ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how confidence building measures might be applied to the Palestinian community, as well as on the factors shaping the formulation by Palestinian leaders of potential initiatives aimed at Israel and others in the conflict. Among all the actors in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinians are unique in their lack of the formal, institutional and practical attributes of statehood. Palestinian statelessness has several important implications for the possible application of confidence building measures to the Arab-Israeli conflict. A profound and pervasive suspicion exists as to Israeli actions and motives. Applied to the Arab-Israeli conflict, this sort of cultural interpretation of Palestinian nonconfidence in Israel has rather different implications for confidence building measures. Reciprocal Palestinian actions might include the limitation or suspension of certain intifada-related actions, as well as instructions to cadres intended to minimize the level of Palestinian-Israeli violence.
