Deadlocks · defusion
A people's mandate
Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, brought together, work out what they could accept, and their proposal is put to both sides' leaders as a mandate the leaders didn't have to invent.
Randomly selected citizens' assemblies, deliberative polls or joint civil-society negotiations produce a proposal; the proposal is published, tested in polls or referendums, and presented to both leaderships, so that a solution arrives with public backing rather than waiting for leaders to risk their positions.
The deadlocks it addresses
Where it has been tried
- Ireland's Citizens' Assembly (2016–18) — worked. Ninety-nine randomly selected citizens deliberated on contested issues; their recommendations on abortion led to a referendum that passed.
- The Geneva Initiative (2003) — partly. Israeli and Palestinian public figures outside government negotiated a full draft agreement; it showed a deal was writable but had no mandate behind it.
- Joint Israeli–Palestinian polling (the Palestine/Israel Pulse) — partly. It measures which packages majorities on both sides could accept together; it informs but doesn't bind.
What you have to believe for it to work
- Most people on both sides want a solution more than any specific one
- Participants, especially Palestinians, can take part safely
These are the assumptions the future solution builder will let you set yourself.
What has to happen first
- Protection for participants from their own side's enforcers (see 'Who can afford to speak')
- Leaders willing to receive the result, or a route to a referendum
How it can fail
- Leaders ignore a mandate they didn't ask for
- Spoilers target the participants
- Selection is attacked as unrepresentative