COHEN: Grassroots power

OPINION:

OP-ED:

The election of Barack Obama is a reminder of the power of effective grassroots organizing. It is an important lesson that Mr. Obama learned some 20 years ago on the South side of Chicago. The renewed appreciation of change from the bottom up, in the wake of his election, may signal that a new zeitgeist has arrived. In many ways it is the latest unfolding, made easier through the new technologies of our day, of Marshall McLuhan´s Global Village. One area where we need to look to grassroots power to move a political process forward is the Arab-Israeli conflict. There, scores of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been working together to mitigate that conflict.

One of the reasons that the peace process is locked in a stalemate is that for far too long trust and hope have been depreciated. We know that the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace, and understand that difficult, yet necessary, concessions will need to be made. Yet when they look around they ask themselves, “Is this really possible?” Under the radar screen, not because they are ineffective, but because success and cooperation between the parties is not what is highlighted. The aforementioned NGOs continue to work across the divide to keep the soil fertile for the peace we all desire and desperately need there.

In the ebb and flow of diplomacy and the ups and downs of the peace process, these organizations have been modeling for years what the political leaders have failed to achieve –- a vision of what peace can look like. Their actions say that such a peace is no mirage, but a reality. The efforts of these organizations need to be accentuated to help break through the psychological walls of despair and the all-too-familiar patterns and cycles of violence and failure.

To give prominence to these NGOs will not only remind the vast majority of Palestinians and Israeli what is possible, but will strengthen their voice against the radicals in both camps that will do whatever they can to derail a peaceful solution to the conflict. I write not wearing the glasses of panacea, but know full well that as an agreement is reached there will be blood. This is even more of a reason why the majority needs to be fortified and emboldened to take them through that difficult period. If they are strengthened, this will help marginalize (though not completely eliminate) the radicals, and weaken their influence. Finally, as in all good grassroots organizing this is about the dynamic of power from the bottom up; that in this case can be used to bolster the political leaders to do what they have failed to do to date.

To allow these organizations to play the larger role, the following five points should be considered:

1) On the first visit Mr. Obama and/or Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton makes to the region, they should not only visit with the political leaders but call a conference that they will host of those Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian NGOs who are working together.

2) There should be a number of on-sight visits to see the work of these organizations.

3) In March, there is the annual meeting in Washington of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). The Alliance is the umbrella organization in the United States that represents more than 50 Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian NGOs involved in people-to-people grassroots work in the Middle East. They should be invited to the White House to discuss with Mr. Obama, their experiences.

4) The budgets in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM ) and the Middle East Regional Cooperation grants (MERC) should minimally be maintained if not increased.

5) Billions of U.S. tax dollars are sent to that region for economic development. The effectiveness of that investment when it comes to promoting peace is weakened when those monies are used to develop separate economies.

In the present economic reality, it will be difficult to increase such finding. Therefore there should be a mandate that a percentage of those dollars go only toward efforts that bring the people together across borders to develop more integrated economies, businesses and projects.

The bottom line is that the role of grassroots NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict has for too long been underutilized. The time has come for their voice and expertise to be employed.

Rabbi Michael M. Cohen is director of Special Projects for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies