Track Two Diplomacy in intractable conflicts: the role of civil society organizations in the peace-building process of the Israel-Palestine conflict

Abstract

The 70-year-old conflict between Israel and Palestine is one of the fields in International Relations that has come under extensive research. Yet, a great deal of attention has been allocated to official negotiations while the importance of non-official actors lacks analysis. However, the contribution that these actors can make to the peace-building process is crucial for understanding the underlying mechanisms for the transformation and subsequent resolution of the conflict. In this light, the thesis aims to fill in the aforementioned gap by looking into the role that 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) engaged in the peace-building process have played at the level of ordinary citizens, as well as that of the official policy lines concerning conflict resolution, analyzing the matter through the lenses of Track Two Diplomacy. As a result, the research has found that although the CSOs involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict have mobilized public support for peace-building, brought people from the conflicting parties closer and have contributed to their reconciliation, they have had only limited effect on official policy lines dealing with conflict resolution.