Symbolic concessions may be the key to peace

Tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute could be eased if peace deals involve compromise and symbolic concessions, such as an apology, according to a University study.

The study's authors — professors Scott Atran of the Institute for Social Research, Robert Axelrod of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Richard Davis of RTI International — published their findings in the Aug. 24 issue of Science.

"Symbolic concessions of no apparent material benefit may be key in helping to solve seemingly intractable conflicts," the researchers wrote in the article "Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution."

The researchers examined sacred values, which incorporate one's moral beliefs. An apology may facilitate political compromise, but the terms also might involve material transactions.

Researchers measured emotional outrage and propensity for violence in response to peace deals involving compromises over issues integral to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In May the researchers broached ideas of mutual symbolic concession. Hamas would renounce Article 32 of its 1988 Covenant, which highlights "Zionist scheming ... laid out in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," an anti-Semitic tract forged by Russian Czarist police. Israel would abandon the use of the slogan, "A land without people for a people without land," coined by Israel Zangwill a century ago to describe Zionist aspirations. Leaders on both sides acknowledge they would be renouncing a falsehood and grant that such statements by the other side could represent a psychological breakthrough. The discussion was halted due to civil strife in Gaza.

"We found that the use of material incentives to promote peaceful resolution of political and cultural conflicts may backfire when adversaries treat contested issues as sacred values," the researchers say. "Symbolic concessions of no apparent material benefit may be key in helping to solve seemingly intractable conflicts."

To test their theories, researchers asked leaders of the major parties to the Israel-Palestine dispute about material trade-offs and symbolic concessions. Leaders in Syria, Palestine and Israel said a symbolic concession was not enough to resolve conflict, but a necessary condition to opening serious negotiations involving material issues as well.

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