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Third-party Nonviolent Intervention and Peace-building: The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel This thesis is submitted for obtaining the Master’s Degree in International Humanitarian Action. By submitting the thesis, the author certifies that the text is from his/her hand, does not include the work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and that the thesis has been produced in accordance with proper academic practices. Joint Master‟s Programme in International Humanitarian Action NOHA Master Thesis 30 ECTS Author: Karolina Göranzon Date of submission: 6 th December 2016 Supervisor: Brian Palmer, Uppsala University

Transcript of Third-party Nonviolent Intervention and Peace …1065879/...what third part nonviolent initiatives...

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Third-party Nonviolent Intervention and

Peace-building:

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme

in Palestine and Israel

This thesis is submitted for obtaining the Master’s Degree in International Humanitarian Action.

By submitting the thesis, the author certifies that the text is from his/her hand, does not include the

work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and that the thesis has been produced in accordance

with proper academic practices.

Joint Master‟s Programme in International Humanitarian Action

NOHA Master Thesis – 30 ECTS

Author: Karolina Göranzon

Date of submission: 6th

December 2016

Supervisor: Brian Palmer, Uppsala University

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Abstract

This thesis explores the role of third-party nonviolent interventions as a supportive mechanism in

relation to local peace-building initiatives. A framework on violence, conflict, peace, nonviolence

and intervention is outlined in the theoretical chapters, to provide a basis for discussing the

empirical findings of the research. Through the strategy of a case study and with a mixed-method

approach of participant observations and interviews, perspectives from the context of the situation

in Palestine and Israel were gathered. Five key informant interviews with former participants of

third-party nonviolent interventions programmes were conducted, and during ethnographic

fieldwork in Palestine and Israel, four local peace-building initiatives were studied.

The findings are discussed in relation to the theoretical framework and the conclusions drawn from

the discussion is that while third-party nonviolent interventions can contribute to local peace-

building, it is mainly through decreasing the risk of escalation of violence in certain situations,

sharing information and by supporting local peace-building initiatives. In order to be effective in

this area, it is crucial that the third-party nonviolent interventions are perceptive of the local context,

and reflect on the role that they play.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to direct my heartfelt gratitude to my key informants for sharing their time and

experiences with me in the process of this research. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity granted

to me by SweFOR to participate in the training of trainers in nonviolence, providing me with

invaluable insights into the workings of nonviolence.

I would like to thank my supervisor, Brian Palmer, for his guidance and feedback throughout the

process. To my family, friends and co-workers: your support and encouragement has been a key

motivation for me while working on this thesis.

Finally I would like to acknowledge all those who are tirelessly working for peace in different

ways, some of which I have met while conducting the research for this thesis. You are an

inspiration.

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Acronyms

EAPPI Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

SEAPPI Swedish Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

EA Ecumenical Accompanier

WCC World Council of Churches

PBI Peace Brigades International

CPT Christian Peacemaker Teams

ISM International Solidarity Movement

SweFOR Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation

ICAHD Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

UN United Nations

UNOCHA UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

AU African Union

IDF Israeli Defence Force

PLO Palestine Liberation Organisation

BDS Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

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Table of contents

Abstract 1

Acknowledgments 2

Acronyms 3

1 Introduction 5

1.1 Research problem, relevance to the field of humanitarian action and previous research 5

1.2 Research question 6

1.2.1 Sub questions 6

1.3 Research design 6

1.3.1 Strategy, approach, methods and limitations 6

1.3.2 Disposition 9

1.4 Ethical considerations 10

2 Deterrence 11

2.1 Violence and conflict 11

2.2 Peace and nonviolence 14

3 Protection 18

3.1 Intervention mechanisms 18

3.2 Third-party nonviolent initiatives 20

4 Acceptance 24

4.1 Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel 25

4.2 Local initiatives 34

4.3 Excursus 38

5 Discussion 41

6 Conclusions 44

7 List of References 46

Appendices 52

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1 Introduction

1.1 Research problem, relevance to the field of humanitarian action and previous research

Humanitarian interventions can be defined as:

any coercive action up to and including the use of force, with the alleged purpose of

preventing or putting to halt gross and massive violations of human rights, with or

without the consent of the receiving state as well as with or without the authorization of

the UN Security Council. (Krieg, 2013: 9).

With the inclusion of the use of force, this definition echoes the human tendency to use force as a

means to solve conflict, since this is generally assumed to be the most effective path (Stephan and

Chenoweth, 2008: 7). In the context of humanitarian interventions, I have always found this a

strange assumption, and even more so when it comes to peace-building. This thesis will explore

third-party nonviolent interventions potential as an alternative mechanism to support peace-building

in conflict settings. I have chosen to do so through the strategy of a case study, focusing primarily

on the international initiative the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

(EAPPI), as well as by looking at different local peace-building initiatives in Palestine and Israel1.

Peace-building and humanitarian action has been linked in previous research; here I would like to

mention a master thesis by Gabriele François Casini, attendant of the NOHA Master's Programme.

Casini (2012: 6) writes that:

getting a better understanding of peacebuilding organizations and their work can provide

humanitarian actors with useful insights on how to link and complement their respective

efforts, thus contributing to implement more sustainable and effective strategies.

I agree with Casini on this issue. I also believe that nonviolence adopted as both an approach

and method can contribute much to humanitarian assistance and peace-building. Nonetheless,

violence tends to be in forefront of research (Chenoweth and Gallagher Cunningham, 2013)

(Galtung, 2009). This thesis will hopefully present a piece of the puzzle on the issue of

nonviolence and peace-building.

EAPPI has been the topic of previous theses. Emmy Sartell (2014) studied the impartiality and

neutrality of the programme in her bachelor thesis, and Louise Albansson (2005) conducted an

evaluation and reflection of the programme in her bachelor thesis. However, these research

1 I have chosen to write ‟Palestine and Israel‟ since that is the order of the names in the title of the main third-party

nonviolent intervention – EAPPPI – studied in this research project.

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projects do not cover the same research question as this thesis.

1.2 Research question

The objective of this thesis is to explore the practise of third-party nonviolent intervention, and its

potential as a tool to enable local peace-building. My primary research question is:

In the setting of Palestine and Israel, can third-party nonviolent initiatives such as the

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) contribute to

peace-building locally, and if yes, how?

1.2.1 Sub-questions

Through my ethnographic fieldwork in Palestine and Israel in April 2015 when I met with local

peace-building organisations, as well as through interviews conducted during 2015 and 2016, I have

investigated the following sub-questions:

Do the conditions for local peace-building in Palestine and Israel influence third-party

nonviolent intervention, and if yes, how?

How are third-party nonviolent interventions regarded by programme-participants

themselves, as well as by people in the local context?

While the focus of this thesis is the role of the international initiatives, these sub-questions will

provide a crucial connection with local peace-building initiatives.

1.3 Research design

1.3.1 Strategy, approach, methods and limitations

The first step of my thesis involved a literature review covering aspects of peacebuilding and

nonviolence. Based on literature from peace studies and nonviolence, a conceptual framework on

what third part nonviolent initiatives was created.

In the concluding chapter of Civil Resistance and Power Politics – The experience of Non-violent

Action from Gandhi to the Present (2009), Garton Ash reflects on the lack of research on the issue

of international support to local peace initiatives. He pinpoints the difficulty in gathering data, for

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example due to the numerous initiatives that exist, but he also emphasises the critique that all

international interventions receive to some degree, be they military, aid or nonviolent. The critique

is that of Western neo-colonialism – by supporting or standing on the side of a specific movement

that has chosen nonviolent means of resistance, the international community can be accused of

subversive activity in internal state affairs, promoting a specific method, approach or solution.

Although the challenge formulated by Garton Ash opens up the path to choose a postcolonial

perspective when writing my thesis, I instead opted out of this path. Instead, I decided to use a

multidisciplinary theoretical framework to avoid a dilemma described in Postcolonial Theory and

the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Steinberg (2009) contributes with a chapter to the book where he

examines the relationship between peace studies and post-colonialism. Due to peace studies having

evolved in a period dominated by politicisation, it has been especially influenced by post-

colonialism. Steinberg (2009: 118) even goes so far as to state that:

the distorting impact of postcolonial ideology on peace studies is clearly a contributing

factor in the record of failures in this field. This ideology has replaces research with

systematic biases that select favoured 'victims' and rejected 'oppressors', and empirical

methodology based on testable hypotheses with political formulae and incantations.

In the same volume, Lewis describes how anthropology is a field that has also been influenced by

postcolonialism, but in a different way. Postcolonialism leads to a critique of the field of

anthropology, as complicit to colonialism. This critique has been internalised by many

anthropologists today, leading, according to the author, to the politicisation of anthropology.

Not choosing postcolonialism as the approach in this thesis was not a critique of the theory in itself,

but rather posed a challenge to navigate the perceived postcolonial tendencies of peace studies and

anthropology. Adding nonviolence theory as a perspective is a way to do this. By combining

perspectives from peace studies and nonviolence, and by being reflexive throughout the research I

hope to minimise bias as much as possible. Harvey (2011: 238) writes that “the best examples of

publications arising from fieldwork make the researcher's presence, participation, experience and

reflexive processes visible”. Davies (2008: 4) defines reflexivity in the following way:

Reflexivity, broadly defined, means a turning back on oneself, a process of self-

reference. In the context of social research, reflexivity at its most immediately obvious

level refers to the ways in which the products of research are affected by the personnel

and process of doing research.

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Research is conducted by a researcher, and that researcher brings her/his person into the research. In

order to meet the criteria of reliability, the researcher must therefore continuously reflect on how

she/he influences the research, and make that clear to the reader. (Michrina and Richards, 1996).

There are two main theories that lay the foundation for this thesis: Johan Galtung's work on peace

and conflict on the one hand, and Gene Sharps work on nonviolence on the other. Both Galtung and

Sharp have been active in these topics for a considerable amount of time, providing strength to their

theories. I have also researched other voices on the topic, through books, journal articles, as well as

websites for organisations.

My empirical material has been gathered by means of ethnographic fieldwork and the use of a

mixed-methods approach. Mixed-methods approach was chosen as a way of triangulation in order

to strengthen the reliability, validity and generalisability of the research. (Denscombe, 2016).

Ethnographic fieldwork was chosen since it generates detailed data, enables reflexivity and paves

the way for presenting both the view of the actors in the field, as well as providing multiple

perspectives. (Denscombe, 2016). Davies (2008) discusses the validity of ethnographic fieldwork in

her book Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide Researching Self and Others. She writes that

ethnographic fieldwork is commonly criticised in this area, but counters the arguments by stating

that “ethnographers in the field employ a wide range of methods from surveys to observation to

interviews”, and that “it is generally argued that validity is more likely if a variety of methods are

used” (2008: 96). There is also an added value to ethnographic fieldwork captured in an interview

with Don Kulick, where he describes that as an anthropologist, sometimes the most interesting

findings can be what you hear in the periphery, without asking a direct question (Svensson, 2015).

