I was helping a young Latin scholar with her homework last weekend. (“Helping” may be an overstatement. I read the correct answers off a sheet of paper.) She kept getting hung up on the difference between “satisfied” (contentus) and “happy” (gauisis).
She’s not alone and distinguishing between the two, in whatever language, can be crucial. I was reminded of the Latin lesson when reading that Barack Obama appointed former Senator George Mitchell as his envoy to the Middle East.
Mr. Mitchell’s primary qualification for the job was his role chairing the negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended violence in Northern Ireland. It’s worth noting that life has not been easy or smooth in Northern Ireland in the last 11 years, but it’s been peaceful and it’s steadily improved over time.
There are similarities and differences between the Northern Irish situation and the one Mr. Mitchell faces in Israel/Palestine, but there’s a similar feature that cries for attention.
A huge obstacle to resolving the Irish “troubles” was that they had gone on for decades. People had become used to the cinder block walls and barbed wire, the bombs, shootings and beatings, the privation and armored cars in the street. Worse than getting used to it, significant segments of both the Loyalist Protestant and Nationalist Catholic communities thrived on division and violence. Being thugs was all they knew and the only thing that gave them legitimacy.
To get a peace agreement, Mr. Mitchell had to identify leaders on both sides (real leaders, not “leaders” hand-picked by outside interests). Then he needed to convince those leaders that the only way to achieve their aims – and hold onto political power in their community – was to move past violence.
This, of course, fractured the “movements” on each side of the divide. The hard-core thugs, whose only tool was violence, split from their leaders. The key was that most people on each side of the line were sick of violence and were willing to exert themselves for peace. The thugs caused trouble and ten years on, continue to cause trouble, but they are ever-further to the margins and the people of Northern Ireland are increasingly united against violence from either side. There are things that stick in the craw on each side. How can they not? People raised their whole lives to never give an inch to the other side are now asked to overlook on a daily basis. No one is happy (gauisis) but all agree its far more satisfactory (contentus) than it was.
This all had ramifications across the water. Much of the Nationalist violence was funded by Irish-Americans, much of the Loyalist violence was funded by conservatives in the UK. The US Congress was lobbied hard to support one side, the British Parliament lobbied hard to support the other. The peace process meant the overseas supporters of each side had to also evolve or lose their political standing. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern all helped by ignoring the extremists and using their influence to push their allies to the middle.
So it will be in the Middle East. There is no point is trying to make Hamas or extremist Israeli settlers happy. You can’t let the crazies determine the metric for success. As in Northern Ireland, everyone should be invited to the table, to negotiate in the civilized manner. The US, Europe and the Arab states should work hard to legitimize everyone who comes to the table and agrees to the terms. Those who don’t should be pushed to the margins and so should their overseas supporters. Using scare-tactic fundraising and perpetuating a war because you have no other way of being important is the nadir of moral behavior.
And remember: no one will like the result. You’re not supposed to like it. The result is, however, something you should prefer to rockets and bombs, suicide attacks and tanks. It will take years, but it is possible for things to slowly get better. Work for it and when you get it, be satisifed.
© 2009, Mark Floegel
Don’t Expect to Like It
I was helping a young Latin scholar with her homework last weekend. (“Helping” may be an overstatement. I read the correct answers off a sheet of paper.) She kept getting hung up on the difference between “satisfied” (contentus) and “happy” (gauisis).
She’s not alone and distinguishing between the two, in whatever language, can be crucial. I was reminded of the Latin lesson when reading that Barack Obama appointed former Senator George Mitchell as his envoy to the Middle East.
Mr. Mitchell’s primary qualification for the job was his role chairing the negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended violence in Northern Ireland. It’s worth noting that life has not been easy or smooth in Northern Ireland in the last 11 years, but it’s been peaceful and it’s steadily improved over time.
There are similarities and differences between the Northern Irish situation and the one Mr. Mitchell faces in Israel/Palestine, but there’s a similar feature that cries for attention.
A huge obstacle to resolving the Irish “troubles” was that they had gone on for decades. People had become used to the cinder block walls and barbed wire, the bombs, shootings and beatings, the privation and armored cars in the street. Worse than getting used to it, significant segments of both the Loyalist Protestant and Nationalist Catholic communities thrived on division and violence. Being thugs was all they knew and the only thing that gave them legitimacy.
To get a peace agreement, Mr. Mitchell had to identify leaders on both sides (real leaders, not “leaders” hand-picked by outside interests). Then he needed to convince those leaders that the only way to achieve their aims – and hold onto political power in their community – was to move past violence.
This, of course, fractured the “movements” on each side of the divide. The hard-core thugs, whose only tool was violence, split from their leaders. The key was that most people on each side of the line were sick of violence and were willing to exert themselves for peace. The thugs caused trouble and ten years on, continue to cause trouble, but they are ever-further to the margins and the people of Northern Ireland are increasingly united against violence from either side. There are things that stick in the craw on each side. How can they not? People raised their whole lives to never give an inch to the other side are now asked to overlook on a daily basis. No one is happy (gauisis) but all agree its far more satisfactory (contentus) than it was.
This all had ramifications across the water. Much of the Nationalist violence was funded by Irish-Americans, much of the Loyalist violence was funded by conservatives in the UK. The US Congress was lobbied hard to support one side, the British Parliament lobbied hard to support the other. The peace process meant the overseas supporters of each side had to also evolve or lose their political standing. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern all helped by ignoring the extremists and using their influence to push their allies to the middle.
So it will be in the Middle East. There is no point is trying to make Hamas or extremist Israeli settlers happy. You can’t let the crazies determine the metric for success. As in Northern Ireland, everyone should be invited to the table, to negotiate in the civilized manner. The US, Europe and the Arab states should work hard to legitimize everyone who comes to the table and agrees to the terms. Those who don’t should be pushed to the margins and so should their overseas supporters. Using scare-tactic fundraising and perpetuating a war because you have no other way of being important is the nadir of moral behavior.
And remember: no one will like the result. You’re not supposed to like it. The result is, however, something you should prefer to rockets and bombs, suicide attacks and tanks. It will take years, but it is possible for things to slowly get better. Work for it and when you get it, be satisifed.
© 2009, Mark Floegel