicial experience that saw the negotiations format changed from one of large cumbersome meetings to one of smaller groups of negotiators, usually involving the leader and deputy leader of the parties. This provided for a greater focus on the detail of the issues, and it facilitated a more workable and productive arrangement.

It also suited his particular style of getting things done. George spent a great deal of his time in side meetings with the parties. Throughout these, I found him to be goodnatured, humorous and tolerant. It is this experience that will stand him to good stead as he embarks on his journey to the Middle East.

Of course, a lot will depend on the terms of reference he has been given. Ultimately, however, no matter how good he might be, George Mitchell will not produce a negotiated agreement in the Middle East. That is for the Israeli government and the Palestinians. But to have any hope of achieving that goal, the US and the international community have to engage with this issue in a concentrated way and treat the participants on the basis of equality.

In the Irish peace process, the US involvement was generally seen as a good thing. That may not be so in the Middle East. That could be a complicating factor facing George Mitchell.

Moreover, if any renewed effort in the Middle East to reach an agreement is reduced by either side to a tactical game of winners and losers, in which the object is to use the negotiation process to inflict defeats, then it will not work. It will simply be a repeat of past mistakes and lost opportunities.

In a peace process, the goal must be an inclusive agreement that is acceptable to all sides, is doable, deliverable and sustainable. That means enemies and opponents creating space for each other. It means engaging in real conversations and seeking real solutions. It means accepting that dialogue is crucial and that means recognising the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders, their own representatives.

The Israeli government and other governments have to talk to Hamas.

The recent assault on Gaza is a brutal reminder of the destructive power of war and of the human cost of failure. It is time all of this was brought to an end.

But breaking the cycle of conflict will mean political leaders – Israeli and Palestinian – taking real risks for peace. They will need help and a real and unrelenting international effort to construct a durable peace settlement that provides for two states, but in particular, for a Palestinian state that is sustainable and viable.

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Comment by biba zimmermann on February 10, 2009 at 2:14am
you know,christine,i just never had any bad expirience with moslems.we lived together,we shared joy and sorrow,and my mom was anything but openminded person.people got marryed,moslem with christian,moslem with orthodox,orthodox with catolic.we were living somehow in prison,but we did not felt that way!tito did his best (in my opinion)to build a state(politicly)like switzerland,but serb president did not accepted,and because allmost everything(police and military)was in their hands,they started war,first in slowenia(just few days),then in croatia(much longer)murdering all:men,women,children,raping,everything you could find in hitlers time,there it was again.to better understanding,croatia was collaborating with wehrmacht in 2.world war,and serbs with russian,so that bill was still open!croatia got help from west,so they were able to defend themself,and i think,that was the reason,serbs moved to moslems in bosnia.moslems did not get any help for long time,that is the reason for genocide in srebrenica(8000 moslems killed in one day,uno was there,did not protect them),the only help came from mudjahedin.that is the reason,today there are islamist,radicals in bosnia,but i do not wonder,why.anyway,eu could not help,they were debating,whereas people were killed every day,and at the end,u.s came,and the war was over.the healing may go for long,the only serb president,who was asking others for forgivness,was shot dead.there are some similaritys to the situation today!one could think,we should know,by now,that war is NEVER solution,but,to whom shell we sell our guns,if there is no war?
Comment by myron joshua on February 4, 2009 at 12:55pm
Thanks for the article..and for everyones posts...
A sliver of hope
Comment by Christine Crowstaff on February 4, 2009 at 2:27am
Nicolette and Biba,
thanks so much for joining this discussion.
I will certainly have a look at your links, Nicolette, as soon as I have a moment.
Biba, I would be interested to know more of your experiences in Yougoslawia whenever you have time and feel like sharing. I love what you have written here. Thank you so much for that.
Nicolette, re your comments about reconciliation commissions...
I know that Marianne Williamson, in her video I posted on iPeace at some point, suggests that if the same amount of money time and energy was spent on conflict resolution as is currently spent on defence then much could be achieved.
Thanks to you both for your input here.
Love & blessings to you all
Chris
Comment by biba zimmermann on February 3, 2009 at 4:23pm
thanks to all of you,for teaching me about this conflict.i did know about it,but just from the press!as a born croatian,i expirienced war in yougoslawia(from the distance),pain and anger,but somehow i did not agree to hate everyone from the other side.i have seen my people become very onesided and racist.that is not a way to really peace from inside out.and,really,healing is the WAY,forgiveness(deliberatly),and:love thy neighbur as yourself(which is not that easy).peace and love to you.biba
Comment by Andrew Sampson on February 2, 2009 at 9:37pm
Hi Rú
Only writing this to distract you :)
So great in Ireland that the 2 opposing sides in the conflict started to 'hold hands across the big divide'

Oh my there is such a lot of work to do to make our world a sane one - eh?

It is so lovely that there is this haven for sanity here on I-Peace and on Women for a Change

You women really have a way to help bring light in.
It will be amazing when us men step back out of our heads and follow suit!

It is so fascinating that, so far, all the comments on these threads and the Combattants for Peace thread have been from women...

Sometimes, and I am aware I am generalising here, us men see the world like a computer programme. In black and white.

