Abstract

On April 30, 2003, the Quartet (United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia) published a statement containing its proposed "Roadmap" for the cessation of hostilities and resumption of permanent status negotiations in Israel and Palestine. The Experts' Forum on third party intervention in Palestine-Israel is designed to accompany contributing nations' decision- and policymakers, as well as relevant Palestinians and Israelis, during the course of the Roadmap. Its purpose is to develop a knowledge-based community that shares a common understanding and terminology related to policy, planning and operational issues, and an awareness of the political and security concerns of the principal parties. The Forum will be supported by commissioned discussion papers, memoranda, reports, briefing packages and a dedicated website for public dissemination of all materials associated with the project. The Forum is expected to exercise a multiplier effect and to feed into higher-level policymaking.

Post-Project Summary

Between December 2002 and May 2004, a total of six meetings were convened - four of them funded by IDRC - in the form of expert forums and problem-solving workshops. Discussion papers and briefing packs were not produced in advance of most of the meetings, as participants were already closely attuned to political developments on the ground. Rather, the conveners asked key participants at each meeting to verbally introduce substantive material to open the discussions. A website was set up and used to disseminate a number of reports that analyzed and built on the proceedings of each meetings. The reports were relayed to high-level Israeli and Palestinian officials and considered useful to the participants and their desk colleagues or superiors, as well as a wider but select audience. Overall, participant feedback indicated a generally high level of satisfaction with the discussions and written reports.

The meetings attracted good and regular Israeli, Palestinian and international participation. Additional actors were included over time, some of whom became increasingly influential. It proved very difficult to secure the participation of United States officials, however. Two out of four workshops were held without any American presence and only once did a participant from the US take part in an official capacity. And, the Palestinian participation, although roughly equal in number to the Israeli, tended to come from the PLO negotiations department and not to include active or senior officials from the Palestinian Authority or its security services. Also, the fact that the materials were not translated into Arabic until late in the project delayed the Palestinian response to project ideas and discourse.

Nevertheless, the workshops proved valuable and timely in keeping the participants abreast of current developments, and allowing them to exchange views and conduct substantive discussion and analysis. For example, the Israeli delegation floated the idea of the Gaza redeployment in the April 2003 meeting, and addressed it more directly in the September 2003 meeting, all prior to the Prime Minister's public announcement of the plan at the Herzliya conference in December 2003. In the estimation of the internal reviewer, both Palestinians and Israelis were able to benefit from the project, which in a small way assisted in the development of the Gaza Disengagement plan. Work continued in a second phase (102737).

Recipient Institution(s)