NCJ Number
99288
Journal
Negotiation Journal Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1985) Pages: 249-262
Date Published
1985
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Based upon his experiences in facilitating negotiation in the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the author notes the importance of prenegotiation activity in creating the possibility for negotiations and identifies components of prenegotiation stages.
Abstract
The Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict has involved intense prenegotiation activity that created the climate necessary for negotiations to occur. The problem was to bring to the negotiating table parties that would not recognize each other, talk to each other, or commit themselves to a negotiated settlment. In such a conflict, it is important to analyze obstructions preventing negotiation and define prenegotiation goals designed to remove these obstructions. A critical task in the prenegotiation process involves assisting the parties in organizing to make the decisions necessary for negotiation. This can occur only as the parties engage in political decisionmaking and consensus building that clarifies positions subject to negotiation and identifies representatives mandated to speak for each party to the conflict. Other important steps in the prenegotiation process are defining the problem to be negotiated, producing a commitment to a negotiated settlement, and developing a structure for negotiation acceptable to all the parties. Producing a commitment to a negotiated settlement involves convincing the parties that a mutually beneficial negotiated settlement would be preferable to a continuation of the present situation. The aforementioned steps are required before the actual negotiation can occur. Three notes are listed.