Seeking Mandela Peacemaking Between Israelis and Palestinians

The ongoing violence, despair and apparent paralysis in Israel/Palestine resemble a similar gloomy mood in South Africa during the late 1980s. Analogies with the South African case are increasingly applied to Israel/Palestine for two different purposes: to showcase South Africa as a model for a negotiated settlement and to label Israel a 'colonial settler state' that should be confronted with similar strategies (sanctions, boycott) as applied against the apartheid regime. Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley show that both assumptions are problematic, because of the different historical and socio-political contexts. Peace-making resulted in an inclusive democracy in South Africa, while territorial separation in two states is widely hailed as the solution in Israel/Palestine.

Adam and Moodley speculate on what would have happened in the Middle East had there been what they call 'a Palestinian Mandela' providing unifying moral and strategic leadership in the ethnic conflict. Unresolved issues in comparative politics and practical questions for conflict resolution can be clarified from the real-life laboratories of Israel and South Africa. A timely, relevant look at the issues of a polarized struggle, Seeking Mandela is an original comparison of South Africa and Israel, as well as an important critique of contemporary peace-making strategies.

Preface: Reflections on Moral Literacy
Acknowledgments

Introduction Political Travel through the Holy Land
The Gaze of Outsiders • Conversations with Palestinians • Unscrambling History

Part I. Probing the South African Lessons

1. Controversial Issues in Overview
Context • Uses and Abuses of the Israel-South Africa Comparison • The Relevance of the Middle East for South Africa • False Analogies and Theoretical Approaches

2. Nationalism, Patriotism, and Multiculturalism Revisited
Ultra-Nationalism in Defiance of Universal Norms • Critical Patriotism • Multiculturalism and Cosmopolitanism

3. A Brief History of South Africa and Apartheid
The History of South African Colonialism • The Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism • The Many Faces of Apartheid • Resistance and Liberation

4. The Problematic Israel-South Africa Analogy
Economic Interdependence • Unifying versus Divisive Religion • Third-Party Intervention • Embattled Leadership in Controversial Compromises • A Militarized Political Culture • Violence, Deterrence, and the Psychic Energy of Martyrdom • Rescuing Negotiations

5. Visions of Endgame
Islamic Extremist Positions • Jewish Extremist Positions • Two-State Positions • A Multicultural Common State

Part II. After the Violence

6. Collective Memories: How Democracies Deal with the Crimes of Previous Regimes
The Politics of Memory • Conclusions

7. The Politics of Reconciliation and Transitional Justice
Truth Commissions and the Globalization of Justice • Between Perpetrators and Victims • Success and Failure of the TRC

8. An Israeli-Palestinian Truth Commission?

Part III. Conclusions

9. Solutions Revisited and Lessons Drawn
Differences and Similarities between South Africa and Israel • Palestine • Israel • Palestine in the International Context • Zionism, Anti-Zionism, and Post-Zionism Revisited in the Twenty-First Century • The Two-State versus the Common-State Option • South African Lessons for Peacemaking • Future Scenarios

Notes
Works Cited
Index