As a participant of a training of trainers in nonviolence organised by the Swedish Fellowship of

Reconciliation, I spent 10 days in Palestine and Israel where I met several local peace initiatives.

The main aim of the 10 days was to gather narratives from people engaged in local peace initiatives

on their perception of the space for peace-building, as well as how they experience international

preventative presence. The method I employed here was participant observation since the

organisations that we were scheduled to meet with were part of the training. Bernard (2002: 327)

explains that as participant observers, researchers: “can be outsiders who participate in some aspect

of life around them and record what they can”. During my stay in Palestine and Israel I

continuously wrote field notes, to record my observations

As part of the ethnographic fieldwork, I have conducted key interviews with individuals who have

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been active in some kind of third-party nonviolent intervention/preventative presence. Bernard

(2002: 188) describes good key informants as: “people to whom you can talk easily, who

understand the information you need, and who are glad to give it to you or get it for you”. Sine I am

adopting a mixed-methods approach, I have chosen to use key informants to increase the

effectiveness of the interviews. The sampling technique I have used was judgment sampling or

critical case sampling. Bernard (2002: 183) writes that this kind of sampling is common when

choosing key informants in ethnographic fieldwork, since “it would be pointless to select a handful

of people randomly from a population and try to turn them into trusted key informants”. I used a

cumulative approach to sampling since this thesis is a small-scale project and because the purpose

of the sampling is explorative, meaning that the purpose of the sampling is not precision as in the

representative approach, but rather in-depth information. (Denscombe, 2016).

In total I conducted five key informant interviews. The interviews were semi-structured; I prepared

questions and topics (see Appendix 1) to cover during the interviews, but I stayed open to topics

and questions that arose during the interview discussions. The interviews were recorded, with the

permission of the informants and their consent to the interview explicitly given in the beginning of

the recording, and parts of them have been transcribed. As my informants are Swedish, the

interviews were conducted in Swedish.

The strategy for presenting the empirical data in this thesis is in the form of a case study. Case

studies are especially designed with the purpose of highlighting the general by looking at the

specific (Denscombe, 2016). The case study strategy is often criticised for the limited

generalisability of its findings, as well as being more suitable as a strategy to describe a situation

rather than analysing it. However, a case study is especially relevant when it comes to small-scale

research projects since it focuses the research to one field, and encourages the use of more than one

research method. (Denscombe, 2016). This is one of the main reasons why I chose this strategy. The

critiques of the strategy are compensated by combining the strategy with a mixed-method approach,

as well as by analysing the findings in relation to the theoretical framework presented.

The design of the case study is single-case, with the case being the situation in Palestine and Israel,

which will be presented briefly in the third chapter. The reason for this is that the local narratives in

my empirical data are from this specific context. The case study will be the basis of my discussion,

but since I have gathered material from contexts other than the situation in Palestine and Israel, and

that is relevant to the thesis topic and research questions, I have chosen to present this material as

well, in an excursus. The material gathered, both primary and secondary, will be and discussed

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through mainly empirical analysis in relation to the theories presented in the first two chapters of

the thesis.

1.3.2 Disposition

This thesis has five main chapters: an introduction, two theoretical chapters, one empirical chapter

and one analytical chapter. The introduction sets the scene for the thesis. The first theoretical

chapter, Deterrence, presents the main theories that serve as the approach for this thesis. The second

theoretical chapter, Protection, presents different mechanisms for international intervention in

conflict settings, proceeding with the United Nation's (UN) mechanisms and concluding with the

concept of third-party nonviolent intervention. The empirical chapter, Acceptance, presents the case

study and the findings of the ethnographic fieldwork. In the discussion chapter, these findings are

discussed in relation to the theories and mechanisms presented in the two theoretical chapters.

Following the discussion chapter, the conclusion summarises the research findings and possible

answers the research questions presented above.

The names of the three middle-chapters correlate to the traditional approaches to security within

humanitarian interventions. (Brooks, 2015).

1.4 Ethical considerations

Denscombe (2016) writes that one of the challenges of ethnographic fieldwork is that it is a method

that it can lead to ethical dilemmas when it comes to the notion of informed consent more

frequently than other methods do. As mentioned above I attained and recorded the consent of my

key informants prior to conducting the interviews. On the first training occasion I asked for some

time to explain my research and let everyone know that if they did not want to be part of my

research, they could tell me. I repeated this at later stages as well. The response from the group was

enthusiastic and supportive. When it comes to the participant observation aspect of my research,

namely the meetings with the local peace-building initiatives, I talked to the representatives after

the sessions to explain my research and receive their oral consent, which was granted.

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2 Deterrence

2.1 Violence and conflict

Johan Galtung (1969) emphasises that in order to understand peace, we have to understand violence.

I struggled with this notion at first, since I agree with several authors that peace studies tend to

focus on violence and conflict, rather than nonviolence and peace. (Chenoweth and Gallagher

Cunningham, 2013; Johansen, 2009; Mayton II, 2009). However, I decided to include a brief

section on violence and conflict, since Galtung is one of my main sources and outlining a

theoretical approach on violence and conflict is one of the steps in the discussion of the situation in

Palestine and Israel.

Violence

Eisner (2009) argues that a general theory of violence is challenging, since there are so many

dimensions of violence that relates to different local contexts – and that in order to combat violence

one needs to be aware of all these dimensions and local contexts. Instead, Eisner (2009) looks for a

meta-theory of violence that would serve four purposes. First, a meta-theory of violence should be

able to see patterns between different kinds of violence and what causes these manifestations.

Second, it would show that some kinds of violence occur in different contexts and would set out to

discover if the causes are similar. Thirdly, it would have to be an interdisciplinary theory, combing

theoretical perspectives from biology, psychology and sociology. Lastly, a meta-theory of violence

would set out to see if effective methods for preventing violence share common principles.

Eisner (2009: 42) defines violence as 'intentional but unwanted infliction of physical harm on other

humans', and although this definition is limited, he makes some interesting observations. As a step

to outlining a meta-theoretical framework of violence, he commences by discussing violence as a

means to achieve a goal, i.e. violence as an instrument, and that this is an idea that is supported

across different disciplines.

Galtung's (1969) definition of violence is much broader than Eisner's, and not just limited to the

physical form. Galtung's definition outlines six different distinctions to violence. The first one is

between physical and psychological violence. The most common is the perception that violence is

something that can be seen, i.e. something physical, but Galtung also highlights that violence that

cannot be seen, i.e. psychological violence, and is violence nonetheless. The second distinction that

Galtung makes is whether the approach to influence is positive or negative. By this he means to

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draw attention to whether violence is administered by imposing an action on someone (negative), or

by reducing the effect of an already on-going act of violence (positive). While the positive violence

is a reduction of violence to a certain extent, it is still a kind of power-play, through which the

violence is hidden, similar to the way in which psychological violence can be hidden. The third

distinction relates to the object of violence, i.e. whether or not an act of violence has to result in

harm. Threat of violence is covered within this distinction, as is destruction of inanimate objects.

(Galtung, 1969).

The fourth distinction relates to the subject – the actor who performs violence. This distinction

encompasses the very important definition of personal/direct and structural/indirect violence. The

category of personal/direct violence is comprised of all types of violent acts where the subject is a

person/s. Within the category of structural/indirect violence we find the types of violence that exist

without a physical person(s) inflicting them. The relationship between personal and structural

violence is often interlinked – structural violence can be maintained by personal violence, whereas

personal violence can erupt due to structural violence. The fifth distinction outlines the differences

between intended and unintended violence. When it comes to consequences of violence, focus is

usually placed on intended violence, but this allows the consequences of unintended violence to,

potentially, be overlooked. Structural violence can fall into the category of unintended violence, and

if attention is not brought to the fifth distinction, the consequences of structural violence might be

overlooked. The sixth and last distinction that Galtung makes is between manifest and latent

violence, where manifest violence is observable and on-going, whereas latent refers to violence that

might easily erupt but is currently not present.

Though there are more distinctions that can be made, the aforementioned are the main ones

identified by Galtung, with an addition made later that Galtung (1990) connects to the fourth

distinction of direct or structural violence. This addition is cultural violence, (Galtung, 1990) and it

is the last distinction I will mention here. Cultural violence refers to those phenomenon or facets of

cultures that may validate the use of any kind of violence. “Cultural violence makes direct and

structural violence look, even feel, right – or at least not wrong.” (Galtung, 1990: 291). Examples of

cultural violence can be certain kinds of ideologies, religions, art – even languages. Galtung

explains the inter-play between direct, structural and cultural violence as a triangle (see Appendix

2). By outlining these distinctions, and in reference to that on principle of “peace is absence of

violence” (Galtung, 1969: 167), Galtung argues that peace should be structured in the same way as

violence.

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Böhm and Kaplan (2011) connect violence to the psychological notion of revenge, a phenomena

that is present in many conflicts around the world. Perceived reasons behind revenge can legitimise

violence in a similar fashion to how Galtung explains that cultural violence can legitimise direct and

structural violence. The authors illustrate that the urge of revenge leads the person into a spiral of

revenge that is necessary, but not easy, to end. The revenge spiral also creates interplay between

people's identity as victim and perpetrator, where the urge of revenge lead to victims becoming

perpetrators of violence. Böhm and Kaplan (2011) also illustrate how revenge and violent outlets

for revenge manifests on a societal level, facilitated by group identification, de-humanisation of the

other and shared experiences of violence in the past.

Conflict

Galtung (1996; 2010) defines conflict as a situation where the goals of the actors involved are

incompatible. This contradiction can lead to the occurrence of behaviours (violent behaviours or

behaviours not involving violence), as well as be influenced by people‟s emotions and assumptions

(attitudes). Galtung (1996: 72) presents Contradiction, Behaviour and Attitude/Assumptions in the

form of a triangle (see Appendix 2) that together illustrates a situation of conflict. The three

different corners of the conflict triangle and the violence triangle relate to each other so that

Behaviour corresponds to Direct Violence, Attitude/Assumptions correspond to Cultural Violence,

and Contradiction corresponds to Structural Violence. (Galtung, 2010). Behaviour is usually

manifest and conscious, whether both attitudes/assumptions and contradictions can be either latent

and unconscious, or manifest and conscious. Galtung also points out that a conflict featuring these

dimensions can either be violent or it can be a constructive conflict. If a conflict manifests itself in a

violent formation in either of the dimensions or in all of them, Galtung argues that they can be

transformed in order to achieve a constructive conflict. (Galtung, 1996).

In a conflict formation, the disharmonious aspect of the formation is dominant. But in

no way should that make us blind to the cooperative, harmonious aspects that may very

well be the basis on which conflict transformation can build. (Galtung, 1996: 80).

