Press Releases

Agree on the cause. Then work on the cure

BADIL Resource Center
20 November 2003
For Immediate Release


Israelis and Palestinians have yet to agree on the underlying root causes of their conflict and how they should go about resolving it.  Otherwise there would be human rights provisions in proposed peace agreements being floated, says BADIL in the first of a three-part analysis of recent peace agreements throughout the world.

Comparative experience, the analysis says, shows that human rights provisions in these agreements stem from a consensus on the function and role of human rights and, therefore, an agreement about the nature of the conflict itself and possible remedies.

See BADIL’s web site www.badil.org for: Conflict Management or Conflict Resolution focusing on human rights provisions in agreements. 

The virtual absence of human rights in peace proposals to date makes the Palestinian-Israeli conflict particularly unique, says BADIL’s analysis.

Agreements in Bosnia, Kosovo, Burundi, Guatemala, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Afghanistan include human rights legislation and establishment of institutions to monitor respect for human rights, educate the public and hold those who have violated the human rights of others accountable for their actions.

Such provisions are a key element in providing a common framework to regulate relations between former antagonists, mediate future disputes and reconcile past injustices, says BADIL.

There are several reasons for their absence in Palestinian-Israeli attempts at peacemaking: a singular focus on security issues, unwillingness of Israel to accept certain Palestinians rights which interfere with its arbitrary exercise of power and failure to find basic agreement on the origin and reasons for their conflict.

Part II of BADIL’s analysis of agreements looks at refugees and Part III will focus on public participation in formulating agreements.  See www.badil.org.  Parts II and III will be available on the web site early in December.