I spoke recently at a Friends of Standing Together UK webinar where I considered what lessons could be learnt for the Israel and Palestinian situation from the Northern Ireland peace process. I was able to put forward a number of areas in which lessons can be learnt that might help to ease tensions in the Israel and Palestine area.
Segregated schooling
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, most young people went to segregated schools – Catholic and Protestant. Although some of what was taught was similar there could be a very different emphasis in subjects like history. This meant that the two communities grew up with different world views.
There were and still are some mixed schools and there were also schemes that encouraged students from different schools to integrate. where pupils from different schools met together and did things together. Without these initiatives, many children would never meet and mix.
It has been noted that integrated education was specifically mentioned in the 1998 Belfast Good Friday agreement as “an essential aspect of the reconciliation process”.
Clearly there is a lesson to be learned here regarding a peace for Israel and Palestine.
The role of John Hume
John Hume was absolutely crucial to the development of the peace process that led to the Good Friday Agreement. Indeed, it is hard to imagine how the Good Friday Agreement could have come about without the contribution of John Hume. He consistently stood up for the rights of the Nationalist community in Northern Ireland while at the same time equally consistently rejecting the violence of Republican paramilitaries as a way of achieving either a United Ireland or parity for Catholics within the Northern Irish/UK state.
It was this consistency which enabled John Hume to have a position which he could use to help break down barriers. It was because he had consistently advocated against violence and indeed had been the subject of at least one violent attack from Republicans, that he was able to talk to Gerry Adams from the late 1980s onwards and help to bring Sinn Fein into the political arena and away from violence.
This begs the question of who could be play the John Hume role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Who is there on the Palestinian side who is consistently advocating peace and has the moral authority to be able to speak to groups like Hamas and take them away from violence? Also there needs to be a meaningful political process in the region, which can encourage Palestinian leaders to use the ballot box rather than the bullet. All that seems a world away at the moment, yet there may well be somebody waiting in the wings to take the stage in just such a role.
Ecumenical work between churches
It is still incorrectly claimed by many people that the Troubles in Northern Ireland were a religious conflict and indeed were caused by religion. Religion did indeed play some part in the conflict, especially in terms of characters like Ian Paisley, but ultimately it was about national identity and whether the six counties would be part of the United Kingdom or part of Ireland.
Many of the churches and church leaders in Northern Ireland did important work bringing people together and still do. They held joint services and often acted as a conduit whereby people could meet each other across the divide. For example, I had a friend who lived in Glengormley in north Belfast who I visited and I remember his father telling me how his church which was Catholic, was in a bowls league with the local Anglican, Methodist and Baptist churches and how they used to like meeting each other and got on very well. This kind of grassroots contact was vitally important in the building of the Northern Ireland peace process.
Is it possible in any way, for synagogues and mosques in Israel (or the Occupied Territories) to do similar work together whether specifically on peace building or just in terms of bringing people together in a social way?
Bringing people together
Without a doubt one of the key factors in the development of the peace process in Northern Ireland was the fact that there were many initiatives such as the Corrymeela Community, based at Ballycastle in the far north east tip of Northern Ireland, which helped to bring people together, especially young people. There are few if any more important tasks for any anybody who is trying to build a peace process than to bring people together from either sides of the divide, in safe spaces, so that they can share their common humanity, learn to trust one another, break down the damaging myths and even work together on joint projects which benefit all.
Although it was rarely mentioned in the media, these kinds of initiatives took place in many parts of Northern Ireland throughout the time of the Troubles
How can people be brought together in Israel/Palestine and how can we help to facilitate it?
The role of Corrymeela
It was at Corrymeela, that I really did my peace work in Northern Ireland and where I learned a lot about what was happening and what possible solutions could be. Corrymeela is a peace centre on a hill outside Ballycastle in the far northeastern corner of Ireland. Indeed, it is easy on a clear day to see various Scottish islands and the peninsula of Kintyre.
I visited Corrymeela in 1989, 1990 and 1991 and helped on numerous Easter and summer programmes there, while also being active in the Northumbrian Corrymeela Support Group. What was interesting was that the programmes were not alwayas specifically about building peace; they were often about helping groups of people such as Downs Syndrome children or single mothers and in so doing bringing people together from either side of the divide.
This meant it was helping people to solve problems in their everyday lives, while also showing that working across the divide and as one community in Northern Ireland was part of the solution. This kind of ‘show not tell’ approach seemed to work very well and Corrymeela played an important role at the grassroots level in the building of the peace process. It helped to normalise the idea of Catholics and Protestants working together.
The development of a similar place in Israel and/or the Occupied Territories would be the great help and great achievement. Where exactly such a location could be found and how a similar safe place for dialogue could be developed needs to be explored.