Åkerlund (2001) also reiterates that conflicts do not have to be violent, and that they can be handled

differently. If any of the actors to a conflict do resort to violence, this immediately changes the

direction of that conflict, making all parties involved more prone to use violence. This creates as

spiral not unlike that of Böhm and Kaplan's (2011) revenge spiral described above. What is more,

when war has broken out due to one or all of the actors of a conflict resorting to violence, all parts

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of the communities are usually urged to be a part of the war. (Åkerlund, 2001).

2.2 Peace and nonviolence

A lot more could be written about violence and conflict, but the purpose of the previous section was

to illustrate that even though violence is an instrument used to solve conflict it has various

dimensions that need to be understood in order to discuss peace. Sponsel (1994) reiterates Galtung‟s

notion that in order to study peace one first has to understand the different aspects of violence, but

Sponsel (1994) also notes that:

While this work is certainly very important, it is insufficient: nonviolence, peace and related

phenomena also deserve serious systematic attention, as research and teaching foci,

following the positive concept of peace. Nonviolent and peaceful societies appear to be rare

– not because they are, in fact, rare, but because nonviolence and peace are so rarely

considered in research, the media, and other arenas. (Sponsel, 1994: 18).

Therefore, the following section will focus on peace and nonviolence, with the emphasis on

nonviolence.

Peace

The concept of peace brings us back to where we left off with Galtung (1969). The distinctions

outlined in the previous chapter constitute the basis for Galtung's definition of peace, which is

divided into two parts. The first part of the definition is negative peace, which is the absence of

personal/direct violence, and the second part of the definition is positive peace, which is the absence

of structural/indirect violence (1969: 183). Galtung (1969) argues that peace research needs to focus

on both negative and positive peace. Sponsel (1994) describes the two dimensions further by giving

the example that negative peace has a focus on security, stability and order, whereas positive peace

has a focus on freedom, equality and social and economic justice.

The above definition of peace by Galtung is violence-oriented. Galtung (1996: 9) also adds a second,

conflict-oriented definition of peace: ”peace is nonviolent and creative conflict transformation”.

This dimension of peace corresponds close to Galtung's conflict triangle discussed above. In order

for a violent conflict to become a peaceful conflict, or a nonviolent conflict, there needs to be focus

on transforming both the behaviours (direct violence), attitudes (cultural violence) and

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contradictions (structural violence). Åkerlund (2001) discusses various ways in which attitudes,

contradictions and behaviours can be transformed and finds that nonviolence as a method is

effective when it comes to influencing behaviours.

Nonviolence

Johansen (2009) introduces nonviolence as a word that is commonly used to specify certain issues,

and is therefore often connected to another word, such as action, communication etc. Nonviolence

is elusive to define, but in this thesis I am inclined to adopt Stellan Vinthagen's (2016) definition.

According to classical nonviolence research, nonviolence is defined as actions that are undertaken

without violence or by refusing to do certain actions of violence. Vinthagen (2016) expresses that

this is an incomplete definition, since nonviolence is more than an action without violence and that

everything that is done without violence is not nonviolence. Instead, Vinthagen (2016) proposes a

definition of nonviolence that has two dimensions: without violence and against violence. The

nonviolent act is a combination of utilising both elements at the same time. Research on

nonviolence needs to be undertaken in a way that describes both the possibilities and limitations of

the method. When descriptions and followers become too dogmatic, it creates one of the largest

obstacles for a wider discovery of nonviolence. (Vinthagen, 2016).

Historically, two dimensions of nonviolence can be found, pacifist nonviolence and pragmatic

nonviolence. (Johansen, 2009). The two dimensions are not mutually exclusive, but are often used

at the same time and overlap in various ways. Pacifist nonviolence is a somewhat misleading term.

Traditionally, this kind of nonviolence can be found in religious movements, where violence is

viewed as something that is wrong and sinful, and prohibited by the religion itself. Pacifist

nonviolence is characterised by the notion that using violence can never be justified, not even if the

reason behind using violence, or the purpose of it, is viewed as good or desirable. The reason why

referring to this dimension of nonviolence as pacifist is misleading, is because it implies passivity.

Many religious traditions (along with the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi, who is categorised as part

of the pacifist tradition) in fact distance themselves from passivity, indicating that it is a form of

violence not to stop violence. Gandhi, in particular, coined nonviolence as something larger than

merely not performing violence. Nonviolence should influence your whole life, all parts of it.

Especially Gandhi's constructive programme stands out here – that a person should change an

unjust system, while at the same time living in a way that is compatible with the way one would if

the change had already taken place. (Johansen, 2009). Gandhi's ideas and nonviolent lifestyle is

sometimes referred to as principled nonviolence.

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Pragmatic nonviolence is the type of civil resistance that takes place with peaceful means, through

nonviolent actions. Pragmatic nonviolence is strategic and technical, and which nonviolent tool is

used depends on what is deemed most effective for the situation. (Johansen, 2009). It is within the

tradition of pragmatic nonviolence that Gene Sharp has been the most active. Sharp (1973) states

that unjust, violent systems are maintained by power, and when that power is supported and obeyed

by people it can keep the system going. Therefore, nonviolent action is when people stop supporting

and obeying the power, and employs various means to do so. Essential to Sharp's (2012) pragmatic

nonviolence is that it is equally strategic and involves training in nonviolent methods, similar to the

way the military complex works.

Sharp (1998) also categorised the different methods of nonviolent action. The first such category is

Protest/Persuasion. This category includes methods like demonstrations, petitions, formal

affirmations of opposition or support and symbolic public acts (such as mock funerals to mourn the

dead) among other things. Protest/Persuasion are methods that are peaceful and serves the purpose

of showing opposition to violence/injustice. The second category of nonviolent method that Sharp

(1998) presents is Non-Cooperation, which are methods that involves people terminating their

cooperation with unjust and violent structures, people, activities, institutions or regimes. These

methods include different kinds of social, strikes and boycotts. The third category of nonviolent

methods is Intervention. The methods within the Intervention-category are more confrontational

than the methods of the first two categories, and include such methods as hunger-strikes, sit-ins,

nonviolent occupation and creating alternative social institutions in the place of unjust ones.

Together, the methods in the three categories count up to 198, effectively disproving that there is a

lack of alternative methods to violent ones. (Sharp, 2012). Many of the methods are used almost

every day by groups that work on issues such as the environment and gender equality, but the

strategies are not always explicitly referred to as nonviolent. (Johansen, 2009).

Essential to nonviolence is also the refusal to dehumanise people with other sympathies than one‟s

own, to separate the person and the problem. ”It is not me against you but you and me against the

problem”, as Nagler (2014: 14) phrases it. Nagler (2014) writes that when one meets and treats

people with respect and dignity this amplifies the respect and dignity. Here is a clear parallel to

what Böhm and Kaplan (2011) writes, that de-humanisation is one of the phenomena that fuels the

spiral of revenge and violent outlets of revenge, mentioned in the previous chapter.

In a similar way, nonviolence can be divided up into direct nonviolence, structural nonviolence and

cultural nonviolence, providing a contrast to Galtung's (1969; 1990) categories of violence.

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(Johansen, 2009). Direct nonviolence encompasses nonviolent techniques and methods as a way to

resist and confront violence in various forms. Structural nonviolence refers to constructive

structures in society that promote and enable nonviolent components of a society, such as

inclusiveness and accountability to function. Nonviolent social structures ensure that any arising

conflicts can be handled nonviolently, with methods that are categorised as direct nonviolence, but

also processes such as reconciliation and conflict transformation. Cultural nonviolence refer to

elements of for example culture and religion that addresses ways in which to act nonviolently and

that celebrate nonviolence. Johansen (2009) talks about an elusive culture of nonviolence that has

been present throughout history but like nonviolent conflicts today, has been given less attention

than the culture of violence that is war, injustice and inequality. Direct, structural and cultural

nonviolence interact and reinforce each other. Pinpointing cultures of nonviolence in history, but

also today, has been made difficult by the lack of recognition of how essential nonviolent behaviour

is. (Johansen, 2009).

There have been studies looking at the success of nonviolent civil resistance to unjust regimes. It

has been found that these kinds of resistance often generate a higher success rate than violent ones.

(see for example Stephan and Chenoweth, 2012; Roberts and Garton Ash, 2009 and Johansen,

2009). I will not go into details about these and other similar studies, since it is outside the scope of

the thesis. Johansen (2009) does however point out that while these kinds of movements are

successful in getting rid of an unjust reign, the success to establish a just society after this is usually

less of a success. The reason, Johansen (2009) argues, is that the movements focus on pragmatic

nonviolence, and do not plan enough on the issue of what is to follow. This highlights the

importance of not separating principled (or pacifist) nonviolence and pragmatic nonviolence, but

rather to integrate the two traditions.

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3 Protection

3.1 Intervention mechanisms

International military interventions in conflict settings are referred to as humanitarian interventions.

(Krieg, 2013). The definition of humanitarian interventions quoted in the introduction is

problematic in itself, and warrants further research beyond the scope of this thesis in order to be

fully explored. However it poses a good introduction to the second theoretical chapter of this thesis,

where some of the mechanisms that exist in order for the international community to intervene in

conflict settings will be presented.

Gawerc (2006) presents definitions to three approaches to supporting peace as a third-party:

peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building. Peacemaking is the process of mediation or

negotiation to get parties to a conflict to end the conflict. Peacekeeping is when a third-party steps

into a post-conflict setting in order to prevent reoccurrence of violence, or in Gawerc's (2006: 439)

own words: “third-party intervention to keep apart warring groups and maintain the absence of

direct violence (or reduce it)”. Peace-building is the more long-term effort, focusing on different

aspects of society and includes various activities, initiated at grassroots level and adaptive to the

local context and how it changes.

The intention of peace-building is to create a structure of peace that is based on justice,

equity, and cooperation (i.e., positive peace), thereby addressing the underlying causes

of violent conflict so that they become less likely in the future. (Gawerc, 2006: 439).

The UN has a similar, but somewhat different take on what peace-keeping is compared to Gawerc.

They refer to all the different methods of supporting peace as peace and security maintaining efforts,

and have some additional activities as well. The UNs definition of peacemaking corresponds with

what Gawerc presents. Peacekeeping refers to the troops deployed following a ceasefire or an

agreement with the aim of providing support when what has been agreed is carried out. In order to

defend themselves and civilians, the peace-keeping troops are allowed to use force. Peace

enforcement is an activity initiated when there is an on-going conflict, and involves forceful means

such as military action. The UN also carries out conflict prevention activities such as early warning,

mediation and fact finding missions. Peace-building activities have similar elements as to what

Gawerc writes above, but the UN peace-building activities focus more on a state level than on

grassroots level. (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2014).