And it takes all the lighter shades in between to really find the solutions.

Ok back to computer coding :)

Hugs

Andrew
Comment by Christine Crowstaff on February 2, 2009 at 4:06pm
Thank you for this Ruach. I am so interested to know how the 'peace treaty' in Ireland is being faced and dealt with at a community level amongst real people.

I felt accutely aware, when I was in Ireland, of the history of pain and suffering. As you say, it was only a couple of generations previously and many of the elder generation could still remember.
I was in West Cork, near Macroom - a very republican area where there had been great oppression - by 'my' country - and it was uncomfortable to say the least to be English there - but not because of any attitude from the Irish - just my own self-consciousness. The Irish were the most friendly and helpful people i'd met in my life. They were so kind and generous. When my son was born - we were in a caravan - the neighbours for miles around came with gifts and their generosity was overwhelming.
However, we also had a friend there who'd come over from Dorset, where his family had been living for generations, and he used to point out that the poor in Dorset had been treated badly too - murdered and abused and tortured - the Tolpuddle Martyrs - and that it's so often been a case of those in power oppressing the poor and disempowered as much as anything.
What I found, for sure, in rural Ireland, was a huge empathy for poverty - whereas in England it can feel there is a judgemental attitude towards the poor. And there was a great mistrust of 'suits'.
And I know that Ireland was one of only three countries in the world who sympathised with Tibet when the Chinese first walked in (according to the Dalai Lama's autobiography) - it took the rest of the world a couple of decades to look at both sides.
Don't know what I'm trying to say here. But that is my experience and memory and feel of my time in Ireland.
Love you loads Ruach
you're doing such wonderful work being here - in the middle of your exams!
Chris
Comment by Christine Crowstaff on February 2, 2009 at 3:44pm
Some of my family were involved in an organisation called 'Moral Rearmament' - it was mostly women i believe. It is many years since i read the book but i know the principle was about forgiveness - about a spokesperson speaking up for a country and apologising to the country they'd been, or were still, in conflict with. Not a politician, not necessarily someone high profile, but someone - apologising publicly. It is so long since I read the book and I can't remember all the ins and outs - but I know the apologising and the forgiveness sometimes effected a great healing between nations and cultures and that there were some remarkable results. Sorry I can't remember any details or examples any longer.
Comment by Christine Crowstaff on February 2, 2009 at 3:39pm
Hi Ruach,
just wanted to say that I do know what you mean about the psyche of an oppressed nation being different - i felt that very strongly when i lived in Ireland. And I was also aware that the history books told a very different story there. That was the first time i became really aware that there is always another side to what we're told.
The story in England, on radio 4 and everywhere, was that the Irish famine was due to potato blight and therefore starvation because the Irish didn't have any potatoes to eat - no-one seemed to question why the Irish should be choosing to live on potatos in the first place... and that of course is a few generations after the famine.
Comment by Andrew Sampson on February 2, 2009 at 3:29pm
Hi Ruach
I don't normally join in discussions - my computer time is so full!

But you wrote:

It is grass roots level on both sides that can only bring about peace. And that is by people gathering, lobbying, and refusing to carry arms.

Yes you are absolutely right, but a peace-treaty is only of any worth when the people involved 'feel at peace'.
because anyone can sign a bit of paper and say 'Hello You are now my friend'

But unless they feel that deep in their hearts, then nothing has any value.

At any time the anger, resentment, hatred - whatever it is will explode again.

For sure there are a milliion valid reasons to wage war.
Oppression, injustice, poverty - to name but 3.

But with those come anger, hatred, fear, distress, etc etc

Just bcause the paper is signed - does the anger go away, does the fear go away?

For sure not.

One of the most beautiful things in the video I posted - Combatants for Peace - was the fact that they had realised they needed to bring in the tools of therapy and healing to bear in order to forge the alliances with each other.

A friend of mine, Sarasi, runs a workshop process called Family Constellations, here in the UK and it is amazing how much healing can happen through such techniques.

So, I think what i am trying to say, beloved Ruach, is that the 'stopping the wars' is in one way the easy bit. It's the healing that is the real challenge to make sure the violence and hatred and anger is channelled into something constructive and positive.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in Gaza, where there must be such an atmosphere of fear and anger. Similarly I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in Israel where people have similar fear and anger.

Dealing with the fear and anger has to go alongside the Peace process - just as much as sorting the material factors.

Well that's my 2 pennyworth anyway

Big hugs to you and lots of love from a snowy Dorset


Andrew
Comment by Andrew Sampson on February 2, 2009 at 12:54am
Hi Ruach
yes jerry is a man with real street-cred
This morning he was on Sky news being interviewed about the same subject.
Chris and I were real impressed by him. he seemed so open and genuine and real.
When Chris lived in Ireland Jerry Adams used to hold meetings in her local pub!!

It's so good to hear a man who has 'been there and done it' talk about peace and what it takes.
Basically he said that in the end it has to be down to the people.
And in Gaza and Israel people do really want peace, he said.

So Mitchell just came to bring the 2 sides together in Ireland, but it was the people who said enough is enough.

Big hugs to you


Andrew

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