News
Mediterranean Programme - [10/13/2008]
The Arab peace plan: A lost opportunity?
On 9 October, the CIDOB Foundation held a debate workshop on Israel's culture of security and its evolution in the regional context of the Middle East. The workshop was structured around the presentation of a study by Daniel Shenhar, a researcher at the CIDOB Foundation in Barcelona, and which covered both the roots of the security dilemmas and aspects relating to the identity of the State of Israel. Amnon Aran, Lecturer at the London School of Economics, commented on the analysis.
One of the most important points that Shenhar made was that the fundamental principles of Israel's security paradigm had remained intact until the 1990s. Furthermore, Shenhar stressed that international isolation, geographical vulnerability and the hostility manifested by Arab countries had turned Israel into a nation on the brink of war.
In this context, Amnon Aran highlighted the importance of the legacy of history, and more specifically of the Holocaust, in defining the progress of the country's security culture. Furthermore, Aran mentions the role of the military sector in the propagation of obsolete models or values, which are obstructing the evolution of a security culture in a desired direction.
However, Shenhar pointed out that certain signs of change can be observed, especially following the war in Lebanon. One example of this is the negotiations currently in progress with Syria and the examination of the Arab peace plan. Nevertheless, these ideas are met with great resistance within the system and, as Aran mentioned, it appears that a great opportunity has been lost by the fact that the peace plan offered by the Arab League was not given more serious consideration. Continuing on this subject, Aran stressed that globalisation and the market economy may have contributed to the slow evolution of Israel's security culture.
The presentation was followed by an animated debate between the other participants in the workshop. Among other points, they discussed whether the case of Israel had elements that made it unique, or whether similar guidelines could be observed in other countries in the region, such as Turkey. Several participants expressed different points of view over what role Europe could play in a possible peace process.