The UN notes that in recent years it has become rare with peace and security maintaining efforts

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that include just one of these activities, rather they often include several of the above-mentioned

activities. (United Nations Peacekeeping, 2014). This is mimicked by Last (2003) in his chapter in

Conflict Prevention: Path to Peace or Grand Illusion, where Last investigates multifunctional

observer missions. A multifunctional observer mission combines civil administration, military

observers, police-training missions, civil affairs, elections and security forces to name a few. Last

(2003) writes that experience shows that the kind of missions that are the most successful at

preventing violence from erupting or reoccurring are not purely military missions (such as the UN

Observer Mission in Liberia. UNOMIL, and UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone, UNOMSIL),

but rather the missions that combine civilian and military components.

Mediation is typically performed by actors such as the UN, regional organisations such as the

African Union (AU), governments or even prominent individuals in the international community.

Katia Papagianni (2012) argues that because of the limitations of the above-mentioned actors, the

space for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private actors to engage in conflict

mediation has increased. Reasons for this are for example that the UN and governments cannot

always engage with all parties to a conflict because it might result in the legitimisation of said party.

In a similar manner, parties to conflicts may not want to engage with UN and governments because

they suspect that there are hidden agendas. Papagianni (2012) points out that because peace-

building through mediation is a long-term effort, it creates space for various actors to get involved

at different stages of the path.

Gawerc (2006) also highlights the necessity to look at peace-building as involving various actors, at

various levels and at various times. One such level that is often overlooked is the grassroots level,

even though it is often highlighted as fundamental to peace-building efforts. Building the capacity

of local initiatives and creating space for their activities at different stages of a conflict is critical if

peace is to be enduring and effective. Gawerc (2006) also mentions the various challenges the

peace-building at grassroots levels face, which include lack of support from the government,

resentment from the community and lack of access to dissidents, among other issues.

I would like to borrow here from the approach to safety and security of humanitarian action. Brooks

(2015) describes the three approaches or strategies that are commonly used to ensure safety and

security for humanitarian staff. The first approach, acceptance, is seen as the basis for all

humanitarian action. It not only refers to the consent of the state where the operation is set up, but

also to the acceptance of local stakeholders, including local authorities and beneficiaries. The

second approach, protection, is a strategy put in place whereby the security risk is reduced by

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reducing the vulnerability of the humanitarian intervention. The third strategy, deterrence, goes a

step further. Deterrence moves to reduce the security risk by use of threat, for example armed

security guards. (Brooks, 2015).

Each of these strategies gives rise to dilemmas:

While these high-profile protective and deterrent measures may have protected some

humanitarian workers from attack in the short term, in many cases they not only severely

limited humanitarians' ability to deliver aid to populations in need but also jeopardized their

perceived neutrality, raising new security concerns. (Brooks, 2015: 14).

Acceptance, on the other hand, takes a longer time to achieve, especially in relation to beneficiaries.

The focus of deterrence is security, rather than safety, a status-quo rather than a change in the

situation which creates more space for humanitarian actors in which to act. This echoes Sponsel's

(1994) description of security as a focus in the endeavour for negative peace. It also correlates some

to the activities involved in supporting peace described in this section, and the lack of effectiveness

that can arise from putting them in action separately.

Chaulia (2011: 207) puts it like this: “Military humanitarianism is a feint to exacerbate a violent

environment by injecting more armaments and combatants to prolong war”. This is a strong critique

not only towards humanitarian interventions as military interventions to protect civilians, but also

towards adding more weapons to an already volatile situation – no matter who wields them.

“Violence breeds violence”, as Åkerlund (2001: 75) so elegantly phrases it, again mimicking the

spiral of revenge (Böhm and Kaplan, 2011) described in the previous section. Chaulia (2011) also

criticises the international community for not practising what they preach in the sense that they aim

to promote peace, but instead by its action legitimises the use of force, in part through military

humanitarian interventions, but also through what the author (2011: 221) refers to as “its violent

structural roots”, i.e. that humanitarianism (like peace studies and anthropology, mentioned in the

introduction) has a colonialist burden. What Chaulia (2011) proposes as a remedy to this

inconsistency is that the international community focus instead on local actors that are trying to

mitigate the violence.

3.2 Third-party nonviolent initiatives

This brings us to the concluding theoretical section of this thesis. What has been illustrated in the

previous chapters and sections is that various dimensions within violence, conflict, peace and

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intervention are interlinked. Following this section as well as the next chapter on my empirical

findings, the theoretical perspectives presented here will be discussed in relation to the case study.

Most of the common forms of third-party intervention focuses on security. Johan Galtung (2007)

argues that if we are to relate conflict, violence and peace, peace needs always to be the focus.

Åkerlund (2001) writes that locating and supporting initiatives at local levels within society that

have peace as its focus is an important step for third-parties to take. What makes that support even

stronger is if the supportive international body itself has peace at its core.

When outside actors intervene in a situation where there is conflict, the goal is often to get the

parties to negotiate, for example when it comes to diplomatic interventions. However, Galtung

(2010) identified this as another faulty approach, since the parties may not be in a place where they

are ready for this. Rather another approach could be to create an arena for narratives and dialogue to

take place.

Although some of the mechanisms described in the previous section of this chapter do not use force

or weapons as a tool, they are not what is meant by third-party nonviolent action in this thesis.

Åkerlund (2001) describes one form of third-party nonviolent intervention, namely preventative

presence. With this, an international organisation is present in an area of conflict and aim to stave of

violence. Most commonly, preventative presence is a form of protection for individuals and/or

organisations that work for peace. The mere presence of an international volunteer is what is

supposed to hold of violence. It also aims to give the individuals and/or organisations that they

support a chance to do their work. Åkerlund (2001) points out the very important distinction

between supporting organisations and individuals working for peace on the one hand, and support

one party to the conflict. By nonviolently supporting a party to a conflict, Åkerlund writes, the

conflict could intensify rather than ease and lead to further violence. An important element in third-

party nonviolent intervention must be to include ideas from the principled (or pacifist) dimension of

nonviolence.

Third-party nonviolent intervention can be put into action as accompaniment. Mahony (2013)

writes about the accompaniment model and how the idea of accompaniment aims to influence the

situation on the ground in different ways. These include preventing violence against people

involved in peace-building locally; strengthen the agency and morale of local peace-building

initiatives as well as creating an international base for advocacy.

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Sharp (2000) writes that while sympathies from third-party actors may not influence the outcome of

a conflict in a crucial way, they can be important if they lead to open support or direct action. While

the third-party support that Sharp has looked at has been mainly symbolic, it has showed room for

improvement when it comes to effectiveness. One such are of improvement that Sharp highlights is

to offer capacity building to local initiatives. He does, however, place a very strong emphasis that

while the area of third-party nonviolent intervention does have a lot of possibilities, it should always

be initiated in support of a local initiative. (Sharp, 2000).

Boothe and Smithey (2007) make a similar point. While commending third-party nonviolent

intervention as a mechanism with potential to support peace-building, they also highlight the

possible negative side-effects of undermining local actors. The argument the authors make is that

the preventative presence aspect of third-party nonviolent interventions rely heavily on the power

dynamics of the international volunteers and that this aspect maintains inequalities such as racism.

Boothe and Smithey (2007) argue that in order to avoid this, third-party nonviolent initiatives

should include reflexive training in recognising and problematising structural inequalities inherent

in the intervention itself. At the same time, third-party nonviolent interventions should aim towards

being as diverse as possible. (Boothe and Smithey, 2007).

Johansen (2009) reflects on the role of third parties when there is on-going nonviolent civil

resistance in a country. He touches briefly on the occurrence of external political, moral and

financial support, and the lack of research on the effect this different kinds of support has on the

nonviolent movements. ”One crucial question is, if some intervention from abroad is important,

necessary or sufficient for local movements to be victorious.” (Johansen, 2009: 157). Johansen

(2009) points out that this is an area of research that should be studied further.

Coy (2012) brings up an interesting aspect of accompaniment in an article that compares the third-

party nonviolent intervention of Peace Brigades International (PBI), Christian Peacemaker Teams

(CPT) and International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The three organisations, while applying the

accompaniment model, do it with slightly different approaches. Mainly the author looks at the

extent to which the different organisations are neutral, as well as the extent to which they participate

in and support activities that fall into the category of civil disobedience. Coy (2012) finds that a

higher level of neutrality enables the organisation to continue their work in supporting local peace-

building initiatives longer, since physical intervention and taking part in activities that are outside of

the law in the country where they are can lead to that the organisation loses legitimacy. In a similar

way to how neutrality in humanitarian action allows organisations greater access to people in need

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of assistance, so too does neutrality when it comes to third-party nonviolent intervention contribute

to fulfilling the aim of intervening in the first place.

Eddy (2014) takes the discussion of approaches to third-party nonviolent intervention through

accompaniment a step further and links it to the two dimensions within nonviolence – principled

and pragmatic. He too looks at CPT and ISM and finds that depending on which of the two

dimensions a participant on one of the organisations adheres to, the behaviour of the participant can

differ. Eddy (2014) found that if a participant followed pragmatic nonviolence too dogmatically,

this could influence the movements negatively, putting far too much focus on the differences

between the parties, and forgetting to separate the person and the system. The participants who had

a more principled outlook, Eddy found to be more open and sympathetic. The conclusion is that it is

important to be aware of the dimension one adheres to in order to avoid the risks involved. In order

to do this, Eddy (2014) recommends that rather than viewing principled and pragmatic nonviolence

as two separate approaches, third-party nonviolent interventions would benefit from viewing the

dimensions more as a continuum.

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4 Acceptance

Before presenting my empirical data, I will start this chapter by giving a short background to the

context of my case study. Several volumes could – and have been – written about this, but I will

only give a brief insight. At the core the contradiction may appear to be a basic one where there are

two people laying claims on the same land area, but with the years other dimensions have

developed. (Landguiden, 2015).

The conflict dates further back than the foundation of the Israeli state in 1948. Palestinians and

Israelis have lived in the area for centuries, and the countries have been the subject of many

conquests, occupations and different administrations through the years. This section will focus on

the modern history of, since the end of the World War II. After the end of the war, the UN proposed

that the area should be divided into one Jewish and one Arab state. The Arabs did not accept this

proposition, and when the Jewish state of Israel was declared, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi

Arabia and Yemen launched an attack. A ceasefire was declared in 1949, and by then Israel had

expanded its territory, diminishing the Palestinian state and around 700 000 Palestinians had fled to

refugee camps in the Jordan-occupied West Bank and the Egypt-controlled Gaza. Around 160 000

Palestinians remained in Israel. (Landguiden, 2016).

During the 1950s, the Palestinians began to organise their resistance. The support for an Arab state

was still found in surrounding countries, and in 1967, Egypt, Jordan and Syria launched a war

against Israel. What followed was the so-called Six-Day War, which concluded with the Israeli

seizure of several new territories, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In the 1973

October-War, Israel saw another victory against the neighbouring countries, and the Palestine

Liberation Organisation (PLO), who had lead the Palestinian resistance, changed their tactics. The

liberation of Palestine should be achieved through not only military means, but political as well.

