Soft approach in the hardest cases : Facilitative mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abstract: Intractable conflicts are characterized by their duration, level of violence as well as their attractivity of conflict management and resolution efforts. When mediated, they are most often dealt with coercive tactics designed to pressure the parties to reach an agreement. Despite such adverse context, some third-parties choose to remain mildly involved in the process. This has notably been the case for numerous mediations attempts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The objective of this research is to explore under what conditions can facilitative mediation reach a formal agreement in an intractable conflict? We conduct a structured focused comparison of two mediation episodes, the 1993 Norwegian mediation and 2000 American mediation of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. In order to investigate our research question, we employ and articulate the readiness theory elaborated by Dean Pruitt. The empirical findings support our hypothesis that a high level of readiness is necessary for facilitative mediation to result in an agreement. However, some limitations and alternative explanations challenge the explanatory power of our theoretical framework. Further research is necessary to consolidate and precise Pruitt’s model.