ARE JOINT DEFINITIONS OF HUMAN SECURITY POSSIBLE?
One of the poisoned fruits of conflict is the inability to see beyond the present and consider future needs. What kind of consensus could Israelis and Palestinians reach regarding joint definitions of what is needed to achieve human security? At what points would there be consensus – and at what points seemingly unbridgeable gaps and aspirations? Could they identify the ‘minimal essentials necessary for joint human security’? Where extremists continue to exercise power to destroy and disrupt – basic constructive thinking on human security is interrupted. Sadly, the world appears ‘hooked’ on human insecurity. Conflict makes better television viewing than the less visual paths of peace and human development. On a day-to-day basis people have lost confidence in the concept of human security – but instead are constructing feasible survival patterns against a backdrop of basic human insecurity. Can there be new mechanisms for cooperation between Israelis and Palestinian civilians in the fir