PLO was granted observer-status in the UN in 1974. (Landguiden, 2016).

During the 1970s the so-called Israeli settlements on occupied territories increased and the

frustration among the Palestinians grew. In 1987, a civilian uprising referred to as the first Intifada

began. Collective punishment and low-intense warfare was Israel's response and the situation

became increasingly untenable. When Jordan revoked their administrative responsibility for the

West Bank in 1988, PLO declared an independent Palestinian state, which was recognised by

around 80 countries. This move lead to that PLO recognised the possibility of a two-state solution

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to the conflict and in a way indirectly recognised the state of Israel. (Landguiden, 2016).

In the beginning of the 1990s, a peace process was initiated between Palestine and Israel. The result

of the negotiations was the Oslo accord, which was signed in 1993. The agreement gave limited

Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. PLO declared Israel's right to exist, and Israel in

turned recognised PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. The accord was not a peace

agreement, but a roadmap for the continued road to a solution of the conflict. The parties disagreed

on the meaning and the opposition on both sides tried to sabotage the process. Islamist movements

began carrying out suicide attacks against civilian Israelis and retaliatory attacks followed. Israel

initiated the construction of a so-called safety barrier towards the West Bank, built primarily on

Palestinian land. In 2000, a second Intifada was initiated by Palestinians, resulting in the Israeli

occupation of the West Bank. (Landguiden, 2016).

After the failure of the peace-process many failed attempts have followed. The key issues to solve

are the dual claims on Jerusalem as capital, the faith of the Palestinian refugees and their

descendants, as well as the existence and questionable legality of the settlements on Palestinian land.

These issues, together with the on-going violence on the ground lead to the failure of peace

processes in 2000, 2002 as well as 2013/2014. (Landguiden, 2016).

The violence and conflict has repeatedly resulted in wars between Palestine and Israel, mainly

focused in Gaza, the latest one in the summer of 2014. Small-scale violence targeting civilians

continues on both sides, often resulting in retaliatory attacks. While the two-state solution is still

internationally considered to be the most viable, the continued violence as well as the failure to get

a dialogue going leads to the idea slipping further away. (Landguiden, 2016).

4.1 Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is an international

programme established in 2002. It is coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and

was initiated following a request from 13 church leaders in Jerusalem to enhance the international

presence in Palestine and Israel. Since its establishment, over 1,500 people from all over the world

have participated in the programme. The programme has a clear vision and mission (EAPPI, 2016a):

Vision – a future in which the occupation of Palestine has ended and both

Palestinians and Israelis enjoy a just peace with freedom and security based on

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international law.

Mission – to witness life under occupation, engage with local Palestinians and

Israelis pursuing a just peace, to change the international community‟s involvement

in the conflict, urging them to act against injustice in the region.

The programme follows the model of accompaniment, described above, and has six key principles.

The first principle is protective presence, the aim of which is to decrease violence against civilians.

The second principle is monitoring human rights violations. The Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs)

write reports on their observations of abuses they cannot prevent and share these reports with the

UN. The third principle is to stand with local peace and human rights groups, through which they

hope to strengthen the credibility and capacity of the work of both Palestinian and Israeli peace

initiatives. The fourth principle is advocacy, which is something that is a strong focus for the EAs

once they return home. They share their stories and experiences with different actors and raise

awareness in the hope that this can contribute to changing policy for the better. The fifth principle is

impartiality. This principle entails that they are not biased in the conflict, but are working for human

rights and adherence to international humanitarian law. (EAPPI, 2016b). The sixth principle is

nonviolence, which is described in the following way:

Nonviolence is a way of living that rejects the use of violence and seeks to bring

change through the engagement of individuals and groups peaceful strategies. We

believe nonviolence is the only way to a true and lasting solution to conflict. Our

actions are nonviolent and we support all people working nonviolently for peace in

Israel and Palestine. (EAPPI, 2016b)

The kind of activities that the EAs engage in during their three months in Palestine and Israel

differs depending on where they are stationed, what time of the year they are in the field as

well as their own resources and capacities. Gunlög, one of my key informants told me that the

tasks that the EAs engage in should always be grounded in the local context. But the overall

idea is that of preventative presence through accompaniment.

“The Accompaniment programme is more about having a preventative presence, that our mere

presence should deter or prevent the occurrence of violence or harassment, so the method itself is

not really about that we will intervene, but more that by being there in a way has intervened.”

This was Helena's, one of my other key informants, way of describing it. It was mirrored by Gunlög

who said:

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“We appeared in our vests that you may know what they look like, and the idea behind it is that we

should suppress flare-up of violence by our presence. And to show solidarity with groups working

nonviolently, both Palestinians and Israelis.

Maria, one of my key informants who I interviewed both as a former EA, but with a main focus on

her time with Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Nepal said the following;

“There was more emphasis on SEAPPI (Swedish Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in

Palestine and Israel) to maybe not perform as much, but that there is a great value to only show

oneself. So that the international presence in place can have an extremely strong symbolic value.”

Helena also said: “we should be visible, show that we are there, for all, all parts.” The intensity

would also differ depending on the timing.

Helena was stationed in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank (see appendix 3, image 1). She told

me that in this part the context was very much influenced by problems caused by the walls. In the

mornings they would stand by the farm gates that the farmers used to reach their lands. Another task

was to be present at one of the big checkpoints where many workers, students and people with

appointments to see a doctor passed through each morning. They would also visit a Palestinian

village nearby, situated in the zone between the green line and the wall. During the harvesting

seasons the EAs in Tulkarem would help out. They were also on call to be present according to

needs, for example when there was a house demolition. In the area on the West Bank surrounding

Tulkarem there are also a lot of road blocks, but all of them are not manned at the same time. If one

of them was manned all of a sudden, the EAs would receive a phone call informing them of the

situation and asking them to go to the road block to observe. Helena also found it important to

participate in the daily lives of the Palestinians she met, and attend occasions such as sport events

and theatre, to not just be there at the farm gates and checkpoints, but also during joyous occasions.

A large part of what the EAs do is reporting. The reports are shared with mainly United Nation‟s

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), but also with the Red Cross and Save

the Children. “Large organisations that may not have the same opportunity to be among the locals

in the same way,” Helena added. There is also the aspect of advocacy and information sharing once

the EAs return home. According to Helena, this is something that is especially requested by the

parties. “Come, see and tell”.

Gunlög was stationed in East Jerusalem and had a variety of tasks. Aside from doing a lot of

walking around, her team had a weekly schedule that involved presence at the entrances to the

Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount on Fridays in connection to worshippers attending the prayer in

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order to observe if there were restrictions imposed by the Israeli military and police and if so, what

the reason for the restrictions could be. Sometimes the restrictions lead to protests and skirmished,

that, which the EAs would report, also in this case to OCHA, the Red Cross and United Nations

Children‟s Fund (UNICEF). On the Fridays Gunlög would also participate in a weekly returning

demonstration against the occupation held by the movement Women in Black, which is an example

of how the programme cooperates with a local Israeli peace-building initiative.

“Often other internationals would come and join in this and the more you are, the better it feels to

stand there of course. They have been there since the 80's and they are really my heroines these

persevering women.”

This was the only demonstration they participated in, but the EAs would also be observers at other

demonstrations, in order to deter deterioration. One such demonstration was organised by

Palestinians who protested against the restrictions of their right to own land in Jerusalem. ”We

observe and they see that we are there and feel support from that. So you could say, we support

nonviolence initiatives, both Palestinian and Israeli.”

Gunlög also had checkpoint watch as part of her duty. At the Abu Dis checkpoint a lot of school

children pass through in order to attend school. Gunlög and her colleagues would count how many

school children were let through and check for build-up in the lines. If that was the case, the EAs

would get involved in order to try to get the military to upon up another lane.

On Tuesday mornings, Gunlög and her team were on checkpoint watch at Qalandia checkpoint. The

task was again to count and register how many people passed through on their way to work, school,

hospital appointments and the like, and if someone was refused to pass through, the EAs would try

to find out what the reason was, document it and share it with OCHA.

The EAs in East Jerusalem were also on call in case there had been a house demolition. They would

then receive a text from OCHA, go to location of the demolition and report back to them what had

happened. If there had been people living in the demolished house, Gunlög and her team would

follow up with the family afterwards to make sure that they had some place to live.

”You always get there, if it is close you might get there while it is happening, but we don't stand in

front of the machines, we don't do that, that is not our task to confront in that way but rather to be

present and support and morally show solidarity and report.”

The team preceding Gunlög's had had a task that involved accompanying Palestinian school

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children through Israeli areas on their way to school in order to prevent harassment. Gunlög's team

followed up with the school if this was needed, but they said that it was not a problem at the

moment.

”When I think back on it, the mission is to both be there, the preparations, the implementation and

then home to recount the experience and that is actually where I feel that I have been of most use, if

that is what you should measure. […] I usually end my talks saying that for the sake of both the

groups there has to be peace, an end to the occupation. It is an absolute condition if there is to be

just peace, because it is not only peace that is needed.”

Anna was stationed in Ramallah during her three months as an EA. She had various tasks, including

checkpoint duty. As part of one of the first teams of EAPPI, a main part of her mission was to get to

know and solidify the relationship with the local churches, since it had been church-leaders who

requested the programme in the first place. Mainly she spent time with youth groups and

participated in their activities.

Another task Anna had was to visit a social centre in a refugee camp. The social centre was a place

for women to meet, as well as a place where children with different disabilities could come. While

rewarding, it was a sometimes difficult task due to the language barriers. However, they did give

English lessons to the women, since it had been requested so that the women could talk to the

Israeli soldiers when they entered the camp and find out what they wanted. The EAs would also join

the staff of the social centre on home visits in the camp. Usually these were social visits, but

sometime it was also requested after there had been raids by the military.

Anna highlights two particularly strong incidents that she experienced. Both took place at

checkpoints. The soldiers stopped a woman from going through the checkpoint, but would not let

her go back. Instead they held her at the counter without explaining what the problem was. Anna

noticed that the woman was really uncomfortable and as it turned out she needed the bathroom, but

was too shy to say this even to Anna, let alone to the soldiers. In the end, after Anna had tried to

find out why the woman could not move forward, she was allowed to go back the way she had

come. “It was not like the soldiers did this just to be mean”, Anna comments. “They just did not see

this woman as a person with needs”.

The second incident that stayed with Anna was when she and her fellow EAs arrived to checkpoint

watch only to find that two students had been arrested. They were sitting down with their hand tied

behind their backs. Again, there was no explanation as to why this had happened. Anna and her

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team got the feeling that this time, all that was needed of them was to insist that they release the

students. This gave the soldiers a reason to do so, without losing face.

