The track two diplomacy and its contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace process

Abstract

Track two diplomacy is designed to deal with conflicts that are deemed to be intractable, because the rational calculation of the antagonists leads to a zero-sum game. Track two diplomacy is non-official, it acts on the perceptions and beliefs and is expected to change the way each actor perceives their strategic interests and threats to their core values. We apply the conceptual frames derived from track two diplomacy theories to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because it was a typical case of an intractable conflict transformed with track two diplomacy initiatives. Successful track two diplomacy initiatives were initiated by a third party that socialised the antagonistic elites – i. e. US official and non-official actors, or think tanks. They were combined with track one-and-a-half diplomacy, with an effect on the track one, i. e. the official diplomatic negotiations on peace. Nevertheless, that did not lead to the in-depth transformation on the grassroots level advocated by peace and conflict resolution organisations.