ABSTRACT
The opening of Middle East peace negotiations in Madrid in the fall of 1991 had the quality of a breakthrough in the long effort to resolve the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Palestine problem. Nevertheless, during the first phase of these negotiations the process had not yet developed its own momentum and the negotiations themselves were burdened by an atmosphere of suspicion, divisions in public opinion, and a wide gap in negotiating positions. Against the backdrop of new evidence of interest in negotiating seriously on the Israeli side as well as the Palestinian side, this chapter focuses on the Israeli–Palestinian component of the negotiations and the requirements for creating positive momentum. Among those requirements is a commitment to certain basic principles that inspire hope in the two bodies politic. The author proposes that this commitment could take the form of mutual acknowledgment of each other’s nationhood—an acknowledgment that is based on principle, that is phrased in some way that the other side finds meaningful, that goes beyond the half-hearted and ambiguous statements made heretofore, but that does so without threatening the respective vital interests of the parties offering this mutual acknowledgment.