With the background of my own training in nonviolence methods, I was interested to find out a bit

more about the kind of training they had received before going on their mission. Usually it

consisted of a couple of occasions in Sweden and a more intense training once they arrived in

Palestine and Israel. The main focus of the training before going on the mission was to learn about

the context and the history, to get the facts. During the training in Palestine and Israel, they meet

their predecessors and receive hand-over from them. This is also the time for introductions to

people and organisations they will work with. Helena emphasised the importance of this in relation

to working for example in the refugee camp in Tulkarem.

As far as training in nonviolence goes, the participants in the programme have received different

amounts of trainings depending on when they took part in the programme. All of my informants did

however mention that they practised role-playing of different situations they might face while on

mission. Gunlög said that they did receive some training in nonviolent methods.

“When I think back on the training, it's not what I remember most, but we had half a day and I think

it was nonviolence trainers from SweFOR. We did understand the emphasis on the importance of

trying to see the person, even in the military.”

“I had probably felt that we could have done a little more before with the nonviolence role-play

because it is actually not the major focus of the training”, Helena continues. “But it was

nonviolence and some nonviolent interventions without actually having the word for it, I would say.

So I think one could work more with it to get even more out of it – it is also a security for those

going on missions to know what it could mean and how it could be used.”

Helena, who rarely interacted with settlers but mostly with the military felt that it was in these

meetings that the nonviolence training could come be useful. One time, during the harvest, Helena

and one of her colleagues were helping a Palestinian family to pick olives in their olive grove, close

to an Israeli settlement. There were some soldiers in the vicinity and the EAs were there mostly the

prevent harassment, which had occurred earlier years, leading to families having to leave the grove

or having the olives stolen. On this occasion there was a demonstration going on in the nearby

village and after a while the soldiers came and said that they had to stop the harvest. Helena and her

colleague started to ask the soldiers why they had to leave when they had clearly not participated in

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the demonstration. The discussion went on for a while and this gave the Palestinian family time to

continue the harvest for a while and fetch the tractor so that they could transport the picked olives.

“Our perception and what we were told by the families was that we had given them that time by

being there.”

Gunlög told me of an event that occurred when she visited the EA team in south Hebron hills. They

spent the day accompanying sheep headers who grazed their sheep close to an outpost where it

often happened that the settlers came down onto the pastures to provoke and take over. While she

was there she could see the settlers moving about, but they never came down in the valley. ”I want

to think it was because they saw that these international vests were there.”

Anna thought it was difficult to say whether or not the training came to use. What she found most

valuable was that the group consisted of people from different age groups and with different life

experiences. This created an opportunity to take on different roles in situations that arose – as one of

the younger team members, Anna could more easily talk to younger soldiers for example. She

remembers a couple of occasions when she thought that the nonviolence aspect of the mission

became especially palpable. Once, she and some of her fellow EAs were invited to participate in an

Israeli peace-coalition's demonstration near the border to Gaza. They were walking in a chain and

the Israeli police came running towards them in order to break them up. “I remember that my first

thought was that the best thing to do was to sit down and sing”, Anna tells me. More people sat

down, and Anna continues: “I thought that I would not have thought of this on my own, but the

nonviolence training had at least given some tools for such situations when I would have gotten

very scared otherwise”.

Perceptions

On the issue of how they themselves perceived their role, Helena said that she has always viewed

her role as a small one, and that she is not the important part in the context of the programme, but

rather that she was a part of a puzzle that many contribute to. People recognised the vest and what it

meant. “I see that as something very positive, that it is not up to a specific person, but that there is a

link, you get to carry the torch for a while”.

Gunlög also told me that she perceived her role as small, and that sometimes it felt insignificant,

especially in situations where they could not intervene. Sometimes she even felt as part of the

system, but then she would remind herself that this is not the case, that the presence of the EAs

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demonstrates that the situation is not forgotten. “We should contribute to this feeling of hope, that

this can't go on forever. I think that is important. For individuals our presence can matter, it's like

the shells on the beach, you can't help all of them, but it matters to those you do help.”

During the times when Anna doubted the added value of the programme, a comment by a social

worker she had met in the refugee camp would strengthen her. The woman had told Anna that even

though the refuges would joke about the EAs, they also expressed that they were happy about their

presence. It gave them a feeling of not being forgotten.

Anna told me about that as an EA, she felt that her safety lied in that she was not a threat. That

resulted in a certain freedom to act and a certain confidence. It is difficult to say if this is true or

false, Anna maintains, but it is the way she experienced it. As an EA you are not expected to

literally use your body as a shield, but if some form of confrontation took place, Anna‟s experience

was that the soldier would still feel that he/she has the upper hand, because they do not view the EA

as a threat to their security. “Perhaps in this sense one can create space through one‟s vulnerability”.

Helena told me that it was simpler to build a relationship with the Palestinians she met than with the

Israelis, and the reason for this was that she mainly met Israelis who were soldiers, and then they

are in a role. “There are so many barriers”, Helena explained, and the soldiers reaction to her and

her teammates presence was very wide-ranged, from curious and talkative to ashamed. Sometimes

she even felt that the soldiers were a bit scared of their presence, especially the younger soldiers.

There was also the constant balancing between perhaps being too engaged. “How do I keep my role

and my mandate, how do I stay accountable?” She described is as a grey area that the team has to

navigate without any guidelines, and that the discussion of what is too much and what is too little

interaction was on-going. Anna also habitually met soldiers and she remembers how

incomprehensible it was to her that someone could even contemplate using violence against her. At

the same time she also noticed that the soldiers she met reacted differently to their presence, yet her

lasting impression was that they were scared.

She shares a memory with me of when she and a couple of the other EAs were in a minibus at a

checkpoint. The other passengers had left to be checked, but they had been asked to remain in the

vehicle. When this was going on, Anna spotted a young soldier through the car window, standing

behind a concrete block with a gun point straight at them. The EAs got the impression that this man

was so scared that if they so much as sneezed, that gun would go off. “He was shaking with fear and

there was this kind of latent violence that had nothing to do with aggression or any kind of belief in

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justifications of violence, just plain fear. At an individual level, when toy are standing there with

your weapon behind a concrete block, nothing matters, there is only fear.” Anna tells me that she

has carried this picture with her home to share during her talks, especially if people accuse the

programme of being only on the side of the Palestinians, and not seeing the Israelis. “But I can tell

them that I this soldier, I was there also for his sake, because if you are that scared when you are on

your job, then there is something wrong with the system, he is forced to stand there even though it

is plain to see that he is losing it.”

Gunlög shared another story from when she was in Hebron. She was sitting outside that Synagogue,

wearing her vets, when a soldier walked up to her and started to tell her that the EAPPI programme

was anti-Israeli and the she should not be sitting there wearing her vest. This was the only time she

experienced that a soldier cared about her presence. Even though she did try to strike up a

conversation with him about it, she ended up taking the vest of. Looking back, Gunlög told me, she

would perhaps have done things a little differently, maybe ask him why she should take the vest of,

or keep wearing it but walk away. However, at the time, taking the vest off felt like the thing to do.

From the Palestinians there were more open reactions: “Thumbs up at a checkpoint when we were

there. Look, pointing towards the eyes – you see us. There was this feeling that we do see, that there

is someone who sees”, Helena tells me. People would also ask her to retell what she has seen and

experienced. Gunlög had similar experiences; the Palestinians would smile and thank the EAs at the

checkpoints. From the Palestinian and Israeli peace-initiatives, Gunlög felt a sense of welcome,

since they has an on-going cooperation with them.

Gunlög also described that she sometimes felt a sort of fatigue from the people she met in East

Jerusalem, that after so many years of organisations reporting what is going, the situation has still

not resolved. This fatigue could lead to indifference at times. Anna had an observation that was

somewhat similar. “Could the presence of international actors, not so much trigger violence, but

rather lead to that situations of confrontation arise that may not have to have happened had they not

been there? Are we skilled enough to identify the situations where we go from being a preventative

presence to being spectators? When I discussed this with my team members there were different

opinions, but I still think it is something we have to reflect on.”

Even though Gunlög sometimes felt as merely a spectator, she still expressed that she is supportive

of the mandate that the programme has. If the approach had been more confrontational than

supportive, then there would be greater risks. Gunlög encountered ISM during her time in Palestine

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and Israel, and she felt that their confrontational approach, while perhaps satisfying in nature, also

made it more difficult for the organisation to be active, since the Israeli authorities are less than

happy with them. Instead, the more transparent way in which EAPPI works is something that is

more difficult to criticise.

To this day, Anna often meets people who are working in international context and who have

participated in EAPPI. ”There is something you learn that strengthens the will to keep on working

with these issues. That makes me thing that there has to be some experienced feeling that one

actually made some difference even if one cannot pinpoint exactly what that difference entailed.

Otherwise, people would give up.”

4.2 Local initiatives

In this section I will present the peace initiatives that I visited during my time in Palestine and Israel.

I choose to call them “initiatives”, to include organisations, networks, programs and the like. I will

give a brief description of each initiative and present relevant findings from my meetings with them.

Israeli committee against house demolitions

The first initiative I met with during my field research was the Israeli Committee against House

Demolitions (ICAHD). This is an Israel-based initiative that focuses on mapping, prevention and

information on the demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. ICAHD was founded in

1997 by a group of eight peace activists from Israel. (ICAHD, 2016a). The goal of the group reads

as follows:

As Israelis, we believe that the only chance for a genuine peace is one that enables the

Palestinians to experience sovereignty and full civil rights.. A just peace will also provide all

the peoples of our region with the security, dignity, freedom and economic opportunities

they deserve The future may witness the emergence of a regional confederation enhancing

the viability of each of our societies to cope with a global reality. (ICAHD, 2016b)

The group's main focus is to end the Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes, primarily through

rebuilding the homes that have been destroyed repeatedly. If they are informed of a planned

demolition, ICAHD try to prevent the demolition, but there is usually very little time to prepare.

The group is normally informed of a demolition once it has already been initiated, and therefore

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they focus on the reconstruction, as well as meeting the family who lived in the home that was

destroyed. (ICAHD, 2016b).

Ruth (2015), the ICAHD group member whom I met during my time in Palestine and Israel, took

the group I was part of on a tour of Jerusalem to demonstrate the reality for both the Palestinians

living under the occupation and also the activists of the group. The closeness of the Israeli

settlements and the Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem clearly demonstrates a confrontational

surface, and Ruth informed me that settlers often argues with her and her fellow activists during

actions. Engaging in such arguments is another action that ICAHD takes in order to influence the

public opinion in Israel on the question. The main audience for this is not the settlers but the

broader public, and the aim is to influence government policy, if possible. ICAHD hopes to

mobilise both Israelis and Palestinians to participate in their work. (ICAHD, 2016b).

The work of ICAHD also involves information sharing and advocacy in the international

community, including sharing reports and information with the UN. The group has several chapters

based abroad to enable the spreading of information among a broader audience. I asked Ruth (2015)

what, according to her, would be the best move on the international communities' side in order to

promote peace, and she said that the Boycott, Divestments, Sanctions (BDS) movement is the best

way to go for people in other countries who wants to make a difference on the ground.

