Peace First: A New Model to End War

Zusatztext 57516063 Informationen zum Autor Uri Savir, one of Israel's most senior diplomats, was Israel's chief negotiator during the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, between 1993 and 1996. In his role as director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, he also negotiated with Jordan, with Syria, and in the multinational peace tracks in the Middle East. Prior to this, Savir was Israel's consul-general to New York and held various diplomatic positions in North America. Klappentext Uri Savir has an ambitious but indispensable goal: to modernize peacemaking. In the follow-up to his award-winning book, THE PROCESS, he exposes and deconstructs the many ironies and anachronisms in our current, deeply flawed approach to peacemaking. "Little in today's world," he writes "is more progressive than modern warfare. Yet little is more archaic than today's peacemaking strategies." While the social, political, and economic elements of societies have evolved to encompass issues of globalization, hi-tech and communications, peacemaking as a strategy has remained stagnant. Savir makes many radical observations, including the long-denied fact that war-makers cannot also be the peace-makers, and that we mistakenly believe that security guarantees peace when the inverse is true: peace guarantees security. Our outmoded approaches to diplomacy, he argues, actually ensure failure; while our preparations future wars reflect current, ever-changing circumstances, our preparations for the next peace process are habitually and fatefully based on the previous peace process. Witness: of the approximately 70 partial and full peace agreements signed over the last two decades, a vast majority face severe sustainability issues or have simply drowned. As an alternative to a world in which peace is just the pause between wars, Savir urges readers to acknowledge that, just as we accept the fact that there are sometimes "necessary wars," we must accept the imperative that there is always a "necessary peace." When we make this mental shift, peace becomes not merely a strategic objective, but instead a core, internalized value-a value that stems from our internalized commitment to equality between human beings, and from the realization that we all have similar needs, fears, hopes and weaknesses. To illustrate his four-point plan for sustainable peace-making, Savir draws on his own deep, first-hand experiences, most notably during the Oslo Peace Process, but also working to build peace between enemies and former enemies in the African nations of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone, the European regions of Northern Ireland and the Former Yugoslavia, and in Asia - Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.Making Peace in a World at War THIS BOOK IS THE RESULT OF MY PERSONAL AND NATIONAL distress. From a personal perspective, I wrote this book while recovering from a severe stroke. It is believed that distress sharpens one's thinking; this was certainly my experience. In writing this book I was reconnecting with life. For me, there is no stronger expression of life than yearning for peace. In national terms, this book emerged from a place of disappointment regarding the implementation of the Oslo Accords. As chief negotiator for Israel, I was profoundly invested in the process. Yet, despite the agreement's historical achievements, both Israelis and Palestinians are still trapped within a culture of conflict; the region remains pitted with emotional and practical obstacles to peace. This distress, I believe, is not mine alone; the struggle of Israel and Palestine is symptomatic of the struggles in the world at large. In 1945, there were fewer than 20 high- and medium-intensity conflicts worldwide. By 2007, that number had risen to one hundred thirty, including twenty-five severe crises and six wars characterized by massive amounts of violence, according...

ldquo;Through Peace First Uri Savir proves that he is one of the chief stewards of the temple of peace. He continues to fulfill his duties with great perseverance, and he dedicates his intellectual life to finding solutions to conflict and unearthing the origins of the idea that tyrannizes him—peace.”
—Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei), former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority

”When Uri Savir says it is time to modernize our approach to peace, he is surely correct. One thing is for sure: leaders trying to resolve historic conflicts need help from within and from without to marshal the wherewithal to confront both history and mythology. Uri Savir is certainly doing his part to help.”
—Ambassador Dennis Ross, Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of Statecraft, and How to Restore America’s Standing in the World

“In this book, Savir outlines a radical and innovative approach to the peace process in an effort to change the paradigm and move peace forward. In an era where new ideas seem in short supply, Savir soldiers on, with creativity, integrity, and a never-ending commitment to bring much-needed peace to the region.”
—Dr. Marwan Muasher, Senior Vice President, External Affairs, World Bank and author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation

“This is a wise and compelling reassessment of approaches to negotiating the resolution of conflicts in an ever-more-complex international environment. Uri Savir’s emphasis on combining the global with the local makes a unique contribution to the challenge of peacemaking in the Middle East and beyond.”
—Martin Indyk, Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution, and former U. S. Ambassador to Israel

“A thoughtful examination of the challenge of peacemaking in a world where shifting parameters —the rise of non-state actors, the increase in international terrorism, the advance of military technology, the growing rift between the Western and Islamic societies, the rise of extremism —have created a new strategic paradigm. A serious and insightful case for a new approach to conflict resolution,”
—Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, European Union

“Israel’s pre-eminent diplomat, Ambassador Uri Savir, has authored a highly innovative perspective on how international state-to-state diplomacy has to be supplemented by a people-to-people approach. The grand master of Middle Eastpeace negotiations has again proved his groundbreaking diplomatic stature through a city-to-city angle in our age of urbanization.”
—Terje Rød-Larsen, President, International Peace Institute

“Drawing from his rich personal experience, Savir has the courage and the vision to explain why narrow, conventional approaches to security are bound to prove insufficient in the 21st century. I particularly welcome Savir’s proposal for a Pax Mediterraneo that embraces everybody in the region, without exception—a task that seems to me more urgent than ever.”
—Miguel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Spain

“In Essaouira-Mogador, my tiny hometown, I was educated by my rabbis and teachers to first take care of my neighbors. Today my neighbor is Palestinian... By fighting for a just and decent peace between Palestine and Israel I am fighting for my own heritage... On this frustrating but illuminating road to peace Uri was one of the very few colleagues and dear friends who paved the way.”
—Andre Azoulay, Counselor to the King of Morocco

“A timely and valuable book... Uri gives us a rich menu of new and creative models for peacemaking. A must read for scholars and negotiators involved in vital issues of peacemaking.”
—Toni G. Ver…