Ofer Zalzberg | Trinity College Dublin (original) (raw)
Papers by Ofer Zalzberg
Barak-Gorodetsky, David, and Ofer Zalzberg. "Israel's Secular-Religious Cleavage: Postsecular Genealogies and Remedies." Polarization and Consensus-Building in Israel: 159-172., 2023
This article explores the historical evolution of the secular-religious divide in Israel against ... more This article explores the historical evolution of the secular-religious divide in Israel against the backdrop of current theories of postsecularism, and applies methods of conflict transformation across worldviews to suggest a path to regulate and narrow the rift. In Israel, public religions now play a major role in political life, and “post secular” dialectics, in which the secular and sacred clash, coexist and coincide, now prevail in the public sphere. Overcoming the dominance of fragmentation processes may require erecting a hybrid secular-religious political order of an explicitly interim nature, which aims to regulate deep-seated conflict rather than resolve it. The aim of such an arrangement would be to transform intra-Israeli conflict dynamics from antagonistic, destructive ones between enemies who pursue total victory to an agonistic conflict between stakeholders who consider each other legitimate adversaries. Doing so would require both institutional and ideational remedies, that would offer Israeli society new ways to share and divide the public sphere.
Negotiation Journal, 2022
This article analyzes Israel's ratification of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty to illustrate h... more This article analyzes Israel's ratification of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty to illustrate how a highly heterogeneous body politic achieved partial success in meeting the challenge of formulating a uniform foreign policy that coheres with colliding worldviews, including those anchored in religious and/or non-liberal reasoning. Building on this case study, the authors propose four principal recommendations for designing and implementing a policy that wins broad, stable, and durable support within a deeply heterogeneous society. First, allow for multiple concurrent justifications and reasons to support such policy; second, actively strive for holders of competing worldviews to formulate justifications that fit their own perspectives; third, design policy steps in ways that can be congruent with the disparate, pertinent worldviews; and fourth, enable meaningful ways to express reservations, demur, and discomfort regarding the policy.
Fathom Journal, 2021
My latest, in the outstanding Fathom Journal, points out that despite being framed as the ‘most p... more My latest, in the outstanding Fathom Journal, points out that despite being framed as the ‘most pro-Israeli president ever,’ President Donald Trump repeatedly disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over several matters of strategic importance for Israel. However, both governments chose to conceal these differences, and that could have major repercussions for Israel in the long-term. The article explores the disagreements, their veiling and the implications of this concealment.
Palestine-Israel Journal, 2020
The Trump plan empowers forces working to shatter the ban on non-Muslim worship on the site and i... more The Trump plan empowers forces working to shatter the ban on non-Muslim worship on the site and increases the possibility of another episode of nationally or religiously motivated violence in Jerusalem, further deepening the intractability of the broader conflict. The time for discussing any alterations to the status quo, including the ban on non-Muslim prayer, will come when meaningful Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resume.
World Politics Review, 2012
The article discusses Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel's eight-day campaign in Gaza. The campa... more The article discusses Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel's eight-day campaign in Gaza. The campaign confirmed many Israeli's worst fears about the Arab uprisings, says the article. The end of the fighting reveals the shared interest between the region's Islamist government and Israel in preserving good relations with the West and maintaining regional stability. The importance of the campaign in rekindling optimism among some in Israel about the emergence of a pragmatic Islamist trio is noted.
Review of Middle East Studies, 2019
This article briefly reviews the faults and merits of peacemaking efforts anchored in liberal ide... more This article briefly reviews the faults and merits of peacemaking efforts anchored in liberal ideologies. It further calls for a shift in strategy and outlines an approach that seeks transformation of conflicts through acknowledging the ways in which contrasting worldviews undergird and sustain the political conflict.
International Crisis Group, 2017
Crisis Group's Israel Senior Analyst Ofer Zalzberg joins nine leaders of Israel’s national religi... more Crisis Group's Israel Senior Analyst Ofer Zalzberg joins nine leaders of Israel’s national religious community as they seek ideas for peace in meetings with the architects of Northern Ireland’s peace process. Unexpectedly, he finds the trip inspires subtle shifts in their thinking – and in his own.
This initiative was intended to provide an opportunity for Israeli Jews to collectively think in-... more This initiative was intended to provide an opportunity for Israeli Jews to collectively think in-depth about the nature of the state they wish to live in and how they will develop a fruitful and peaceful relationship with Israeli Arabs, the Palestinian people and their wider neighbouring countries. This involved bringing together Jewish-Israeli leaders from across all factions of Israeli society to answer the question: How do we envisage a state of Israel in which we, our children and our grandchildren would be happy and proud to live, amongst ourselves, together with the Palestinians and our neighbours? The initiative began in October 2007 and was completed in May 2008 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel.
Oxford Research Group, 22 April 2009
The current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – strangely so given that they are over the Holy Lan... more The current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – strangely so given that they are over the Holy Land - involve only political leaders and largely ignore religion. Since talks began neither of the two national leaders – Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas – nor the US mediators has held public meetings with religious leaders, giving the impression of elitist disregard for the faith of millions. The odds of negotiations succeeding may not be high, but they would increase if these leaders replaced what some may perceive to be their anti-religious reflex with what German sociologist Jürgen Habermas termed a post-secular attitude. Religion is part of this conflict and cannot but be part of its resolution.
Published by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land on February 2014. Republished by Aphorisma (attached).
The Middle East Peace Process has often marginalised the voice of the ‘National-Religious,’ or ‘R... more The Middle East Peace Process has often marginalised the voice of the ‘National-Religious,’ or ‘Religious Zionist’ Jews. Ofer Zalzberg argues that this has been a mistake. Drawing on the fruits of a major report produced by the International Crisis Group, he sets out why it is vital to include religious Zionism in the quest for peace, and how its support or at least its acquiescence might be secured.
Original version published on Fathom Spring 2014.
Updated version (attache) published on Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol.20 No.4 & Vol.21 No.1, 2015.
The fundamental premises of the Israeli Labor Party’s new plan, notably that the two-state soluti... more The fundamental premises of the Israeli Labor Party’s new plan, notably that the two-state solution is currently impossible, have raised many questions regarding its electoral and substantive merit.
Labor’s electoral crisis and the increasingly high priority Israeli Jews place on the preservation of their ethnic identity drove the party leadership to opt for a sharper focus than ever on separation.
The plan’s influence on Israel’s policy and public debate can already be seen with respect to two issues: completing the construction of the separation barrier and dividing Jerusalem along ethnic lines. This came with the cost of growing resentment among Palestinians towards the Labor party.
Even though Labor’s new plan has high approval rates amongst Israeli public opinion, it is uncertain whether it will do better electorally. Labor so far failed to promote the proposal as viable alternative, it has many unrelated weaknesses and other parties may siphon parts of the plan. The popular plan does, however, make it easier for Israel’s political kingmakers to throne Labor
Book Chapters by Ofer Zalzberg
Shifting Protracted Conflict Systems Through Local Interactions: Extending Kelman’s Legacy, 2024
Conflict resolution efforts fail in the face of non-negotiability. Needs-based Conflict Resolutio... more Conflict resolution efforts fail in the face of non-negotiability. Needs-based Conflict Resolution approaches perceptively posit the existence of non-negotiability and therefore point to the risk that certain kinds of compromises can drive escalation and radicalization. However, these approaches trace the source of nonnegotiability solely to individual needs, omitting further sources and thus risking unintended escalation. This article offers a heuristic typology of non-negotiability, tracing the origins of non-negotiability also to four additional social domains: interactive dynamics, institutionalized settings, power and resource divisions and worldview differences and collective beliefs. It consequently claims that such nonnegotiabilities can be "unlocked" if strategies corresponding to the different types of non-negotiability are applied, and demonstrates this with illustrative examples. Finally, it is argued that conflict situations in which non-negotiability is salient call for non-solutionist approaches: rather than engage in solutionism, with a conflict resolution mindset, peacemakers ought to focus on unlocking non-negotiability, with a conflict transformation mindset. While unlocking efforts take place, definitive resolution should be avoided in favor of partial, transformative steps regarding negotiable issues that aim to narrow gaps between conflict parties in mutually beneficial ways.
יאוש ותקווה: ישראל והמזרח התיכון אחרי אוסלו (יאיר הירשפלד ונעמה קורא), 2020
שלום ייכון רק על בסיס ההטרגוניות של החברה הישראלית ומתוך התמודדות עם תפישות העולם השונות המרכיבות... more שלום ייכון רק על בסיס ההטרגוניות של החברה הישראלית ומתוך התמודדות עם תפישות העולם השונות המרכיבות אותה. לשיטתנו, לא די ברתימה אינסטרומנטלית של בני מחנה מתחרה כדי לקבל חותמת-אישור לדרך ידועה ומנוסחת מראש. החברה הישראלית זקוקה לשיחה חדשה על שלום אפשרי. שיחה שבאמצעותה בני פלוגתא יכולים לגבש הנמקות מתחרות, במסגרת תפישות העולם השונות שלהם, כדי לתמוך במציאות מדינית חדשה. כדי ששיחה כזו תהיה אפשרית, כל צד נדרש לחפש את מה שאפשרי במסגרת השקפתו ומשנתו של האחר, ולא את הדרך היעילה "להמיר" אותו לצידו או לקבוע עובדות על אף התנגדותו.
Routledge, 2018
The evolution of Israel's religious challenges and future scenarios
Barak-Gorodetsky, David, and Ofer Zalzberg. "Israel's Secular-Religious Cleavage: Postsecular Genealogies and Remedies." Polarization and Consensus-Building in Israel: 159-172., 2023
This article explores the historical evolution of the secular-religious divide in Israel against ... more This article explores the historical evolution of the secular-religious divide in Israel against the backdrop of current theories of postsecularism, and applies methods of conflict transformation across worldviews to suggest a path to regulate and narrow the rift. In Israel, public religions now play a major role in political life, and “post secular” dialectics, in which the secular and sacred clash, coexist and coincide, now prevail in the public sphere. Overcoming the dominance of fragmentation processes may require erecting a hybrid secular-religious political order of an explicitly interim nature, which aims to regulate deep-seated conflict rather than resolve it. The aim of such an arrangement would be to transform intra-Israeli conflict dynamics from antagonistic, destructive ones between enemies who pursue total victory to an agonistic conflict between stakeholders who consider each other legitimate adversaries. Doing so would require both institutional and ideational remedies, that would offer Israeli society new ways to share and divide the public sphere.
Negotiation Journal, 2022
This article analyzes Israel's ratification of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty to illustrate h... more This article analyzes Israel's ratification of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty to illustrate how a highly heterogeneous body politic achieved partial success in meeting the challenge of formulating a uniform foreign policy that coheres with colliding worldviews, including those anchored in religious and/or non-liberal reasoning. Building on this case study, the authors propose four principal recommendations for designing and implementing a policy that wins broad, stable, and durable support within a deeply heterogeneous society. First, allow for multiple concurrent justifications and reasons to support such policy; second, actively strive for holders of competing worldviews to formulate justifications that fit their own perspectives; third, design policy steps in ways that can be congruent with the disparate, pertinent worldviews; and fourth, enable meaningful ways to express reservations, demur, and discomfort regarding the policy.
Fathom Journal, 2021
My latest, in the outstanding Fathom Journal, points out that despite being framed as the ‘most p... more My latest, in the outstanding Fathom Journal, points out that despite being framed as the ‘most pro-Israeli president ever,’ President Donald Trump repeatedly disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over several matters of strategic importance for Israel. However, both governments chose to conceal these differences, and that could have major repercussions for Israel in the long-term. The article explores the disagreements, their veiling and the implications of this concealment.
Palestine-Israel Journal, 2020
The Trump plan empowers forces working to shatter the ban on non-Muslim worship on the site and i... more The Trump plan empowers forces working to shatter the ban on non-Muslim worship on the site and increases the possibility of another episode of nationally or religiously motivated violence in Jerusalem, further deepening the intractability of the broader conflict. The time for discussing any alterations to the status quo, including the ban on non-Muslim prayer, will come when meaningful Israeli-Palestinian negotiations resume.
World Politics Review, 2012
The article discusses Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel's eight-day campaign in Gaza. The campa... more The article discusses Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel's eight-day campaign in Gaza. The campaign confirmed many Israeli's worst fears about the Arab uprisings, says the article. The end of the fighting reveals the shared interest between the region's Islamist government and Israel in preserving good relations with the West and maintaining regional stability. The importance of the campaign in rekindling optimism among some in Israel about the emergence of a pragmatic Islamist trio is noted.
Review of Middle East Studies, 2019
This article briefly reviews the faults and merits of peacemaking efforts anchored in liberal ide... more This article briefly reviews the faults and merits of peacemaking efforts anchored in liberal ideologies. It further calls for a shift in strategy and outlines an approach that seeks transformation of conflicts through acknowledging the ways in which contrasting worldviews undergird and sustain the political conflict.
International Crisis Group, 2017
Crisis Group's Israel Senior Analyst Ofer Zalzberg joins nine leaders of Israel’s national religi... more Crisis Group's Israel Senior Analyst Ofer Zalzberg joins nine leaders of Israel’s national religious community as they seek ideas for peace in meetings with the architects of Northern Ireland’s peace process. Unexpectedly, he finds the trip inspires subtle shifts in their thinking – and in his own.
This initiative was intended to provide an opportunity for Israeli Jews to collectively think in-... more This initiative was intended to provide an opportunity for Israeli Jews to collectively think in-depth about the nature of the state they wish to live in and how they will develop a fruitful and peaceful relationship with Israeli Arabs, the Palestinian people and their wider neighbouring countries. This involved bringing together Jewish-Israeli leaders from across all factions of Israeli society to answer the question: How do we envisage a state of Israel in which we, our children and our grandchildren would be happy and proud to live, amongst ourselves, together with the Palestinians and our neighbours? The initiative began in October 2007 and was completed in May 2008 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel.
Oxford Research Group, 22 April 2009
The current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – strangely so given that they are over the Holy Lan... more The current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – strangely so given that they are over the Holy Land - involve only political leaders and largely ignore religion. Since talks began neither of the two national leaders – Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas – nor the US mediators has held public meetings with religious leaders, giving the impression of elitist disregard for the faith of millions. The odds of negotiations succeeding may not be high, but they would increase if these leaders replaced what some may perceive to be their anti-religious reflex with what German sociologist Jürgen Habermas termed a post-secular attitude. Religion is part of this conflict and cannot but be part of its resolution.
Published by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land on February 2014. Republished by Aphorisma (attached).
The Middle East Peace Process has often marginalised the voice of the ‘National-Religious,’ or ‘R... more The Middle East Peace Process has often marginalised the voice of the ‘National-Religious,’ or ‘Religious Zionist’ Jews. Ofer Zalzberg argues that this has been a mistake. Drawing on the fruits of a major report produced by the International Crisis Group, he sets out why it is vital to include religious Zionism in the quest for peace, and how its support or at least its acquiescence might be secured.
Original version published on Fathom Spring 2014.
Updated version (attache) published on Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol.20 No.4 & Vol.21 No.1, 2015.
The fundamental premises of the Israeli Labor Party’s new plan, notably that the two-state soluti... more The fundamental premises of the Israeli Labor Party’s new plan, notably that the two-state solution is currently impossible, have raised many questions regarding its electoral and substantive merit.
Labor’s electoral crisis and the increasingly high priority Israeli Jews place on the preservation of their ethnic identity drove the party leadership to opt for a sharper focus than ever on separation.
The plan’s influence on Israel’s policy and public debate can already be seen with respect to two issues: completing the construction of the separation barrier and dividing Jerusalem along ethnic lines. This came with the cost of growing resentment among Palestinians towards the Labor party.
Even though Labor’s new plan has high approval rates amongst Israeli public opinion, it is uncertain whether it will do better electorally. Labor so far failed to promote the proposal as viable alternative, it has many unrelated weaknesses and other parties may siphon parts of the plan. The popular plan does, however, make it easier for Israel’s political kingmakers to throne Labor
Shifting Protracted Conflict Systems Through Local Interactions: Extending Kelman’s Legacy, 2024
Conflict resolution efforts fail in the face of non-negotiability. Needs-based Conflict Resolutio... more Conflict resolution efforts fail in the face of non-negotiability. Needs-based Conflict Resolution approaches perceptively posit the existence of non-negotiability and therefore point to the risk that certain kinds of compromises can drive escalation and radicalization. However, these approaches trace the source of nonnegotiability solely to individual needs, omitting further sources and thus risking unintended escalation. This article offers a heuristic typology of non-negotiability, tracing the origins of non-negotiability also to four additional social domains: interactive dynamics, institutionalized settings, power and resource divisions and worldview differences and collective beliefs. It consequently claims that such nonnegotiabilities can be "unlocked" if strategies corresponding to the different types of non-negotiability are applied, and demonstrates this with illustrative examples. Finally, it is argued that conflict situations in which non-negotiability is salient call for non-solutionist approaches: rather than engage in solutionism, with a conflict resolution mindset, peacemakers ought to focus on unlocking non-negotiability, with a conflict transformation mindset. While unlocking efforts take place, definitive resolution should be avoided in favor of partial, transformative steps regarding negotiable issues that aim to narrow gaps between conflict parties in mutually beneficial ways.
יאוש ותקווה: ישראל והמזרח התיכון אחרי אוסלו (יאיר הירשפלד ונעמה קורא), 2020
שלום ייכון רק על בסיס ההטרגוניות של החברה הישראלית ומתוך התמודדות עם תפישות העולם השונות המרכיבות... more שלום ייכון רק על בסיס ההטרגוניות של החברה הישראלית ומתוך התמודדות עם תפישות העולם השונות המרכיבות אותה. לשיטתנו, לא די ברתימה אינסטרומנטלית של בני מחנה מתחרה כדי לקבל חותמת-אישור לדרך ידועה ומנוסחת מראש. החברה הישראלית זקוקה לשיחה חדשה על שלום אפשרי. שיחה שבאמצעותה בני פלוגתא יכולים לגבש הנמקות מתחרות, במסגרת תפישות העולם השונות שלהם, כדי לתמוך במציאות מדינית חדשה. כדי ששיחה כזו תהיה אפשרית, כל צד נדרש לחפש את מה שאפשרי במסגרת השקפתו ומשנתו של האחר, ולא את הדרך היעילה "להמיר" אותו לצידו או לקבוע עובדות על אף התנגדותו.
Routledge, 2018
The evolution of Israel's religious challenges and future scenarios