Shministim

Shministim is more a movement than it is an organisation or a network. The word Shministim is the

Hebrew word for students who are in the twelfth grade. This is when students are drafted into the

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for the three-year mandatory military service. The Shministim

movement then, consists of students who have openly refused to do the mandatory military service

in protest of the occupation of Palestinian territories as well as the oppression by the military. The

consequence for refusing to do the military service is to serve time in prison. (Just Vision, 2014).

Sahar (2015), the woman that I met in Jerusalem who is part of the Shministim movement, shared

that there are several reasons for not conscripting. Certain religious groups are exempt from the

drafting, and others are exempt due to psychological reasons. What makes the Shministim different

from these categories is their refusal to do military service based on conscientious objections. Sahar

(2015) told me that they want to work against the militarisation of the Israeli society. Aside from

the time in prison, the Shministim often faces difficulties in gaining jobs since the military service

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is seen as the basis for hiring someone. Sahar (2015) also shared that reactions from the Israeli

community towards people who have refused to do the military service are very strong, and can

result in alienation from the mainstream Israeli society.

The militarisation of the Israeli society can be seen in the public room – Sahar (2015) gave the

example of the many public holidays where military events are linked together with religious

celebrations. In her experience it was also very prevalent in school, even at younger ages. Sahar

(2015) said that it is phenomena such as these that contribute to the normalisation of the militarised

Israeli state, but that she and her fellow movement members believe that this can be changed, but

that it will be an extensive process.

Tent of Nations

Tent of Nations is yet again more intangible than simply being referred to as an organisation. In

truth it is a Palestinian farm situated southwest of Bethlehem in a hilly area completely surrounded

by Israeli settlements. The family, Nassar, who lives there, have done so since 1916 when they

bought the land from Turkey. The Nassar family have retained the farm through all subsequent

administrations and have documentation of ownership from the Turkish (Ottoman) authorities. In

1991 Israel declared the land on which the Nasser farm is situated to be part of the state of Israel

and since then there have been on-going court procedures where the Nasser family has to repeatedly

demonstrate their claim on the land. (Tent of Nations, 2016a).

I met Daoud (2015), who is the head of the Nassar family when my group spent a day at the farm.

He said that he normally sees people react in three different ways when living in violent situation.

The first reaction is to use violence as a response – which often triggers more violence in retaliation.

The second reaction is to resign oneself to one's fate – to become a victim. The third reaction is to

give up and leave the area. Based on their observation of these three paths, the Nassar family felt

that they could not follow either of them and moved to formulate their stance:

We refuse to be victims

We refuse to hate

We are acting in a different way because of what we believe in

We believe in justice and peace and that justice will prevail

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This has led them to follow a fourth way in reaction to the situation that they are living under: a

nonviolent, creative and positive way of resistance.

The Nassar family invites members of the Palestinian and the Israeli societies – as well as the

international community – to come and visit them. They also organise summer camps for children

and are running a project to empower women. Both the children's camps and the women's project

are meant to build capacity and confidence among the participants. These activities provide women

with the opportunity to learn practical skills, and give the children participating in the summer camp

a space for recreation and respite from the situation they are living in. Tent of Nations also

organises work camps at key points in the agricultural cycle, where people are encouraged to come

and assist with, for example, the harvest or planting of olive trees. (Tent of Nations, 2016b).

Tent of Nations also offers a volunteer programme for international volunteers. The volunteers live

and work at the Nassar farm for different time periods and assist in the daily work as well as in the

activities described above. (Tent of Nations, 2016b). Daoud (2015) explained that since they started

to receive international volunteers in 2002, there has been a decrease in settler violence, and that the

international presence secures their presence on their own land. The 'come and see' aspect of their

activities helps to raise awareness of the situation between the Palestinian and Israeli societies, and

also illustrates that there is a different way than the conventional ways of resistance.

Holy Land Trust

Holy Land Trust is a Palestinian organisation based in Bethlehem. It was founded in 1998 as an

effort to support the peace process, but following the second intifada they realised that more was

needed. The organisation started to educate students and leaders in nonviolence as a way to step

away from the cycle of violence. The organisation aims to build the capacity of people living within

the context of the conflict through providing them with tools rooted in nonviolence, social justice,

compassion and love. (Holy Land Trust, 2016a). The organisation runs a variety of projects. For

example, they rebuild homes on the West Bank that have been destroyed; empowerment projects

for girls; conflict prevention training programs for youth leaders; connecting international

volunteers with local farmers during harvest to assist with the work, but also to provide a level of

protection against aggression from settlers; and a Peace Research and Learning Centre for trans-

disciplinary international research on nonviolence, peace, conflict resolution and other issues. (Holy

Land Trust, 2016b).

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While in Bethlehem, I met Antwan (2015), who is the Director of Programs at Holy Land Trust. His

very person exuded peace and he told us of how the organisation strives to create a humane peace,

and to create the conditions for that peace while the conflict is still on-going. One way of doing this

is to work with reconciliation and healing – an effort that is usually left until later in the process

following the end of a conflict. Antwan (2015) noted that Holy Land Trust had observed that

because the conflict between Palestine and Israel is such a protracted one that has been handed

down for generations, work with reconciliation and healing is very much part of the process to

achieve peace.

Antwan (2015) believes that it is this non-linear way of thinking that will contribute towards

building a positive peace. It is important to honour, remember and express the past, but without

letting it define how people act now and what is planned for the future. Both communities carry

collective memories that influence how they choose to act today: the Israelis carry a collective

memory of being persecuted; the Palestinians carry a collective memory of being occupied. These

experiences affect the peace process, and cannot be ignored, but they do not have to be a hindrance

either.

The voice of Holy Land Trust and Antwan (2015) was truly pragmatic and there is one quote in

particular that really sticks in my memory: “Don‟t be pro one side, be pro-peace. The more people

are pro one side, the more people die on the ground”.

4.3 Excursus

So far I have presented the findings from my key interviews with former Eas as well as from my

participant observations from meeting Palestinian and Israeli peace-building initiatives. As

mentioned in the introduction, I conducted five key interviews. Only three have been presented so

far, and the findings from the remaining two interviews will be briefly presented in this excursus.

The reason I have chosen to include them even though they are not part of the case study context is

to demonstrate some other perspectives and experience of third-party nonviolent intervention

initiatives other than EAPPI. These perspectives poses an interesting point for discussion in the

chapter the follows this one.

Peace Brigades International (PBI)

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Maria and I talked about her two years in Guleria in western Nepal, 2009-2011. She was there as

part of a PBI-team on the request of a Nepali organisation called Advocacy Forum. The main task

was to act as accompaniers to human rights activists and witnesses in trials, who were under threat.

The hope was that perpetrators of violence and abuse during the war would be put on trial, and PBI

was involved in finding witnesses and subsequently ensuring the safety of those witnesses.

Maria, who had previously been an EA in East Jerusalem, told me that the training she received

from PBI before going to Nepal was substantial, and involved a lot of roleplaying of situations you

might face during the mission, how to interact with different people you might meet and how the

context has a vital impact on this. The training was very practical and was also a part of the

selection process.

There were a lot of challenges for the process with the trials. At the end of her mission, not one trial

had been actualised. It was difficult to see if the work of PBI was efficient or not, Maria told me, as

well as to decide when it was time to leave. In that sense the model is limited compared to larger

organisations with humanitarian and development mandates, since they have guidelines on when to

leave, while in PBI all decisions are taken by consensus, Maria continues. The different

organisations have different limitations.

”The added value was that we were there on the ground”, Maria told me. This was something that

was appreciated by the people and organisations she met, but it was still difficult to know what

impact it had, since there is no way of knowing what would have happened if they had not been

there.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)

Annika, also a former EA, had been on mission with CPT in three turns during 2013 and 2014. Her

station was in Suleiman i northern Iraq, where CPT teams are present to partner with communities

and villages who are affected by the cross-border operations against the Kurds from Iran and

Turkey. The tasks involved accompanying of civilians in order to document and report how they

were affected and to share that information internationally.

The training Annika received before going was also more substantial then the training she received

before her mission as an EA. Before the training the potential participants of programme also visits

a CPT team in the field. The reason for this is that part of the training is to reflect upon which team

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to join, depending on where one is most suited and needed. Reflection was a large part of the

training, both in relation to one‟s own role in the team but also towards other groups. A theme in

this was to deal with how to be an ally to a person experiencing structural violence that one is not

subject to.

Apart from this they also received training in direct nonviolent action and civil disobedience,

because the teams are allowed to participate and initiate civil disobedience if it is deemed necessary.

This was a major difference to EAPPI, Annika told me, and it was also subject to a lot of on-going

internal discussions. Confrontation had a bigger focus in CPT before but after reflecting and

discussing the problematic aspects of this attitude it has been toned down. ”It is about self-

understanding”, Annika told me. ”It is important to look at oneself as a support to local actors, since

they are the one who knows best and will remain even after CPT has left.”

The people she met were not used to getting attention from outside and were happy that someone

cared and that they could share their experiences with them, Annika told me. The local partners saw

CPT‟s presence as valuable and that they would leave a gap if they were not there. However,

Annika felt the sometimes their presence felt a bit unclear and it was difficult to know if they made

any difference.

Although the teams already consist of people from both the northern and southern hemisphere,

Annika hopes that the diversity will increase. While diversity could contribute in making the work

stronger and more grounded it is important to remember that the global network is part of the

context. ”If something happens there is a network to spread the information fast, the programme is a

tool for that.”

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5 Discussion

In the following chapter I will discuss the findings of my empirical research by connecting them

with the theories and perspectives presented in Chapters one and two. This analysis will lead to my

conclusion where I set out to answer my research question and sub-questions. I will commence by

connecting the theories of violence and conflict to the findings from my fieldwork.

The spiral of violence and revenge is difficult to get out off, as stated by Böhm and Kaplan (2011).

Recognising the patterns that cause violence to erupt could be a first step, not just in the meta-

theory of violence that Eisner (2009) discusses, but also in specific situations where violence occurs.

One such pattern in the conflict between Palestine and Israel that surfaced during my fieldwork was

that of the militarisation and the idea that there are no alternatives to violence. Sahar emphasised

how the militarisation of the Israeli society made choosing alternative paths for solutions difficult.

By outlining the three different paths that people tend to see as the possible responses to violence,

Daoud pointed out the oversight of a more constructive path. One of the first activities that Holy

Land Trust did was education in methods of nonviolence in order to break the cycle of violence.

Eisner‟s (2009) effort to find common principles for effective methods of preventing violence is

another part of his meta-theory that relates to this thesis. Is third-party nonviolent interventions such

an effective method, and could nonviolence be a principle for effective prevention of violence?

