Flags

A Co-operative Inquiry Experiment

There can be few more divisive issues than the Israel-Palestine situation. Conversations at all levels frequently founder on apparently irreconcilable perspectives and generate animosity between people who hold different views. Such polarisation often obscures the complexities of real life, damages relationships and reduces the possibility of managing conflict creatively. The Israel/Palestine situation reverberates around the world and influences, for instance, inter-religious relationships in the UK. We need to find better forms of conversation about this dangerously divisive issue.

St Ethelburga’s is conducting a practical experiment into whether the concept of “disagreement success”  offers a way of creating a better conversation about the Israel/Palestine situation. We’d like to test out a way of talking about such difficult issues which avoids traditional patterns of conflict in which communication and trust are destroyed.

The St Ethelburga’s Co-operative Inquiry project

We are leading an inquiry group of 12 people - Jews, Christians and Muslims embodying a wide spectrum of views about the Israel/Palestine situation - on a three-month co-operative inquiry about how fundamental differences of understanding can be expressed creatively in a group.

Our co-operative inquiry aims:

To demonstrate how people of widely diverging interests and views can act together for mutual benefit

The purpose of the visit to Israel/Palestine is to learn from people caught up in the many conflicts there, things that may be useful in understanding polarised situations elsewhere

We will frame our conclusions in a way that is as helpful as possible to others in promoting reconciliation and peace, in the UK and beyond.

We have agreed that the primary lines of the inquiry are:

1.    To find out about the unmet needs and aspirations of the people we meet

2.    To investigate examples of success and realistic opportunities to do more

3.    To find out what local religious traditions say about peaceful co-existence

4.    To be a model of our own ambitions in our relations with others in the group

5.    To reflect on our individual experiences and formulate ideas about what you want to do

The inquiry will not seek agreement or common ground. It will not assume or require that participants’ positions on the Israel/Palestine situation itself will change. Rather it will attempt engender curiosity amongst participants about people (in the group and on the ground in Israel/Palestine) who hold radically different positions to them and explore what kind of relationships might be built with them.

The Inquiry project will involve:
•    a residential weekend dialogue in October 2010 to create the agenda for…
•    a week-long study visit to the Holy Land in November;
•    followed by 3 further dialogues back in London to draw conclusions.

For further information download background info   If you have any questions please email  Justine