Harold H. Saunders had a long and distinguished career as a United States diplomat before becoming part of the academic field of conflict analysis and resolution. However, as his interview makes clear, the two parts of his life are very clearly linked to one another, the second half being shaped, at least partly, by some of the dilemmas he had confronted as a diplomat practicing his calling in the Middle East.
Saunders first joined the government service in 1957, and ten years later - just before the 1967 Middle East War - was appointed to the senior staff position conducting policy on the Near East and South Asia. In that role, he first became involved in the post-1973 Kissinger shuttle mission to try to negotiate a cease fire and a disengagement of Israeli and Egyptian forces following the October 1973 war. Later, he was involved in the Camp David talks which led to the 1979 peace agreement between the two governments. During this whole period, Saunders was centrally involved in both overall US policy in the region and in US peacemaking efforts under the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations.
From his experiences with the informal Dartmouth Conferences and his involvement in the Middle East “peace making process” – a phrase that Saunders claims originated during the 1970s as a result of the long drawn out, stage-by-stage business of achieving some level of peace in the region – “Hal” Saunders arrived at several conclusions regarding the task of making durable peace between adversaries. First, in line with the idea of the need for an overtime 'process,' was the idea that making peace was never a 'one off' matter of a single mission or a major conference held at top level. Secondly, making peace was never merely a government to government process but had to involve breakthroughs at a number of levels - in civilian interactions and in public opinion. Thirdly, there had to be a consciousness of the need to break down the psychological barriers of mistrust and fear – the 'other walls' – that inhibit the search for possible compromises or innovative solutions. Lastly, removing these barriers was only part of the whole complex business of building up new and different relationships between erstwhile adversaries, so that peace between them could be first envisaged and then constructed.
Hal Saunders carried these lessons with him into his next career, which took the form of becoming Director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation, and thence, into the milieu of conflict resolution and Track Two diplomacy. There, in conjunction with his young co-worker, Randa Slim, he developed the technique of “Sustained Dialogue” and was successful in using the approach in the Inter-Tajik Dialogue, in citizen-to-citizen dialogues involving Israelis and Palestinians and ultimately in the foundation of the “Sustained Dialogue” Institute, which helps citizens in conflicts throughout the world transform their relationships as the basis of a sustainable and durable peace.
JB/CRM
Books by Hal Saunders