If we are to understand what effective prevention of violence is, recognising what kind of violence

occurs in a situation is important. Galtung‟s (1969) dimensions of violence can be of assistance

when doing this. In the context of my fieldwork I saw evidence of some of these different

dimensions. The occupation and the house demolitions protested by ICAHD are manifestations of

structural violence. The complex system with the checkpoints and the road blocks that the Eas

observed and reported on is both a sign of structural violence, but also signifies the negative and

positive dimension of violence. The negative influence of violence can be seen when a person is

refused passage through a checkpoint. What Galtung (1969) refer to as the positive influence of

violence is evident from Helen‟s rendition that at times some of the road backs scattered around the

West Bank are not manned, thus occasionally resulting in less restrictions in movement. The aspect

of de-humanisation, that Böhm and Kaplan (2011) write is a facilitator of violence, also occurs.

Helena said that it was difficult to know how to interact with Israeli soldiers because they are in a

role and that this created barriers. The de-individualisation that occurs in the military is a form of

de-humanisation that makes interaction with soldiers difficult. The Palestinians in turn are de-

humanised through, for example, the system of the checkpoints, as illustrated by Anna in her story

about the woman who was refused to pass through the checkpoint.

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It is difficult to say where in the conflict triangle the situation in Palestine and Israel commences,

but there are manifestations in all three areas. To mention a few there is the basic contradiction on

borders described briefly in the background to the case study. In the previous sections I outlined

some examples of violent behaviours. Some of the stories told by the Eas in the interviews also

show signs of negative attitudes that create a basis for further contradictions to grow. What comes

to mind is Anna‟s experience that some of the Israeli soldiers she met were very scared. Is it

possible to transform these situations into nonviolent manifestations and peace?

The various tasks that the EAs do and how they change is related to what the situation requires at

that particular time and in that particular place as well as the competencies found on the team.

Gunlög‟s team in East Jerusalem had many set tasks, but they also varied compared to previous

teams. Helena‟s experience was more to be on call to be present in case something happened, which

she related to the strong influence of the wall and the checkpoints in her area. The interview with

Annika, presented in my excursus, also gives example of this flexibility, since the participants in

CPT missions can adapt to an arising situation and use civil disobedience if the deem it necessary.

Another piece contributing to the picture of what the situation in Palestine and Israel looks like can

be painted by turning to the manifestations of peace and nonviolence. Here we have the aspects of

negative and positive peace, as well as principled and pragmatic nonviolence, to commence with.

Examples of both principled and pragmatic nonviolence can be found in the local peace-building

initiatives included in the chapter above. ICAHD‟s attempt to prevent house demolitions is an

example of pragmatic nonviolence. By working with reconciliation and healing of memories while

the conflict is still on-going, Holy Land Trust show signs of principled nonviolence. Educating

people in methods of nonviolence is pragmatic violence. Shministim are taking a clear principled

stand when refusing to participate in the mandatory military service. Tent of Nations refusal to see

the surrounding settlers as their enemies also fall under principled nonviolence. EAPPI also

demonstrate both principled and pragmatic nonviolence. While they are not confrontational to the

same extent as perhaps CPT, the model of accompaniment is pragmatic, as is preventative presence.

The solidarity and support toward local peace-building initiatives indicates the programmes strive to

contribute to peace-building in the long-term as well. Besides this, the Eas demonstrated an

adherence to principled nonviolence in their attitudes, as illustrated by for example Helena‟s and

Anna‟s observation of the barriers created by the role a soldier has.

Another theme found in several of the interviews was the importance of peace-building being

locally owned and led, something that is supported by Chaulia (2011). Annika mentioned that the

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global network that CPT constitutes is a tool to support and raise awareness of what local actors

experience. The Eas felt that an important part that they could contribute with and where they did

have an added value was when it came to returning home and share their experiences. While the

local peace-building initiatives should take the lead and therefore also be more active locally,

international advocacy provides an opportunity for support from international actors. This is

supported by Last‟s (2003), Papagianni‟s (2012) and Gawerc‟s (2006) arguments that the work for

peace need to take place at different times, different levels and through different mechanisms.

Preventative presence and accompanying are the main models for the third-party nonviolent

interventions presented in the third chapter. In relation to this it is important not to support a

specific party to the conflict, but rather to support organisations and people working for peace, as

highlighted by Åkerlund (2001). This is something that EAPPI is adamant about. Gunlög, for

example, mentions how her team worked with both Palestinian Israeli protestors and supported their

demonstrations. Anna‟s story about the terrified soldier at the checkpoint and how it made it clear to

her how untenable the situation for all people is also shows that EAPPI do not side with a party.

This is supported by Coy‟s (2012) discussion about neutrality as an important component of third-

party nonviolent interventions. The local peace-building initiatives that I met with also placed

emphasis on not taking sides. Tent of Nations‟ refusal to be enemies, and Antwan‟s call to be pro-

peace rather than pro one side indicates this.

When it comes to how the Eas were regarded, it seems that the reactions the Eas received from the

people they met were generally more positive than the way in which they regarded themselves. My

key informants among the Eas more frequently expressed their doubts in relation to the

effectiveness of their presence. This was also present in my interviews with Maria and Annika,

indicating that this is perhaps a perception not exclusive to EAPPI, but an apprehension that is

common in other third-party nonviolent interventions as well. Notwithstanding, this hesitation can

also be a strength, since it results in a self-reflexivity that for example Boothe and Smithey (2007)

identified as an important element in third-party nonviolent interventions. This seem to be a more

structured part of the trainings of the PBI and CTP teams that Maria and Annika described, but the

Eas showed that they reflected upon this as well.

Through the strategy of acceptance, not threat, third-party nonviolent interventions in conflict

settings may indeed be efficient. The absence of threat was mentioned by Anna in relation to EAPPI.

She felt that there was a sense of vulnerability that created space for their work to continue.

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6 Conclusions

As the case is with most small-scale research papers such as this, the researcher barely gets to

scratch the surface of the area, and usually the result is more questions than answers. However, with

these concluding remarks, I will set out to answer the research question and sub-questions presented

in the introduction.

Do the conditions for local peace-building in Palestine and Israel influence third-party nonviolent

intervention, and if yes, how?

Yes, the conditions for local peace-building have an influence because they illustrate that the

requirements and opportunities for peace-building vary depending on the location and timing. This

makes it clear that different actors are needed at various moments in a given context. This requires a

high level of flexibility in the preparation and implementation of third-party nonviolent

interventions.

How are third-party nonviolent interventions regarded by programme-participants themselves, as

well as by people in the local context?

The Eas seemed to be generally met with appreciation and curiosity, but with elements of

scepticism and fear as well. The programme-participants of third-party nonviolent interventions

interviewed in this research project gravitate towards placing the value not on themselves as

individuals but on what the programme stands for as well as on the support for local peace-builders.

This creates a condition for the participants to continuously reflect on their role, and how it interacts

with the local context, a reflexivity that can strengthen the relevance of the programme.

In the setting of Palestine and Israel, can third-party nonviolent initiatives such as the Ecumenical

Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) contribute to peace-building locally,

and if yes, how?

Yes, third-party nonviolent interventions such as EAPPI can contribute to peace-building locally.

As discussed above, through the aspect of preventative presence the programme can contribute to

peace-building locally by – to a limited extent – preventing that a situation escalates into violence.

By achieving this, the programme can lead to negative peace. Through their open support for local

peace-building initiatives, as well as through reports and sharing of information about the situation

in Palestine and Israel, EAPPI also connects local voices for peace in Palestine and Israel to the

local arena in the Eas home countries, as well as to the international community at a global level.

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This component of the programme contributes to positive peace, by supporting local peace-building

initiatives that work against both structural and direct violence.

One of the limitations I discovered with my research during the process was that conducting a

single-case study limited my chances for comparison. If I had decided to look at two examples of

third-party nonviolent interventions, either in the same context or in different contexts there would

have been an opportunity for more in-depth comparison. Comparison was part of my discussion on

a small scale, through my excursus, but the discovery of this limitation lead me to identify a gap for

future researches to fill: comparing the effectiveness of different third-party nonviolent intervention

programmes in place in different contexts.

The scope of my research was also a rather small one, which is only natural given the level of the

thesis. This observation, however, lead me to determine another area for future study. Since the

focus of this thesis was the role of an international initiative, the space to explore local peace-

building initiatives was limited. Yet, some insight on the matter was given and it demonstrated that

much more could be discovered. A specific topic that comes to mind is to what extent local peace-

building initiatives adhere to the different dimensions of nonviolence in policy and practise.

That said, the conclusions drawn from this thesis will hopefully prove useful for future research on

the topic. Similar to the way my informant Helena described that as an EA you could be part of a

puzzle with many constructors, so too can this thesis be a part of the much larger project of

researching peace.

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Appendices

Appendix 1 – Interview guide

General information

I will start each interview with a short description of my thesis and what role the interviews play. I

will ask the informants for their consent to participate in the research, have the interview recorded

and to be mentioned by name. Since all my informants are native Swedish speakers the interviews

are conducted in Swedish.

Introductory questions

When were you an Ecumenical Accompanier/participant in a third-party nonviolent intervention

programme?

Where were you stationed?

Why did you apply?

What training/education did you receive?

What were your main tasks and activities?

Topics to cover

Nonviolent approach

How was nonviolence used during the mission?

How did you perceive the methods?

Which aspects of your nonviolence training were useful (if at all)?

Can you describe a situation in which you had to rely on a particular technique of nonviolence?

Being a third-party to the conflict

How did you view your own role as a third-party to the conflict?

How did you relate to the people you met?

Reception

How did the people you met regard you as an ecumenical accompanier/participant in a third-party

nonviolent intervention programme?

How did they perceive the approach of the programme?

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Other stakeholders

Did you meet any other third-party, and if so, how did you perceive their role?

Note

Since I will use a semi-structured approach during my interviews, the above questions and topics

are merely a guide to get the interview started.

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Appendix 2 – Galtung's triangles of violence and conflict

Galtung's triangle of violence

Direct violence

Cultural violence Structural violence

Note: The manifestations within the triangle can appear in any order, and each version paints a

different picture of the on-going situation.

Source: Galtung, J. (1990) 'Cultural Violence', Journal of Peace Research, Vol 27 (3), pp. 291-305.

Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/423472 [Accessed 10 October 2016].

Galtung's triangle of conflict

Behaviour (B)

Attitude/Assumptions (A) Contradiction (C)

Note: The conflict process can originate in either of the parts and lead to different scenarios.

Source: Galtung, J. (1996) Peace by Peaceful means – Peace and Conflict, Development and

Civilization. Available at:

http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.its.uu.se/lib/uppsala/reader.action?docID=10369641 [Accessed 23

October 2016].

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Appendix 3 – Map of the West Bank

Image 1: Map of the West Bank, Palestine. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica