Deadlocks · defusion
A gesture that breaks the frame
One act so unexpected that the other side's picture of you can't absorb it: a leader going to the enemy's capital, an apology, a release, a visit.
The deadlocks are sustained by each side's picture of the other ('they only understand force', 'they want us gone'). A gesture that doesn't fit the picture forces a rethink, not by argument but by surprise.
The deadlocks it addresses
Where it has been tried
- Sadat's visit to Jerusalem (1977) — worked. An Arab head of state speaking in the Knesset changed Israeli public opinion almost overnight and led to the 1979 treaty; Sadat was assassinated in 1981.
- King Hussein's condolence visit (1997) — worked. After a Jordanian soldier killed seven Israeli schoolgirls, the king knelt before their families; it kept the young peace intact.
- Rabin's handshake and his assassination (1993–95) — partly. The gesture moved millions and cost him his life at the hands of an Israeli extremist.
What you have to believe for it to work
- The public on the other side is watching and can be moved
- The leader making the gesture survives it politically
These are the assumptions the future solution builder will let you set yourself.
What has to happen first
- A leader with the standing and courage to do it
How it can fail
- The gesture is read as weakness at home
- Spoilers target the person who made it